In aviation, an instrument in the plane (the altimeter) measures the absolute pressure wherever the plane happens to be. But without a reference point — the sea level pressure — the instrument would report an arbitrary altitude. Without this, Air Traffic Control could not keep plain planes on different planes, leading to a plane pain above the plains.In big business, it’s a different C-level pressure. The Chief ____ Officer’s must plan, produce, protect, and… present. I don’t know if there’s a handbook that is passed out when one becomes a C, but it would seem there is a chapter in this purported book that converts facts and clear communication into a stream of buzzword bingo. Too often buzzwords are substituted for content You’re more likely to hear “we need to leverage our domain strategy to empower our customers and stabilize our market growth with win-wins based on our value proposition” than “If we give our customers something of value, they’ll do backflips to buy more and they’ll even tell others about us“. The more abstract your message, the less you really have a message. “Development needs to share their code changes with testing before they build them” is a lot clearer than “we need our project leads within the development function to collaborate on their strategic initiatives.” Action follows understanding which follows clarity of message.Use a common base (reference point) so that everyone can be on the same plane.
Good, clear communication is level-less. Anyone can do it.
