atelier EURA Scrapbook‘s insight:This article is by L. J. Rittenhouse, president and chief executive of Rittenhouse Rankings and author of Investing Between the Lines: How to Make Smarter Decisions by Decoding CEO Communications. Bezos: A CEO who gets it about words.
In reading this article at Forbes, I cannot but agree with the spirit of it as it does clearly reinforce something I have felt for a very long time.
With the advances in technology, and specially assisted by the Power of Pointing, I often fear that (just as it has happened to photography) a comfortable layer of mediocrity, hidden behind a fair amount of “bells and whistles” (as Brits so eloquently describe it) has found a way in to the heart of business and, somehow, communication.
There is a very concerning tendency to speak (and write) words of no meaning that nobody fully understands yet people repeat endlessly. Why, I wonder, not construct a sentence suited to what you want to say rather than repeat a pre-formed one? For instance.
In my experience, people should speak the language of their audience, stripped down to basics, to make sure that everyone understands. As a very clever person once said: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough” (Albert Einstein)
See on www.forbes.com
