Communication

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Communication is the science of transmitting knowledge to other humans. It goes by many names: debate, negotiation, discussion, talking, education, listening, and many more. Communication is a skill that is learnable.

The person who tells the most compelling story wins. Not the best idea. Just the story that catches people's attention and gets them to nod their heads. Tell people what they want to hear and you can be wrong indefinitely without penalty. Crafting and telling stories is part of what makes humans humans. Stories let us coordinate across time and space.

• You can not not communicate. Not discussing the elephant in the room is communicating. Few things are as important to study, practice, and perfect as clear communication.
• Whenever possible, communicate directly with those you're addressing rather than passing the message through intermediaries.
• Communication between a large group is hard. Noise in the processes might change the message and cause conflicts. Nuance is hard to convey in groups.
  • The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.
• Some tips to simplify communications:
  • Use a few bullet points to put attention on the main points you want to convey.
  • Without going overboard, use a tasteful amount of graphic design (e.g: bolding one key sentence).
  • Break up a giant nuanced block into sections.
  • If something is critical, make it visual.
• If you want an answer, you have toask a question. People typically have a lot to say, but they'll volunteer little.

Resources

• Effective Communications
• Nonviolent Communication
• Asynchronous Communications