Video Transcript: Nix The Jargon (Karen Friedman)

Video Transcript: Nix The Jargon (Karen Friedman) 

You know, a number of years ago, I was sitting in a room with a CEO, if you will, of a technology company. And this is back in the day where they had those big mainframe computers, you know, locked in the room that I showed you. And they were rolling out something new. And it was supposed to be the end all be all. And I was in there to help them talk about how they could explain to people why this computer this great technology was just so fabulous, different from the competition. And we had been at this for three and a half hours, and I kid you not we were making absolutely no progress. And all of a sudden, he says to me, I got it. And I went, yeah, great. Tell me. 

He says it has heterogeneous, multiple, versatility, capacity. And he smiled. And I went, What? And he said, Oh, Karen, listen, he said, I, I don't mean to insult you. So I knew it was coming. Right? He says, I don't mean to insult you, but people I'm talking to they understand this. I said, No, they don't. He said Yes, they do. I said no they do not. They know what those words mean. But you have not told them what it means to them. Are they going to be able to save time, money? Can they do more with less because of this big monstrosity in the closet? Will other people be free to do other work? 

So the questions that we need to think about is what does this mean to them? Why should they care? What is the so what, so what, so what, so what, So what? If you're writing a paper you're planning a meeting you're drafting a speech a presentation, take a step back, sit in their seats, and say so what, so what, so what, So what? And if you're not able to answer those questions, redo it.