Quotes About Communication

Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.

Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.

When you say three things, you say nothing.

People are tempted to tell you everything, with perfect accuracy, right up front, when they should be giving you just enough info to be useful, then a little more, then a little more.

To make our communications more effective, we need to shift our thinking from "What information do I need to convey?" to "What questions do I want my audience to ask?

for creating a successful idea: a Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Story.

Responsiveness encompasses three things: Understanding: My partner knows how I see myself and what is important to me. Validation: My partner respects who I am and what I want. Caring: My partner takes active and supportive steps in helping me meet

So if you reach the Riders of your team but not the Elephants, team members will have understanding without motivation. If you reach their Elephants but not their Riders, they'll have passion without direction. In

Statistics are rarely meaningful in and of themselves. Statistics will, and should, almost always be used to illustrate a relationship. It's more important for people to remember the relationship than the number.

Direct the Rider. What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity. So provide crystal-clear direction. (Think 1% milk.) Motivate the Elephant. What looks like laziness is often exhaustion. The Rider can't get his way by force for very long. So it's critical that you engage people's emotional side

In highly successful change efforts, people find ways to help others see the problems or solutions in ways that influence emotions, not just thought.

Relationships don't deepen naturally. In the absence of action, they will stall.

Clarity dissolves resistance.

So, rather than guess about whether people will understand our ideas, we should ask, "Is it concrete?" Rather than speculate about whether people will care, we should ask, "Is it emotional? Does it get out of Maslow's basement? Does it force people to put on an Analytical Hat or allow them to feel empathy?

What they realized was that they didn't need their colleagues to understand something, they needed them to feel something.

If you want your ideas to be stickier, you've got to break someone's guessing machine and then fix it.

One of the worst things about knowing a lot, or having access to a lot of information, is that we're tempted to share it all.

One important implication of the gap theory is that we need to open gaps before we close them. Our tendency is to tell people the facts. First, though, they must realize that they need these facts. The

When responsiveness is coupled with openness, though, intimacy can develop quickly.

if appropriate, add an element of surprise.

avoid useless accuracy, and to dodge the Curse of Knowledge, is to use analogies.

If we want more moments of connection, we need to be more responsive to others.

acting with responsiveness to others can create tighter bonds:

Simple ideas: short sentences (compact) drawn from long experience