Clarity and brevity IN – Corporate Vaugetalk OUT!
If you want to impress me, then speak with clarity, simplicity and humanity. I'm deeply troubled by the corporate and academic mumbo-jumbo that contages communication everywhere in workplaces. The notion seems to be, that simple talking is the mark of a simple thinker. Not so!
How easy it is to shroud your own unclarified thinking in vague general concepts borrowed from books you have read, but barely understood. If someone forced you to explain yourself in plain and specific everyday language, you would have difficulties finding the words.
Among leaders this is a fools cancer. To impress their peers and justify their specialness, some leaders end up talking in a way that alienates them from the people they were supposed to lead. They try to sell vague ideas dressed up in pompous words, and come through as snake-oil dealers.
And it isn't so surprising. Many employees have bad experiences where impressive management concepts were weaselspeak for cutbacks and layoffs. A turd by any other name...
If you want to come through as sincere... If you want to be understood... You have to speak with clarity and simplicity. And you have to be there yourself inside your message. Speak with humanity. Don't tell me "it has been decided to..." tell me "I want you to..." It's so common that the subject, the doer, disappears in these endless adorned sentences.
But simple isn't stupid. Here's a great article from Scientific American Mind. It explains the reason why George W. Bush came through so strongly right after the world trade center tragedy. He was able, in simple words, to channel and mold the feelings of a whole nation.
Or another american leader, Kennedy. He didn't talk of being at the forefront of space age technology and leveraging this position to blablabla. He wanted to put a man on the moon!
So please… Stop hiding behind vague words! It's ineffective. It's stupid! Stop talking clever. start talking clear. Then you'll impress me.
- Jens Poder
Technorati Tags: communication, clarity, brevity, leadership
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