Important midwifery skills

What midwifery skills are most important to learn before you are responsible at a birth? How do you attain those skills?

Personally, I think it is up to the mother to decide whether or not I have the skills to protect her environment while she gives birth. With every birth I attend I have a takeaway. So, if I had to say, it has always been a numbers game: the more births, the more teachings.