Page 71 - The Voice of Authority

team considered a grave danger. The vice president of op-
erations of the acquired division wrote memo after memo
over a six-month period, asking for budget approval on
money to repair the pipeline. No response from head-
quarters.
The situation reached a critical point. During this in-
terim period one Friday, I was in Mike’s organization
working on another project. He mentioned his concern
and asked me to take a look at his document requesting
the budget approval to repair the pipeline. The problem
was immediately apparent. His punch line—his request
for approval for the money to repair the dangerous
pipeline—was literally in the last paragraph of the two-
page document. I suggested that he reverse the structure.
On Tuesday, Mike had his money—along with this note
from the legendary Armand Hammer, then CEO of Occi-
dental: “Why haven’t I been notified of this problem be-
fore now?” The documents had repeatedly landed on his
desk apparently unread because the bottom-line message
remained buried.
People may argue that others won’t understand the mes-
sage without a little back-
ground information. But
actually the opposite is true: People may argue that
People will never under-
stand the background until others won’t understand
they know your point. the message without a
You are reminded of this little background infor-
principle every time you lis- mation. But actually the
ten to a voice mail that opposite is true: People will
sounds like an autobiogra- never understand the
phy before somebody gets background until they
around to stating their pur- know your point.
pose and phone number.

Is It Clear? 59