There's No Need to Make Things Up

 

Situation: You need to make a point.

So often people feel like they have to "exhaggerate for effect".  People do this every day now because its a cheap way to create a hot headline or get a laugh.  I've done it myself a thousand times, but I also know what it's like to be on the receiving end of that sort of thing on a regular basis.  The person who always blows things out of proportion never seems like they are telling the truth.  Eventually their credibility is gone and it's very hard to get back.

I felt the need to mention this now, after watching a couple friends fail because they didn't take the time to thoughtfully communicate with their team.  I think we all run across this sort of situation many times during our careers.  There are also many times when we run across some great advice related to the basics.  Here are two that I've just come across.  Each of them is very much worth a quick read.

The first is about being "real" or authentic in the same natural way you would be with friends.  We've heard a lot about this recently, but I like the angle that this article takes on the subject.  Why is Business Writing So Awful? walks you through how much of what we write for business is overly sanitized and devoid of meaning.  If you look at the examples of great writing in this article, they are just people saying what they mean - talking about their real intentions and goals in a meaningful way.  If we could all do more of that, the world would be a better place.

The second outlines a simple truth related to basic story-telling.  The ideas contained in The Five Basic Stories That Can Give Your Speeches Power are just as true when relaying a story to a team member as they are when you talking to a crowd.

All of this often takes a little work, but I think it's work worth doing.  What do you think?