Back in 2024, communication was declared the most in-demand job skill, according to LinkedIn’s latest global inventory of the most in-demand skills for professionals.

Customer service was second, leadership third, and research tenth. Everything in between – from project management to analytics and problem solving, rode the wave of a resurging focus on the largely non-technical things that nine out of ten executives look for in their search for top talent.

This should come as no surprise for anyone who has worked with a brilliant practitioner, regardless of field, who is simply unable to effectively communicate the value of what they do, share their great ideas, or solicit the buy in of those around them.

Yet, we still refer to communication in business as a “soft skill,” relegating it to the ranks of nice-to-haves in world that is increasingly being shaped by experts in technology, artificial intelligence and economics.

But what the LinkedIn research makes clear is that there is growing shift among leaders to see communication as a core competency that drives the success of individuals, teams and entire organizations, regardless of how critical technology, data and innovation may be to business success.

This appreciation for communication is an overdue recognition of an ineffable and hard-to-measure competency whose value is most starkly noticed within an organization when it is absent.

Because the truth is that communication remains one of the key differentiators for organizations that wish to remain successful and stand out from their competitors.

“You are only as good as you communicate,” says Vinh Giang, a leading expert on the value of communication, and arguably the world’s most prolific communications expert, with millions of followers on social media. “You’re a doctor, you’re a financial planner, you’re an electrician, it doesn’t matter what you do. If you don’t communicate well, people don’t see you for your brilliance.”

Giang’s thoughts, while often tuned to the individual, can easily be unpacked and applied to entire organizations in a world of fierce competition, and in which communication can make all the difference.

Indeed, those organizations that come out ahead will not simply be those with the slightly cheaper, faster, or more effective product or service, but those with the more engaging, persuasive, and provocative communication that secures attention and converts that attention into action.

To capitalize on the often-untapped power of great communications, business will benefit from ensuring their communications practitioners are engaged from the earliest stages of conceptualization of a new offering, helping to ask why the latest thing they are focusing on matters – or if it matters at all.

Because as Giang’s insight would lead us to consider, the success of an organization’s latest product or service will in many ways be determined by that organization’s ability to communicate a value proposition that garners attention and converts that attention into revenue.

Instead, the way a product or service will be communicated should inform development of those products or services, so that the question of Why does this matter? can be asked early enough that organizations aren’t wasting time doing things that no one understands, talks about, or wants to buy.

It’s a consideration that should be taken to heart by businesses both large and small, as well as associations and not-for-profits.

Because the most in-demand skills for professionals reflect the greatest weaknesses of our organizations.