Communication skills coach Vinh Giang perfectly describes, in this YouTube short, what I think is the most necessary quality needed in someone who is sharing their knowledge.

Just because we’re an expert on a topic doesn’t mean we will be a good teacher. Being an expert and being a teacher are two almost different skills.

An expert is someone who has a lot of deep knowledge in a particular area, but not all experts are great teachers. A part of the skill of teaching is being able to articulate your ideas in a way that is cohesive and structured well.

The reference that I go to is Albert Einstein:

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” - Albert Einstein

You have to be able to communicate it to a nine-year-old, an eight-year-old, which means you simplify all the concepts.

A huge part of teaching is simplification and distillation because if you’re still explaining something in an extremely complicated way, it means that you haven’t developed a deep understanding of it.

As you deepen your knowledge and learn how to simplify and distill the knowledge, that’s when you start to be able to communicate your area of expertise with much more ease.

The simplest version of a sentence is the best version. Everyone thinks complicated but few can translate that thought into something that is easy for anyone to understand.

Making it possible for anyone to understand complex concepts and processes is way more impressive than using niche words. Words only you and a handful of other people will know.

That should be the goal when writing about football. Simple, easy to understand. Not everyone is fluent in English. The game is global. Make the effort to make it accessible for everyone.