I was reminded last week by a dear friend (the kind of friend that will be honest with you when no one else will) about a lesson that I learned a few years back. A painful lesson. A humbling lesson. The kind of lesson that cuts to the core of a "good" business man or a "top" salesman, or any other person that interfaces with clients, because it tears down the very attribute that makes you who you are. This lesson, of course, is KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!
Yes, I am a complicated thinker. Everybody that knows me knows that. But at times, I have learned to hold back the web of intertwining thoughts and distill my message down to what truly matters. Other times, like recently, I have tended to live in that web and communicate as though I was the one on the other end of the communication - as though I, personally, was the audience, communicating to myself in the complicated way that I think. Anyone care to guess rule number one in business communication? That's right... communicate in the language of your audience - the real audience - in the way they listen and learn.
An old Greek quote goes something like, "Never say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few." That is the challenge, but one we shouldn't forget or abandon. The simpler the message, the more powerful. In fact, one of the central truths of the book Good to Great, by Jim Collins, is that the leaders that can make a simple message out of the complicated array of information around them become the best leaders. The companies that they lead become the best companies.
I am up for the challenge. Are you?
