Message Not Received. Simon Phil

in order. Let me briefly explain what this book does not attempt to do.

Neither Necessary Nor Sufficient: No Guarantees

      The prolific management author Tom Peters once wrote, “Communication is everyone’s panacea for everything.” I couldn’t agree more. There’s something inherently reassuring about getting everyone on the same page. Unfortunately, a bad idea is still a bad idea, even if everyone perfectly understands it. Coca-Cola’s 1985 launch of New Coke was an unmitigated disaster. A better communications strategy would not have changed its fate.

      Make no mistake: Clear, concise, timely, and context-appropriate communication is more important than ever. At the same time, though, it guarantees absolutely nothing in business. Communicating well at work is neither necessary nor sufficient for a successful outcome. Consider the following:

      ● An employee completely understands her manager’s clearly defined expectations. Despite her best intentions, for whatever reason, she still does not meet his goals.

      ● An employee misinterprets his manager’s vague or even undeclared directions and still somehow knocks his socks off.

      ● A developer knows her client well enough that, when he says one thing, she recognizes that he really means something else entirely.

      ● A middle manager has learned to ignore his VP’s demands to immediately implement the latest shiny new thing. He knows that his VP will move on to another toy next week.

      ● A CEO totally grasps what a software vendor is trying to sell to his organization. Furthermore, he fully believes in the benefits and/or return on investment (ROI) of the product. Despite all of this, he still does not pull the trigger.

      ● A company president completely misconstrues what a software vendor has sold to her organization. Despite this inauspicious beginning, two years later, the new application is wildly successful.

      Each of these scenarios is possible. There’s a world of difference between possible and probable, though. These situations are the exceptions that prove the rule. All else being equal, a better message is more likely to yield better business results. This book stops short of making unrealistic promises. Effective messages in and of themselves won’t ensure a successful project, partnership, merger, acquisition, product launch, new hire, marketing campaign, or sale. All sorts of internal and external variables can derail even the most promising prospects.

Intentional Omissions: Nonverbal Communication, Psychology, and Personality Types

      Allow me to state the obvious: To a significant degree, our choice of words determines how – and whether – our audiences ultimately receive our messages. We shouldn’t forget, however, that nonverbal factors are often just as important, if not more so. These include our facial expressions, gestures, body language, posture, and paralinguistics (e.g., tone of voice, loudness, inflection, and pitch). It would be irresponsible to dismiss the importance of nonverbal communication. This meaty topic is well beyond my realm of expertise. As such, it lies outside of the scope of this book. (If you’re curious about the subject, The Definitive Book of Body Language, by Barbara Pease, is worth checking out.)

      Next, Message Not Received is not a psychology book. It does not examine the most effective ways to communicate to disparate personality types. You won’t find any overt references to psychometric questionnaires. No Myers-Briggs Type Indicators.19 It also ignores the differences between introverts and extroverts. (If you’re curious about this subject, check out Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain.)

Tone

      Message Not Received delves into our challenges with business communications (hence the subtitle). As I wrote in Why New Systems Fail, failure teaches us a great deal. Business books like Good to Great by Jim Collins suffer from relying exclusively on successful examples – or at least, companies that had been successful at certain points. That is never wise. As you know from reading the Preface, this book cites examples of how not to communicate but does not harp on negativity. Message Not Received is ultimately a positive book with a tone that is intended to be more instructive than paternalistic or snippy. You will not find any criticisms of honest grammatical errors and typos.

      1

      At one point, Apple had more cash on hand than the U.S. government. The company could have bought Greece. For other interesting and crazy potential uses of its piggy bank, see http://tinyurl.com/wow-apple.

      2

      To see a fairly comprehensive list of recently retired Microsoft products, check out this Pinterest board: http://tinyurl.com/ms-8208-pinterest3.

      3

      Steven Vaughan-Nichols, “Windows Has Fallen Behind Apple iOS and Google Android,” December 12, 2012, www.zdnet.com/a

1

At one point, Apple had more cash on hand than the U.S. government. The company could have bought Greece. For other interesting and crazy potential uses of its piggy bank, see http://tinyurl.com/wow-apple.

2

To see a fairly comprehensive list of recently retired Microsoft products, check out this Pinterest board: http://tinyurl.com/ms-8208-pinterest3.

3

Steven Vaughan-Nichols, “Windows Has Fallen Behind Apple iOS and Google Android,” December 12, 2012, www.zdnet.com/article/windows-has-fallen-behind-apple-ios-and-google-android/.

4

Emil Protalinski, “IDC: Android Hit 81.0 % Smartphone Share in Q3 2013, iOS Fell to 12.9 %, Windows Phone Took 3.6 %, BlackBerry at 1.7 %,” November 12, 2013, http://tinyurl.com/pge5kso.

5

Read that e-mail at www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/ceo/index.html.

6

Read the whole memo at http://tinyurl.com/ptu99fh.

7

Yes, I wrote this book on my MacBook Pro, but for my money Microsoft Office is hands down the best productivity suite out there. And, more than five years after I “went Mac,” I am still in search of a decent alternative to Microsoft Access.

8

Read the whole memo at http://tinyurl.com/nlronl9.

9

See www.csc.com.

10

“CSC Launches Next-Generation

19

In essence, the theory proposes that a great deal of ostensibly random variation in human behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent. It stems from basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use our perception and judgment.