Are you more muddled than you used to be? Is your mind cluttered with trivia? A new poll reveals that 66 percent of people feel this way (actually two of the three people I asked said so), and several explanations have been offered.
One obvious cause is microwave radiation from the mobile phones we’ve been pressing to our skulls. Interestingly, the thicker you are to begin with the better protected you are, making mobile phones a great equalizer.
Another possible reason for foggy thoughts comes from a prominent IR practitioner who calls the phenomenon the millennium effect. With convoluted logic he links it to an increased amount of sex enjoyed by the wildlife around his country home – squirrels, rabbits, birds – and seems hopeful this millennial manifestation will extend to humans. However both the observation and the anticipation may be chalked up to the increased amount of time on his semi-retired hands.
A more likely explanation is that there is simply – or rather complicatedly – much more information more easily and quickly available than ever before. The world is both bigger (more people and more economic, commercial and political activity) and smaller (the internet and other new technology making geography and time relics of the past).
To keep a clear head and avoid the millennium effect, worship clarity not complexity. When you surf the internet, ask yourself if it makes your job any easier or harder. Before you subscribe to a new magazine or newspaper, question whether it will be an intelligent information filter or a firehose of useless detail. When you hire a new employee, make sure they don’t take simple tasks and transform them into more work for you. And finally, if you’re at Niri’s annual conference in San Francisco this month, look for presentations and panel discussions that distill the tremendous volume of IR flux into concrete, useable lessons.
Problem is, modern communication has always been about expanding basic messages, not reducing them. Higher education – at least when I suffered it – was an exercise in making the simple very complicated: take a ten-word theme and write 10,000 words on it. An effective communicator today needs to do just the opposite.
If you’re feeling snowed in by information overload as an IRO, remember the poor analysts and investors buried beneath mountains of research. New companies are entering the market all the time. Existing ones are much more nimble at switching strategy and creating new alliances. New technologies are multiplying faster than rabbits in cottage country. One result is that investors now rely more on direct contact with public companies, and it’s up to you as a professional communicator to deliver a succinct message. In short, cut out the muddle-man.
