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Making Your Words Count 159

them to do. I had a high school science teacher who had a brilliant
mind. One day I stopped by his desk to ask about my homework
assignment and got an hour-long lecture on the whole human
anatomy. He was sharing great knowledge, but it wasn’t what I wanted
to know, and I tuned out after the first five minutes.
When you are an expert on a subject and feel passionate about
it, it’s easy to get carried away and go on for too long, alienating
your listener instead of catching them up in your enthusiasm.
The antidote? When you are getting ready to speak or propose
something to someone, just cut to the chase up front. Prioritize and
give them your key points, then ask if they have any questions or
want more detail about anything.
Rebecca Ranninger, chief human resources officer at Symantec,
says that from an early age women are inclined to gather all the
details they can about things in which they’re interested. But then
they use that same idea generation process when they are communi-
cating with others, and want to share every little thing they know.
Rebecca says you are sure to lose people if you start with, “Well this
is how I got started . . .” Her advice is, “Start where you want to end
up, and then work backwards. Your audience needs three good rea-
sons why they should know something and why they should go there
or do this,” she says. “The further you go beyond the basics, the more
opportunity you have to lose them.”
Keeping it simple is also key when explaining a complex issue.
Using acronyms or jargon might make you feel authoritative and like
an “insider,” but know your audience. What is convenient shorthand
with one group will leave another clueless as to what you are talking
about. Gerri Elliott, corporate vice president of World Wide Pubic Sec-
tor of Microsoft, says, “I believe in simplicity in words and thoughts.
In a company like Microsoft, it can be easy to overcomplicate things.
For example, it can get very complicated to explain why and how
Microsoft is shifting from being a product company to being a solu-