People ask me all the time how to communicate complex issues to people they must persuade – like their bosses, juries, etc. It’s always challenging to communicate to an audience who has limited attention and perhaps less intellectual horsepower than you’d like, especially when the nuances matter and the stakes of misunderstanding are high.
Quartz asked Neil deGrasse Tyson the same thing last month. How does he get audiences to care about and understand science? Here are some excerpts from that interview that are applicable to any communications challenge.
First, he’s willing to put in the effort. Tyson says, “Given how much thought I give to the universe, the least I can do is think about how to communicate [about it].” Exactly! Communicating about something is a distinct and separate work stream that deserves your energy.
How does he try to reach people who are actively hostile to science? He wraps his message in something (or someone) they care about. “My radio show StarTalk probably has the best chance of reaching those people because my main guest, by design, is not a scientist—it’s someone huge from pop culture. If you’re one of these people who is actively hostile to science, and now you see science framing and wrapping conversations that I’m having with someone you care deeply about—that could be transformative to you.”
Tyson keeps coming back to the idea of really understanding your audiences and caring about their concerns. “If I’m going to be an effective communicator, I’m going to shape the content in a way that can best be received. That’s the only way you know you’re communicating. Otherwise you’re just giving a lecture. If you don’t care [about the demographic], then you’re not in a position to complain that not everyone understood your message.” There’s more on this in the piece – it’s a delightful read!
So, let’s say you need to get your CFO to understand why your content marketing campaign isn’t free? Think hard about what your CFO cares about, what she fears, what drives her crazy. Frame your message in a way that addresses her priorities while sidestepping her hot buttons.
Need to educate a jury? Use metaphor. When Java was newly hitting the world stage, I had to explain application programming interfaces to an editor at Elle Magazine in Paris. I doubt she’d ever written a word about software in her life, let alone about the mechanics of programming languages. “Have you ever made a macaroni necklace?” I asked. Yes she had. “Well, imagine if you had to grow the wheat, grind it into flour and then shape it into macaroni yourself before you could even get started making your necklace. That would be super time consuming, right?” Yes it would, she said. “Application programming interfaces are like pieces of macaroni that a developer can string together to make a necklace (or a web program) quickly.” Oh, I see. We communicated, because I reduced a complex concept to a simple metaphor.
To distill: Treat communication as its own workstream. Dive into understanding your audience. Use metaphors that speak their language. If you can comprehend a complex concept, you can communicate effectively about it!
Communication is the essential last mile in finding and motivating the right teams, acquiring strong allies, powerfully bonding with customers, and capturing mindshare with compelling stories. Nothing will serve you and your vision better than developing exceptional communication skills. If you’d enjoy finding pragmatic communications advice in your inbox every month, please click here to receive poseycorp’s newsletter.
