It should be pretty clear by now that the authors of the Federalist Papers were quite well-grounded in the “Critical Skills.”

One of those skills – the “Production Skill” – rather simple in concept, but sometimes hard to actually do. The Production Skill, as you may recall, is often referred to as “making it happen.” Simply put, it is the ability to convert an idea into reality . . . . to convert a concept or idea into a product.

The Founding Fathers had a goal to create a government that works – something different from that created by the Articles of Confederation.

They accomplished this through vigorous debate over the summer of 1787 when they created the Constitution of the United States. That certainly was converting an idea into reality.

But they were not done – in order for the government to actually be created, at least nine of the thirteen colonies had to ratify the document.

So the task became to convince the people – primarily the people of the state of New York – that the new Constitution would create what would work for the fledgling United States of America.

Hamilton, Madison and Jay accomplished this feat through the skill of Communications – articulating their reasons for ratification by the only means they could use at the time – the written word. They wrote a series of essays – now called the “Federalist Papers” – and, ultimately, they were successful in convincing a majority of people to vote for ratification.

This was not only a demonstration of the “production skill,” it was also a combination of the rest of the skills – communications, using what technology was at their disposal, time management because they were under pressure, teamwork by coordinating their efforts together and having their arguments made by the most articulate and persuasive of the group (depending on the issue), information – gathering and sorting historical documentation, and analysis – drawing their conclusions based on – as much as possible – fact.