Have you heard?

I speak to you. You do not understand. I respond by saying the same thing again, but now LOUDER! As if insufficient volume was the thing holding us back.

What a ridiculous scenario to contemplate, but how often have you experienced something similar. Such behavior reflects an exquisite focus on ourselves and what we have to say. It is my thought anyway and why isn't this person understanding me!

Whether differences in language, context, or style, communication has little to do with what we say and everything to do with what the other person hears. I have an idea in my head and my goal is to say words that effectively put the idea in your head. Words then are merely the messenger, helping us transmit the thought. To do this effectively we have to know our audience, empathize with our audience and know how they need to hear.

I have the tremendous fortune to speak with brilliant technologists every day and regularly seek to understand their passion. Unfortunately, the language they speak is often technical, jargon-filled, and largely inaccessible to most audiences. As such, when they try to convey the importance of their work, it may not be fully heard by those that they seek to influence. Projects not funded, investments not made, opportunities unpursued.

A few tips that may aide in communicating to a general audience:

• Tailor language, erring on being more direct. Everyone experiences the world differently, guided by their unique biological composition and sum of life experiences. As such, ways of speaking to one person effectively may resoundingly fall flat with another. Again, about what other person hears not what you say. We can, however, convolute our point with too many qualifiers and roundabout. Get to the point.
• Simplicity rarely fails. Making a topic as simple as possible forces a distillation to its essence. What is the real point you want to make. This removes ambiguity, focuses conversation, and conveys your mastery of the topic.
• Jargon, acronyms, and excess technical details lose attention. Throwing around big fancy fulsome words with great pomp and circumstance lets everyone know just how smart we are. Except, they don't care. They leave the conversation perplexed and slightly annoyed. Not great for communication.

To communicate better, seek to empathetically understand your audience. Think about what they hear vs what you say. Move them from just listening to truly hearing.

- Jeremy