The subtitle for Frank Luntz’ book Words That Work is “It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.” How true. How many times have you had to say, “But that’s not what I said!” ?
Although many will consider this a partisan book, there are some very good points that should be considered whenever a message needs to be successfully delivered.
The book begins with the Ten Rules of Successful Communication:
- Simplicity: Use small words.
- Brevity: Use short sentences
- Credibility is as important as philosophy
- Consistency matters
- Novelty: Offer something new
- Sound and texture matter
- Speak aspirationally
- Visualize
- Ask a question
- Provide context (frame) and explain relevance
Sounds like basic advertising. But how often do we actually incorporate these rules into our own messages? Take the time the next few days and look and listen to the messages bombarding you. What makes one phrase stick in your memory over another? What emotion is stirred? When we speak are we successfully communicating our message to where our listener actually hears what we’re trying to say? How do we know if they’re hearing something completely different?