Communication is an essential skill in every professional context, but one of its greatest challenges is looking past its deceptive simplicity. We talk and write all the time in a variety of situations, and it is easy to assume that professional communication would just be more of the same. But as I prepared for the final Benchmarking Assignment, it became clear that developing a memo about the project for an executive audience would require much more thought and planning than its short length might suggest.

To complete this assignment, I had to consider how to deliver the key insights of my data analysis for a busy leadership audience. Placing data in the proper context without being able to rely on extensive explanation was a real challenge. I had to balance the right objective tone while providing the deliverable takeaways for an audience who would not be as familiar with the full data, as well as utilizing bullet points that adopt a casual style to achieve an efficient delivery of information. This project forced me to appreciate the value of a short, direct communication in a professional setting, and I appreciate having that ability in my toolkit.