We Could Use the Word Clarity
A word we can’t use anymore to just mean what it originally meant is literally, now I have no problem with language changing over time yet how they word that can mean in the literal sense from literature and also mean in the figurative sense and also mean in the actual sense makes the word kind of pointless, as are you need to explain in what sense you’re using the word and if you want to be clear in your communication, if you want to make sure that people understand what you are trying to tell them or how you are trying to help them, the words that you use can be incredibly important.
So, I prefer to use the word actually or figuratively when I mean those things, because people don’t always hear what you say they hear what they think you meant, or sometimes what they wanted you to say.
As with most quotes I don’t know if this is the right person, but it has been attributed to George Bernard Shaw
“The greatest problem in communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished”.
I want you to read that again, it’s the belief that what you said was heard and understood and yet anyone with children will have used or at least thought the phrase ” how many times have I told you” If you have had to tell somebody something more than once it may well be because you did not communicate it effectively in the first place. Which is why I another common phrase is “repetition brings retention” sometimes you must keep telling people things until they actually understand what it is that you’re trying to tell them, you need to use different mediums, different words, different tones, different body language, and even then sometimes people still don’t get what it is you are trying to explain to them.
Although the incessant use of the word literally to mean almost anything, I literally just got here, it literally flew off the shelves, I literally didn’t say that, does sometimes frustrate me a little, for me it’s not as frustrating as the use of the word leadership, ask anyone to define leadership these days and you will get all the attributes of a good person, and that doesn’t even define good leadership, it just defines a good person and while I encourage you to be a good, moral and ethical person, if what you want to do is lead, understand what that actually means because there are leaders in this world who are not good people, who are not seeking the best outcome for everybody they lead, are not ethical or moral and yet they are leading multinational corporations or even countries you might define as superpowers.
Yes, you can be a good person and a massively successful leader but the two things are not synonymous with each other and so I will keep saying this in as many different ways as I possibly can come up with, because it’s important and I know not everybody will get it and I know that not everybody will agree with me, yet.
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By Andy Walter
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