It’s the holidays so think about this as you are wrapping your gifts. If you bundle and tape something so tight that the recipient can’t open it, have you given her a gift? No. The same is true of communication. If you have a message for the public, maybe it’s what you’re selling, and you mask it in language that people don’t understand, you haven’t communicated. You’ve thrown away all the money you spent on the paper and the PR people who cooked the lines up. I recently worked with a manufacturing company that insisted on calling itself an “innovation company.” While it was true that their packaging and products were innovative it hardly describes what they’re doing and definitely is not unique. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote that convoluted language is getting more prevalent in part because with mergers and advanced technology, what businesses do is becoming less easy to explain. They gave the example of a company who described themselves in a press release as “leveraging innovative, outcome based managed services engagements with committed productivity benefits.” When the reporter challenged the PR woman to explain, she chuckled and said her customers understand. Rather than give up, I urge every business leader to explain what you do to a 5th grader. Simple is never simple but it simply makes sense if it means that you are able to deliver the messages you develop.
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