But your mother is a great litmus test for your messaging
How much time and thought have we spent building scenarios and thinking about the reception of a report, a press release or a statement on a current issue where our company or client is expected to have – or even required to have – an opinion?
Knowing your subject too well is often the big risk when it comes to communications: it presents the risk that your story will be far too detailed and ultimately incomprehensible. The point of your story will disappear in a cadre of details that do not contribute to the overall picture, much less to the point of what you actually want to say.
But there is another risk factor: anxiety.
Your message should be clear, but not overly clear. It should answer that part of the question we want to address, but no more. Or maybe we don’t really want to comment on it, but still need to say something?
This is when anxiety risks taking over and being the informal guiding light – with terrible results.
Anxiety depletes
Anxiety is almost worse than over-complicating your story, because it risks depleting your message so that it disappears completely. Not in the details, but in the fact that you are not saying anything of importance at all.
The anxiety of not being trendy or cool enough has long been a problem with advertising agencies, for example. But I see the symptoms becoming more and more common even in corporate communications and investor relations as well.
We, representing our company or our client, must not be afraid of not satisfying everyone. If you satisfy everyone, you satisfy no one and you fail in your communication.
Standing tall
Let me give a good example of both a lack of details and a lack of anxiety.
The Swedish business newspaper Dagens Industri [in Swedish] reported that the large Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson had donated $500,000 to the inauguration of US President Donald Trump. The company was the only major Swedish company to donate money to the event and the paper also revealed it was the first time Ericsson had donated money to such an event. The criticism was swift and the storm soon became a hurricane for Ericsson.
Then the company decided to let its CFO, Lars Sandström, respond to the criticism. In a short statement in connection with the quarterly report, Sandström said (in my freely translated version): ‘We are in a regulated industry and it is important that we have the opportunity to interact with authorities and present ours, and our customers’, positions.’
Ericsson did not take a position on the matter, but the message remained liberatingly honest and clear. No flattery and no explanation of the discussions and possible doubts that preceded the decision were offered. Sandström clearly stood tall in the storm, without anxiety about what the company had done. Sandström standing tall!
Find your litmus test
A sounding board for your IR message is a great tool to avoid the pitfalls of over-explaining or of getting too anxious about your communications.
My mom Elisabeth is my litmus test in both cases. I have a hard time explaining to her what it is I do during my working day: why words are so important and how it can take so long to carve out the story my company wants to tell.
This makes my mom Elisabeth an excellent litmus test for my final product. If I get too detailed, I can see her attention fading away. Zero points for me. If she thinks I’m too cocky and should be a little humbler, she’ll let that be known.
But if she understands the point, then I know it works for a wider audience. Don’t forget to find your own person to serve as a litmus test for what you want to communicate, someone that will help you stand tall in your story.
