As the chief talent development officer, you often are required to explain abstract and complicated workforce issues to the rest of the C-suite. Maybe you need to connect the myriad puzzle pieces of a new performance improvement strategy or clarify context so you can accurately depict the real problems plaguing your company's culture. Whether you're talking about employee engagement, performance management, corporate culture, change management, or organizational development, your authority will rise quickly if you can make these core talent development topics accessible to your fellow leaders.