Fundamental skills will always serve you well

The feedback confirmed my inner critic in similarly demanding and off-putting language. It was a skill issue. I wasn’t trained to think ahead, observe myself, deliver coherent messages, and keep time. I was a perfect candidate for Toastmasters, a public speaking club ¹.

I practiced for two seasons, and my skills developed so quickly that the only bad feedback I had ever received was from that first experience. Public speaking, speech writing, and managing presentation time became second nature—a fundamental skill. That failure taught me something crucial about how skills work.

Understanding fundamental skills

A fundamental skill transcends specific tools, contexts, or industries.

I realized this concept while being a designer. By knowing the fundamentals of vector and raster graphics, principles were universal regardless of the tool. The same is true when preparing print materials, which can be traced back from information architecture to foundational cognitive and gestalt principles. I am still relying on my self-educated knowledge about web technologies and programming—technologies evolve, innovation is everywhere, but the basics are the same on the principal level.

In the physical world, the skill of adapting to the environment for your benefit is also universal: knowing what plants in my region are poisonous, how to clothe for various weather and seasonal conditions, and how to behave in my cultural context. In complex organizational contexts, the skill of collaborating with colleagues and stakeholders translates back to personal relationships. The skill of processing and using information for decision-making—these are examples of fundamental skills.

A fundamental skill is the most basic thing you can apply in various contexts and settings. Simon Sinek emphasizes asking why repeatedly to learn about the essential purpose of an activity. The same is true with skills—ask “what in me enables this” or “how” repeatedly, and you may end up with the fundamental skill.

Shortcuts tend to accelerate effort, not replace it. Supplements and cutting-edge recovery methods might speed up your progress in the gym, but they don’t replace the need to do the workout. In general, the people who benefit most from shortcuts are those who continue to practice the fundamentals consistently.²

Ask “what in me enables this” repeatedly, and you’ll find your fundamentals.

Why fundamentals matter more than tools

The bigger the change, the more fundamentals matter.

I have seen how people are reluctant to change or learn tools. The bigger the team or customer base, the more extensive the change management is. I have seen how people with prior project management or leadership experience are better at structured and systems thinking—they plan activities with expected outcomes and adjust as they go. Planning complex design projects, involving other team members, and estimating the total needed work is always more reliable with people with time management, systems thinking, and communication skills. This is critical in stakeholder management and critical in advancing careers.

I have seen how the skill to separate self-image from results dependent on external factors keeps people resilient and quick to adapt while others get frustrated, which can lead to burnout. I have seen how people are looking for new tools, hacks, and shortcuts but miss the basic training on fundamentals. The tool may assist, but without the fundamental understanding, the skill for evaluating results is severed.

During one hiring round, perfect visuals couldn’t hide missing fundamentals.

I had a candidate showcasing her previous project with high-production quality materials—everything was flawless. But I noticed that the sequence of her process was off. I asked her to explain the reasoning for the whole process sequence without revealing what I had seen. She stumbled, asked me to repeat the question, and could not continue. We understood that she had actually not done the work. The tell-sign was failing in fundamentals of following the double diamond framework, which precedes critical conclusions.

Similarly, people advancing to new roles are granted credit to learn and evolve. It means adjusting or learning new skills, which are fundamentals for this position. For example, while starting my MBA studies, my manager eagerly stressed the importance of finance in the program. I was surprised and took her input with mild content. Only now do I understand that she was pointing at my “known unknown,”³ a fundamental skill and knowledge for the new role.

Beautiful work without understanding the underlying logic is just decoration.

The persistence of fundamentals through change

Reading is fundamental. It is a demanding cognitive task that develops thinking skills and critical information retention. Current trends in relying on audio and video will give those who maintain reading skills an advantage.

The shift from Google to AI perfectly illustrates how fundamentals persist.

Googling in its original meaning is becoming obsolete. Prompting LLMs and evaluating results critically is currently advanced and will become a daily activity. The fundamental skill for searching was figuring out search terms. For prompting and prompt, engineering is describing, teaching, and delegating task execution. Both require critical reading ability to assess results.

Same fundamental skill, different tool.

How to identify your fundamental skills

Timeline reflection

Your timeline holds clues to your strongest fundamentals.

Thinking about my life, career, and various events has helped me recognize my strengths and weaknesses. From a self-development perspective, I strongly believe in developing strengths and building coping mechanisms to overcome weaknesses.

Returning to the mental timeline will give insights about the existing and needed fundamental skills. I encourage you to jot down your lifeline with the most memorable events, what happened, what skills enabled you to prosper, or what skills you lacked. For example, even my wedding planning reveals my fundamental communication, delegation, and collaboration skills, which were instrumental then and now with my wife, family, teams, and organization.

The skills that show up repeatedly across different contexts are your fundamentals.

Getting an external perspective

CliftonStrengths⁴ is one of the ways to learn about tendencies and then build on them. Another is learning how others see me—conducting various forms of 360 reviews is always revealing, uncomfortable and rewarding. Comparing your personal assessments, CliftonStrengths and 360 reviews has given me vivid impression about my self and my capabilities. Also, how to develop my fundamental skills further based on these sources.

The fastest way to identify your fundamentals is to ask others.

For 360 review, one of the easiest to execute is inspired by Matt Mochary’s Zone of Genius.⁵ Challenge yourself to send out this message to 3 people. Execution of the decision takes less than 2 minutes:

I am trying to understand the things that I am uniquely good at in the world. It is difficult for me to see them myself. But I am hoping that you can help me identify them. Would you be willing to take 10 minutes to answer the following questions? If yes, thank you. If not, no problem at all. I understand that this is an imposition on my part. In your interactions with me:

• What do I do that you experience as “world-class”?
• What do I do where I appear to be experiencing fun, peace or joy (if different from above)?
• What do I do that I am good at but that I don’t appear to enjoy?
• What do I do that I am not better than others?
• What do I do that I am actually worse than others?

Building on your foundation

One fundamental skill from Toastmasters transformed everything I do.

One of the main skills acquired from Toastmasters was preparation for delivering effective speeches and presentations, including introducing a topic and fluently transitioning between thoughts and sections. Toastmasters also developed structured thinking, or at least expressing thinking in an easy-to-follow structure.

I also need to credit Barbara Minto’s “Pyramid Principle”⁶—this book was the first introduction to expressing complexities in easy-to-follow textual or presentation formats. I learned to keep the message structure easy to follow and relatively simple. Suggestions must be expressed in direct language with explanations and evidence for the assessment. I try to keep my communication easy, structured, and encouraging. This has a direct connection with everything I currently do.

Knowing how to construct messages, summarize and reflect back, and be aware of my body’s presence has given me tremendous value in mentorship and coaching sessions. This is where my fundamental interviewing skills are also coming into play. I have used Toastmasters’ skills while working with colleagues—knowing how to use language, voice, pause, and allegories is an effective way to lead, influence, and express leadership presence.

The lasting value of fundamentals

While others chase shortcuts, focus on building foundations.

People unlock their potential by learning and gaining enough experience with these capabilities. Most critical capabilities are universal; circumstances may change, and toolsets may develop, but on the principal level, these universals are constant.

Understanding these critical capabilities and how to learn and practice them well becomes the foundation for adapting to any professional challenge. Focus on building those foundations, and you’ll find that every new challenge becomes an opportunity to apply the capabilities you already possess.

The fundamentals you develop will always serve you well.