As I was working with a doctor on his presentation to a national audience, he suddenly stopped. "Not to be critical, but this process seems like we are dumbing the content down. I am a skilled physician." Of course, he's right. Not only is he a doctor, he owns two successful businesses and he has an engineering degree. Nonetheless, I persisted in reducing the language to simpler terms and the sentences to less complex straightforward forms. Clarity matters even for the wisest of us.
After all, for an idea to catch fire it has to be simple. E=MC2. I have a dream. Give me liberty or give me death. Clear communication isn't optional just because you are smart. Spoken communication can be hard to follow. In written form, we can follow run on sentences and less-than-perfect wording. After all, if we get lost we can just go back and re-read what we missed. But in a speech, we don't have that luxury. We either get it the first time or we get lost. And if your audience gets lost they are no longer engaged. Complex thoughts are hard to follow and even harder to recall later. Clarity matters. Simple, clear ideas have the potential to change the world.
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