Change Communications

Taken from a tribute to Ed Robertson…

It was over lunch that Ed said something I will never forget. He looked at me and asked what I thought the biggest obstacle to effective communication is. I was stumped. I took a couple of half-witted stabs at his question, then gave up. “I dunno,” I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

“Information,” Ed said. “In one word, the biggest obstacle to effective communication is information.”

I was still stumped.

“How can that be?” I asked. “Isn’t conveying information the purpose of communication in business?”

It is one purpose, he explained, but merely conveying information creates the common misimpression that communication is accomplished. The information may or may not be clear. It may or may not be understood. It may or may not be accepted as real and relevant and complete. Without a conversation, without dialogue, you have no idea whether the information was truly conveyed in a clear, credible, compelling way. Moreover, you have the impression it was, when it may not have been.

It was Ed, if memory serves, who brought to the profession the memorable quote from George Bernard Shaw: “The biggest problem with communication is the illusion it has been accomplished.”