109. Simplify! How to Communicate Complex Ideas Simply and Effectively
Oct 3, 2023
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Frances Frei, a Harvard Business School professor and former Uber executive, shares her insights on simplifying communication for greater impact. She discusses strategies for building trust and fostering inclusion, emphasizing the balance of authenticity and empathy. Frei highlights the importance of storytelling in problem-solving and the role of clarity in dialogue. She also pays tribute to comedians for their ability to make complex ideas relatable, while underscoring the joy and intent behind effective communication.
Building trust involves actively addressing areas of mistrust and debunking common myths.
Prioritizing inclusion sets the foundation for successful diversity and equity programs.
Deep dives
Building and Supporting Trust
Building trust as a leader involves treating trust as something that can be built and repaired. Trust is not a fixed entity, and leaders should focus on understanding its component parts and addressing any areas of mistrust. By treating trust as a continuous process and debunking common myths, leaders can actively work on maintaining and strengthening trust within their teams and organizations.
Inclusion as the Key to DEI
When implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, organizations should prioritize inclusion. Inclusion sets the foundation for diversity and equity to thrive. By focusing on creating an environment where everyone feels safe, welcome, celebrated, and championed, organizations can foster a sense of belonging and increase their DEI efforts. Inclusion should be approached as an ongoing process, with a clear understanding of the stages: safe, welcome, celebrated, championed.
The Five Steps to Fix Things Fast
The book 'Move Fast and Fix Things' offers a playbook for accelerating excellence in organizations and solving problems efficiently. The five steps are: Identify the real problem, rebuild trust if human interactions are involved, seek new perspectives, tell compelling stories, and finally, move fast. These steps provide a structured approach to problem-solving, emphasizing the importance of understanding the underlying issues, embracing diverse viewpoints, effective communication, and taking action.
You said it. But did they hear it? For Frances Frei, communication is about saying things simply enough for an audience to truly understand.
As a professor of technology and operations management at Harvard Business School, Frei knows that shaping culture within organizations requires communicating in ways that influence how people think and act. The problem for many leaders, she says, is that when we “understand something deeply, we describe it in a complicated way. If you want broad influence and persuasion, we have to understand it really deeply. And then describe it in a simple and compelling enough way that others can take action.”