The Importance of Communication Skills For Engineers

"I content that we (engineers) are undervalued because of our widespread inability to explain what we do to the general public (and why it is so important). It is one of the hardest goals to accomplish, to be able to boil down difficult concepts into a short and easily understood presentation or elevator pitch."
-Marybeth Miceli, President, Miceli Infrastructure Consulting, USA (2011)

The above context means that engineers are under appreciated by people because the general public doesn't understand their job scopes. Engineers find it difficult to explain what they do and the importance in lament terms to the general public.