The Articulate CEO

Can We Make Twitter Useful? The #simplydefined Challenge

I want to invite you to be a part of a communication experiment. The world is full of ideas and concepts that we use and discuss everyday but that most of us have very little understanding of. For example, most of us probably don't know what a 'planet' actually is or how a 'combustion engine' works or what 'Einstein's Theory of Relativity' is about. They are all things we are familiar with but for most of us they are more abstract concept than practical knowledge.

Could we explain them to someone else? More to the point, could we explain them to someone else in 140 characters or less? Welcome to the #simplydefined challenge!

I have set up a Twitter account @simplydefined to do just that. I want to provide, with your help, simple and succinct definitions of the sorts of concepts and ideas that we use everyday but perhaps don't truly understand. Because we are using Twitter as our medium those definitions have to be 140 characters or less and for some of our bigger ideas and concepts that is going to be a real challenge. Because of that challenge we need as many people as possible to contribute. If you are willing to follow @simplydefined then I am willing to follow you. If you can define something better than someone else then I want your contribution. Let's see how big this thing can get and let's all become part of the 9% of Twitter that is not pointless babble or conversation, self-promotion or spam but actually passes on useful information.

To get things started...

Planet = 1. in orbit around sun 2. enough self-gravity to be round in shape 3. nothing else in its orbit 4. not a satellite

Combustion Engine - spark ignites fuel chamber creating sml explosion. Gas pushes piston, drives crankshaft connected to axle, wheels move

Einstein Theory Relativity is 2 theories, special & general. Special = time and space are relative. General - matter causes space to curve.

Join in and feel free to ask any questions. We will endeavour to get them answered for you!

Ground Control to Major Tom...

These funny conversations are alleged to have taken place between air traffic controllers, pilots and air crew around the world. Not only are they funny but they also provide examples of not so great communications and relationships between 'customers and suppliers', in the context of achieving quality of customer service and service delivery. There is always room for well placed humour and/or firmness in organizational communications, but when misplaced, effective inter-group working can be undermined, especially when a little misogyny, xenophobia or arrogance is thrown into the mix. Enjoy with thanks from http://www.businessballs.com/

 

From R Brown (19 Apr 2011):

A few years ago at our Air Traffic Centre we received warning that an undisclosed number of US Air Force B2 Bombers would be crossing our FIR [Flight Information Region] at a particular time on a particular day. They would check in with us as they entered our airspace and check out again as they left. They gave us the callsign to expect, and the route was known, so it was logical to assume that they would contact us at a certain time at a certain place. The callsign and reporting points have been changed to protect the innocent. Being the then famous new 'Stealth' bombers we would know little about it but they would pay us the courtesy of letting us know they were there. Eric, a very capable controller with a keen sense of humour was on position, and heard, "UAE Area, this is USAFB2. This is a courtesy call advising that we are about to enter your airspace." Eric replied, "USAFB2, welcome to UAE Airspace, we have you on radar 200 miles out over LOTUS, hope you enjoy your visit." Without thinking the Stealth Bomber replied, "Thank you UAE, it a pleasure to be... Wait - you got us on Radar? 200 miles out? You shittin' me?" "That's affirmative USAFB2," said Eric, "I'm shittin' you. Enjoy your visit."

 

From Jim (Aug 2010):

In 1978 I was a trainee Air Traffic Controller under supervision at Collage Station Texas, Easterwood Tower. This is a true story of a radio discussion one afternoon:

Unknown Aircraft: "Hello?.."
Easterwood Tower (me): "Please say again."
UA: "What?"
ET: "Who is this?"
UA: "This is Joe"
ET: "This is Easterwood Tower, where are you?"
UA: "I'm in the plane!"
(I looked down the flight line, checking if someone was sitting in a parked plane playing with the radio. I didn't see anything, and the senior controller was becoming more interested in my handling of the situation.)
ET: "Joe, where is the pilot?"
UA: "He got out when the engine quit.."
(I could only imagine a bizarre scenario in which the pilot had jumped from the plane.)
ET: "Joe, what does your airspeed indicator read?"
UA: (Long pause) "Zero?"
(So the plane was now in a stall I thought.)
ET: "Joe, whatever you have in front of you - a stick or a steering wheel - push it forward - you need to get airspeed over your wings!"
UA: "Are you sure?"
ET: "Yes Joe you need to push it forward... (pause)... What does your airspeed indicator read now?"
UA: "It's still zero."
(I thought, oh my god, Joe's plane was in a falling leaf spin. I couldn't help him. Joe was going to die. I did not know what to do. I looked to the senior controller. He said, "Ask him where his plane is.")
ET: "Joe, where is your plane?"
UA: "We are parked down at the end of the runway, the pilot got out when the engine quit and walked back to the hanger.."
ET: "Joe, get off the radio."

