Words That Don't Work

We're all still digesting the new President's inauguration speech - both Bert Decker and Ian Griffin did a fine job analyzing it. If you're a writer and a speaker or either one of them, you should subscribe to both blogs. I borrowed the title to this post from another writer. One who makes his home in the political arena - Frank Luntz. As he espouses in his post at the Huffington Post:

Democracy is at its best when its practioners use language to unite and explain rather than divide and attack.

He wrote that post two full years ago - if you scroll down to the end of the post, you will see he had also written how Obama was doing well because he was offering a hopeful vision. You have to admit, he was paying attention.

This post is not about Obama's speech, nor it is about the use of questionable language, which is what Luntz got in the comments and to which he responded:

for those of you who criticize my use of words -- which are all of you -- consider the words you yourself use.

Consider yourself the words you use is excellent advice. As marketers and communicators, we should be on top of articulating our advice to other business colleagues. Yet, we come up short. Why?

Because we have developed out own lingo and do not use language in the most powerful ways - to move the business into execution mode, aligned behind serving customers' needs and attracting prospects. All because of those few words.

When we say... we mean... they hear

Let's run a couple of tests. Talk about marketing with a business strategist and they will roll their eyes and tell you that it's all fluff. Well, admittedly a lot of marketing is fluff. There is no anchor to a solid business benefit, or value to the customer, or point of differentiation... let me translate that for non marketers - it means I do see how it's relevant to me and why I should pick this one, instead of that one.

That wasn't so hard, was it? The point is that we're so used to talking with each other - or at worst in our own heads - that we forget to translate what we mean for our colleagues. So our stock is devalued right off the bat. I caught myself a couple of days ago talking about telling the story. What I meant really was communicate why this is relevant to my customer. See the problem?

Now take that into the social media lingo and you're in trouble. The purpose of the Obama campaign was not to use cool social media tools, it was to reach people where they were - at home in front of the TV or in the office in front of what is becoming our first screen - the computer.

The intent was to help connect people with the candidate and his team and especially with each other. Remember the Tupperware parties and the Avon ladies? Same principle at work to help spread the word. We talk to more people when we share in the creation of what we're saying and we hang out in the same space.

When we say social media, the business hears new channel to push messages, we mean helping make connections and develop relationships with customers and prospects by being present and remarkable. Big disconnect. The message does not carry across. 

Whose line is it anyway?

It's our turn to learn how to communicate in the language of business. So that we can carry across the learnings about (1) what's happening in the marketplace, (2) how are our current customers' needs changing and (3) what is causing those changes - and also (4) where our opportunities are and (5) how the business can satisfy those opportunities.

Do we make an attempt at truly understanding how our colleagues see the business and how they talk about it? Can we say "we" more often than "I"? Can we balance "you" with "they"? Obama's speech did that. Check out the word tree of the inauguration speech [hat tip to Ian Griffin].

Less 'positioning', more building expectations and delivering on them with experience. Less 'brand' and 'message' talk, more purpose-idea and being worth talking about.

Let's use more words that work. Words matter. It's not about passing an exam or looking smart, it's about moving people to execution in the most connective and productive ways. Sometimes we just play a war of words.

What words in your lingo are you going to change in order to carry more meaning across in conversations with your business partners? How about talking with your family about all the time you spend on FriendFeed and Twitter? Any words that work there?

[for the story behind the image, go here. Yes, I wrote "story". We're among colleagues here.]

Comments

[Tiffany Monhollon]

So much good stuff here - I love the point about positioning social media to business. This point is really, really complicated in real practice though.

For me, it's important to first show how we can do old things in new ways to get buy in. In the corporate world, sometimes this is a necessary evil. (See, I pitched a story to a national reporter I know through Twitter!)

The next step is showing how the paradigm shift should be taking place in a larger sense in the organization. Building those relationships, doing remarkable things worth being talked about... But still, you often have to build something first with hopes they will come. Which is difficult, since buy-in is often required before action.

OK, so talking to people about the time I spend on Twitter is a conversation that goes like this:

It helps me build relationships, share ideas, and become better at my job.

