Idea 21: First, think through what you want to say
What can be said at all can be said clearly.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher
Finding the true simplicity in your professional field’s body of knowledge should be one of the key objects of your own thinking and study. If you can achieve that, then one of the rewards is that you will have greatly enhanced your power to communicate to others.
Willy Brandt, former Chancellor of what was then West Germany, said of Jean Monnet, the father of the Common Market that led to today’s European Union: ‘He had the ability to put complicated matters into simple formulae.’ Doubtless in politics simplicity is a sign of statesmanship, just as it accompanies outstanding ability in the arts and sciences.
Exercise
Take a little time to answer the following questions. They should help to provide some clarity on the concept of being simple:
- Can you think of someone in your professional field who has the gift of making complex matters sound simple without talking down or becoming simplistic?
- Choose one aspect of your work that is by universal consent not easy for a layperson to understand. How would you explain it to a group of hunter-gatherer South American Indians through an interpreter?
- List three reasons why professional people sometimes deliberately choose to take an essentially simple subject in their field and make it sound as complicated as possible.
Remind yourself
Being simple means that your hearers will not be put off by words that are unnecessarily complicated or intricate. But don’t oversimplify or talk down to your audience, even if they are children.