The Message or The Medium?
Is it the message or the medium?
Walking down the 16th street mall here in Denver earlier this week, focused on finding a place to grab a quick lunch, I was immediately accosted by extremely loud exhortations from a man brandishing a bullhorn nearly a block away. This young man was boldly exercising his freedom of speech – no problem there at all.
But, as I watched him for a few minutes, I noticed that the passersbys neither looked at him nor responded favorably to his message. I also noticed that most put plenty of space between themselves and his trumpeted speech – some even crossing to the other side to put as much distance as possible between themselves and his volume.
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for those unfortunate folks who had decided to dine outdoors that day. Anyone within a block was met with serious reverberations from his passionate message. I’m confident the diners had to raise their own voices just to hear each other speak…if not think.
Unfortunately, the young zealot’s message became largely irrelevant due to his chosen medium of delivery. The content of the message may have been inspiring, factual, helpful, and even life-changing (who knows?) but I for one never found out due to the exception I was taking at his delivery.
Feedback - Breakfast of Champions
It’s often said that we – as leaders, peers, and co-workers – need to focus on the message and not so much the medium (delivery) of the content. It is the kernels of truth, the golden nuggets, and the perspective offered via feedback that we should eagerly devour – no matter how ineffective or sloppy the delivery. True, a wise person will nearly always be able to divide message from delivery, truth out of carelessness.
But (and especially in our current climate) the medium might be more important now than it ever has been.
Our firm highly values input, feedback, dissenting opinions, out of the box ideas, and a willingness to challenge our status quo. It is, perhaps, the most transparent and honest company I have ever had the opportunity to work for. Wow. Recently we have called upon our team – all employees – to take our transparency and honesty to the Radical Candor level (thanks Kim Scott) of Caring Deeply and Challenging Directly.
We are confident that the messages from our employees will continue to come with courage, new perspectives, new ideas, challenging of the norms, and calling us all higher as people, leaders, and co-workers. But we are also confident that it will be done with Radical Candor; communication that respects not only the content of the message but it’s delivery as well.
Perhaps the most radical part of Radical Candor is not to Challenge Directly…but Care Personally.
Great article Dan, very well put and love the message! I see this all the time in my world - someone with the perfect product/service/solution for a potential client will get passed over because they came across too pushy, too arrogant, too uninformed, etc. Now the sale is lost and the potential client missed out on the perfect solution - it's a lose-lose situation when you don't consider the HOW of what you're trying to say.
Spot on, Dan! I love this article. Great reminder. Thanks for sharing these thoughts.
Love the premise and the challenge Dan. I believe that medium is actually more important than message as medium is the gateway for impact. Failure to get an "at bat" with one's audience negates any opportunity to even connect. I often say its not WHAT you say but HOW you say it. Love it. Keep em coming amigo. Be well and preach my brotha.
Good stuff Dan, thanks for sharing. Your sharing is always helpful and though provoking, so much appreciated!