[Lauren Vargas]

I am fond of the saying by Elizabeth Gilbert in her book, 'Eat, Pray, Love': "Say it like you eat it." Of course, not with your mouth full! ;)

[Phil Andres]

Fabulous point about the overuse of jargon among different business groups. There are too many examples of people using language which, purposely or not, excludes those who are not part of their home group. Great communicators and conversationalists use language that includes. Keep up the good work.

[Carolyn Ann]

Just a quick point: I *strongly* disagree with Frank Luntz. Democracy does not work best when we "use language to unite and explain rather than divide and attack."

People on the right want to silence those on the left; the evangelically religious want to unite everyone behind a few ideas that are more "groupthink" than democratic, and the left would rather the right simply realized the hopelessness of their positions. Democracy is best when people disagree; it's strength is that it allows people to disagree; sometimes, strongly. I like it when strong disagreement happens; it's fun, and it proves democracy is alive and well.

Democracy works best when everyone can have a say. I should point out that there is, of course, no requirement that anyone listen to "you". It would be a poor democracy that united everyone in a common view; diversity of opinion is the fundamental basis of democracy; without that, you have something a mockery, a facade, of the democratic process.

As far as the speech is concerned, I think it was quite good. A call to arms, and a laying of responsibility. There's quite a lot of lexical analysis out there of it; there seems to be less conceptual analysis, however. :-)

Carolyn Ann

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Tiffany - I'm glad you said that, it is about scaling small wins, learning by doing, adapting, experiencing. You almost have to hide what you're doing until it's ready for prime time. That will also keep all the other cooks out of your kitchen :) I think Twitter can be more. I've been trying different things and there will be a post in the not too distant future about what I'm learning. Good food for thought, thank you.

@Lauren - it's an appointment with you when I write about language and I like that a lot. How about live it like you mean it. Maybe I'll stick to marketing...

@Phil - we become so immune to jargon that we do ourselves a disservice. Thank you for visiting and for the kind words.

@Carolyn Ann - I still prefer when there are no attacks or verbal abuse. Fair enough? In fact, I think I said it a couple of times (it's a book, too) thank you for arguing. The speech was balanced and at times even somber in my view. I watched it on TV at the company's bistro. The conceptual analysis will come as the Government begins to execute. Everyone is probably in shock for the difference, at the moment.

[Stephen Denny]

Valeria:

Good points all around -- saying "we" instead of "you" when discussing how to best approach problems reframes our sense of "us." When we stop preaching to others and start exhorting "us" to do better, we get more buy-in because "we're all in this together."

This especially applies in politics. Both Obama and McCain tried diligently to be inclusive - both were aiming for "we," and it showed in their messaging and polling data. There are idealogues on both the political left and right who refuse to acknowledge the other side and they are correctly painted into their respective corners by the rest of us.

The real test of words, of course, is action. We'll see how our new president delivers on his rhetoric in the coming months and years. In this age of ubiquitous communication, we'll all know his score card within moments, either way.

[Peter Korchnak]

Words... White and Schrunk's "Elements of Style" remains the best guide to writing well. My favorite rule: Omit needless words. Amen.

[Suzanna Stinnett]

Ah, it's Valeria, tackling the lingo beast yet again. Thank you for getting it into the corral so we can get a good look at it - I know I spend at least half my work hours wrestling with the meaning - the meaning, meaning, meaning, of the words I want to use to help my readers understand why the words are important. Shiver. Yes. Let's use words that work. And let's work on those words. And speaking of work, let me say one thing plainly. I am sick of hearing people say "we will see" in regard to Obama's words. Obama has made it clear that what is going to make things work is citizens willing to do the work. So the only thing "we will see" is what we are actually willing to DO as individuals. It's we can, not he can. One thing we can do is speak and write with great deliberation and clarity. That's a gift, and it's work. Thanks again to Valeria for strong-arming the beast and including us all.

[Brody Bond]

Great post.

Once you have the meaning, the words no longer matter.

But, communicating meaning is the struggle we all have. In fact, if we could talk about meaning without having to use words, we'd probably disagree about less stuff.

This reminds us to ask lots of questions and remain humble all the time.