Soft skills matter more than many of us realize. I'm working on a part of the Career 2.0 book dealing with public speaking and realizing all over again how important this topic is.
How often have you tried to introduce a new idea or technology at work and been shut down? Who's fault is it that no-one listened? I'd suggest it could be your fault, although it's easier to blame the audience.
As the "presenter" in this scenario, it's your job to find a way to reach your audience. If you've never taken the time to learn the basics of presenting and communicating then you've got no-one to blame but yourself when you do a poor job selling the idea.
Here's another way to think about it. Imagine you're at a nice restaurant and order a very expensive Kobe steak. When your waiter delivers it to your table you see it's cooked perfectly, smells great, and just looks incredible. Except for one detail: it's wrapped in a dirty, oily piece of newspaper. It looks like someone picked it up
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