E-couragement: Hype
“The very first law in advertising is to avoid the concrete promise and cultivate the delightfully vague.” Bill Cosby August is an expensive month for me; both my daughters have birthdays. This year they turn sixteen and twenty-two. I took my oldest, Taylor, to New York City for her celebration. We stayed in the New Yorker Hotel, shopped (then shopped some more), and saw a Broadway play. While hiking around the city I noticed the multitude of messages competing for my attention at any given moment. On one hot and humid afternoon there was a particular sign that caught my eye above all others.
In today’s world, it’s getting tougher to communicate with impact. It’s a challenge for businesses to project a clear and compelling message to potential customers or employees. Several issues contribute to this challenge:
- There’s a tremendous amount of “noise” competing for our shortened attention spans.
- Advertising is recognized as being more hype than reality.
- Corporations have gained a reputation for spinning information which has damaged the credibility of leaders.
- The words and actions of leaders are often misaligned causing employees to view them as incongruent or inauthentic.
What can be done to combat these current realities, which prevent effective and meaningful communication?
Perhaps this New York company has a lesson for us. How did they earn my attention amidst all the noise? What caused people to actually stop in the street and read their sign? They applied a timeless communication principle—their message is the simple truth—nothing more, nothing less.
Several years back my friend and colleague, Emily Howard, provided me with valuable coaching. I was facilitating a learning and development workshop—belaboring over how to articulate a specific point I wanted to make for our audience. After allowing me to struggle for the appropriate amount of time, Emily stopped my madness and sternly said, “Rich, they’re smart. They’ll get it. Just say it.”
As an engaging leader, apply the strategy of speaking the simple truth to your audience. It will set your message apart from other meaningless noise. What is it that you have to say? What message is yours to speak? Leave behind the hype and spin. Trust your listeners. Resist the urge to claim something you’re not. With a message like that, your listeners are sure to stop and take notice.
Leave your comment: When did a business, or leader, communicate a message that caused you to take notice?