I had a brief conversation with a very nice, young, new neighbor of mine last weekend. And in the course of the conversation, I asked what he did for a living and he said, and I quote, “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And also blah.” And I said, “I assume you started as a software engineer?” and he replied, “Yup.” I think I understood the “yup” part, but for the life of me, I have no idea what he does other than I believe it involves artificial general intelligence (AGI), so maybe he can explain why my new refrigerator keeps laughing at me. 

We did, however, communicate pretty well when the subject turned to beer, so I’m hoping he doesn’t have to move to find a smarter neighbor. As the world gets crazier, more complex and just, well … more, it gets increasingly difficult to get your important information into people’s heads. Writing for people who don’t know what you know requires a different and empathetic approach, and until AI takes over this function – and it will – it would be helpful to consider these following tips.

This is something that specifically addresses internal communication, but is just as applicable to communicating with your stakeholders. There are trite phrases that we hear all the time and listeners find them far more offensive than authentic.