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💥 What If We’ve Been Focusing on the Wrong Skills All Along?

Michael Lee, MBA
Jul 20
3 min read

One of our workshop participants once said to me: "I built the perfect dashboard. It was beautiful. It was insightful. It told a story…But when I presented it, no one acted on it. They just nodded politely.”

Sound familiar?

It happens more often than you'd think.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth:

It’s not always about the tools you know. It’s about what you can do with them—especially in the room with people.

And that’s the part many don’t teach.

📊 The Skills That (We’re Told) Matter Most

Let’s be honest: hard skills matter.

Excel, Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Python, AI tools—they’re essential. They help us clean messy data, visualise patterns, and make work faster.

But we’ve spent so long building technical strength…we’ve overlooked a critical layer: influence.

Because while tools help you get to the insight, it’s human skills that help you make that insight stick.

This chart? It says what many of us have experienced but never had the words for:

It’s not the technical gap that holds most people back—it’s the human one.

🧠 The Skills That Actually Get You Heard

The most powerful professionals we work with?They know how to:

Frame the data in ways others can relate to
Stay calm when their analysis is challenged
Turn “resistance” into thoughtful dialogue
Present a tough truth without losing trust

These aren’t “extras.”They’re the difference between “that’s interesting” and “we need to act on this.”

Soft skills? Let’s be real—they’re power skills.

🧩 What We’ve Seen in the Room

At FYT Consulting, we’ve seen it time and again.

Someone walks into a workshop thinking their gap is technical. Midway through, they realise:

“I know how to use the tool. What I don’t know is how to get buy-in for what I’ve found.”

They’ve mastered dashboards but struggle with decisions. They’ve automated reporting but avoid tough conversations. They can explain the ‘what’—but not always the ‘so what.’

And that’s where our work begins.

⚙️ How FYT Academy Tackles Both

Our FYT Academy workshops are built on one belief:

Great work needs both the technical and the human—side by side.

Here’s how we do it:

Excel: Not just formulas, but how to structure thinking and defend decisions
Power BI: Not just dashboards, but how to shape narratives stakeholders care about
AI tools: Not just generation, but evaluation, questioning, and building trust
Storytelling & facilitation: So your insights don’t just land—they lead

The goal? Not just skills—but confidence, clarity, and courage when it matters most.

🌍 Why This Matters Now (Not Later)

AI is here. Tools are smarter. Everyone has access. So the difference no longer lies in what you use, but in how you think and connect.

In today’s business world, it’s the ones who can:

Think clearly
Communicate confidently
Adapt fast
Influence without forcing

…who will lead the next wave.

And those are learnable skills.

✨ So... What Does “Skilled” Really Mean Now?

Here’s the shift we invite you to make:

Don’t just ask, “Can I use Excel?”Ask, “Can I use Excel to make someone pause and say—this changes things?”
Don’t just present clean charts.Present ideas that spark real movement.
Don’t just automate reports.Learn how to frame the insight so people want to do something with it.