Tell a story to lead someone safely through the point you want to make
Most people don't like to think about how they communicate because it's both scary and awkward. On the one hand, they feel unclear and not effective. On the other, they feel like they are pitching all the time in an effort to manipulate people into thinking or doing something. What they want is to be authentic and collaborative and also clear and compelling. And they'd like it all to be effortless, because evaluating one's communication is like staring too long at the mirror. Of course, all this concern with being authentic instead of thinking through how we want to communicate comes with a price. When we are authentic, we are more likely to say something that stops our message from reaching the people we want to reach. We let ourselves get away with being unclear; we make it hard to imagine the things we describe; and when it goes wrong, we say, "I did my best." @canstockphoto.ca/nejron Your best communication is not authentic; it doesn't ju...