 

From Dave (Mar 2010):

I was told this story by an air traffic controller from his time at a joint military/civilian airport. An F-4 (USAAF fighter jet) pilot requested clearance to take off, but due to the amount of civilian traffic the ATC told him he'd have to hold. After a repeated impatient request by the F-4 to take-off the ATC suggested that if the pilot could reach 14,000ft within half the runway length he could take off; otherwise he would have to hold. To the ATC's surprise the F-4 pilot acknowledged the tower and began to roll. At the halfway mark the F-4 went vertically up until he reached 14,000ft, then levelled off. The ATC had no option than to hand the pilot over to departures and wish him a nice day, since he'd met the conditions laid down. The ATC said it was the darndest thing he ever saw.

 

Sizzle or Steak? A Lesson From The World of Advertising

One of the biggest battles I face when dealing with CEO's is convincing them that their communication issues are not the result of what they think they don't do well but rather what they think they already have a handle on. In other words, when it comes to communication, it isn't the presentation skills or surface displays that are letting them down but the message.

It is an attitude that is the corporate equivalent of "sell the sizzle not the steak" but you can only do that if you are dealing with quality steak in the first place. Sadly, in the corporate world the "steak" or message is often quite awful. The fact is that if your message is overly complicated, irrelevant, discredited, boring and predictable then no amount of dressing it up is going to help and the proof of this is all around us - it's called advertising.

Think about it... the vast majority of advertisements you see on T.V. are slickly produced and beautifully made. They are well lit and cleverly filmed. They employ quality actors who know how to deliver a tag line and how to look good doing it. They are even scheduled for maximum impact in a timeslot specifically tailored to their target audience and they are repeated ad nauseum in case you missed it the first time. There is hardly a criticism to be made from a "sizzle" point of view but many miss the mark and fail to influence those that they were aimed at. Why? Because the "steak" is crap.

Just because an ad agency knows how to make an ad does not mean they know how to communicate a message. Seriously, how many times have you sat in front of your T.V. wondering what "creative" idiot thought that ad was a good idea and, more to the point, what kind of idiot executive agreed with them? As a counterpoint, stop and think for a moment how many porrly produced ads out there have actually done a realy good job of getting their message across. In fact, some of the most memorable ads are those that weren't slickly produced or employed acting talent - they just had a simple, credible, relevant message delivered with some heart in a way that left you pleasantly surprised.

In communication it ain't the sizzle... it's the steak!

 

Burger King Get It... Qantas Don't...

"We care about our customers" and "We love hearing from our customers" are two popular refrains that most companies like to bandy about at every opportunity and they are also two statements that for most companies are outright lies. A recent trip to Wellington in New Zealand to present at the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards highlighted the difference between a company that truly walks the talk and one that doesn't. First the one that doesn't...

I'm sitting on board Qantas watching a movie when a one of the Flight Attendants approaches me to ask if I would be willing to fill out one of their Customer Satisfaction Surveys. I decline because I consider the Customer Satisfaction Survey a surefire sign that my opinion doesn't matter. It is purely a marketing exercise - look like you value your customer and then summarise the data in such a way that the customer looks like they care about you. It's almost always conducted by someone (like a Flight Attendant) who has no authority to act on any recommendation you might provide and almost always is full of questions that are either irrelevant to your service experience or to your concerns. On the odd occasion I have consented to such a survey I always find myself saying to the person that administers it that they are not asking the right questions. The things I want to talk about are clearly not the concern of the company asking for my opinion so why ask at all? The worst thing is that these surveys all appear to have been written by the same person - some Hotel Customer Satisfaction Surveys are actually verbatim copies of each other!

Upon arriving in the city of Wellington, however, I had an occasion to go for a walk and while passing a Burger King I spotted this sign prominently displayed in their window:

 

This says I am valued. If I have anything I want to contribute I simply ring the phone number. How easy is that? No bullshit surveys - just a straight conversation with someone who exists purely to take my call. This is the way it should be. If you really care about your customers and you love hearing from them then this is all you need to do.

Provide a point of contact, publicise that point of contact and encourage people to get in touch and then finally make sure that point of contact has the authority to act. Anything else is just window dressing.