Engineers are particularly susceptible to believing that facts will win the day. Seth Godin says it best: “A statement of fact is insufficient and often not even necessary to persuade someone of your point of view.”
The story you put toward the world will be the deciding factor of success. I’ve known way too many smart people that could never convince people to believe them simply because they had all of the facts. Each one of them had tremendous potential but could never figure out that they must constantly sell their story – facts are secondary.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing that just because you are right, you will have your voice be heard. There’s a lot more to it.