How to create intuitive categories: Ask “What does this look like, and where are the edges?” Last week I described how abstract content is easier to understand when it is divided into chunks that are “clear...
Fuzzy edges impede shared meaning Last week I talked about how numbering related concepts makes them feel more real than just listing them. When you hear about a list of “four elements of strategy”, or “four domains of...
Something I’ve noticed from interviewing leaders is the number of times they use numbers in their answers. “There are four things you need to understand about that.” “I’ll give you two – no wait – three, examples.” ...
Two weeks ago I drew out some general principles from the work of Tim Urban. Some of Tim’s most popular (and scariest) posts deal with the subject of mortality and the preciousness of time. They’re not just popular –...
I gave a talk at the IRM Innovation and Business Transformation conference last week with the title “Getting the ducks on the same hymnsheet: How shared language enables transformation”. The response was...
The underlying principle of most of the things I write (last week was a good example) is how shared meaning is created by connecting with shared experience, and I’m always on the lookout for examples of where this is...
Connecting with experience: The foundation of all effective communication If you want to teach a child maths, you don’t start with differential equations. You give them an apple, you give them another apple, then you...
A useful meaning-hack: Does the opposite of your statement say something interesting? I’m sure I’m not the only parent who has been tempted to slip into sarcasm when my kids ask stupid questions. “Daddy, should we put...
When you bring something abstract to life, it can be hard to predict how people will react We did a project for a FTSE 100 company last year, in which we modelled their ecosystem fifteen years into the future, and used...
Meaning is not passive – it’s something you can choose to create by the way you choose to behave I must have hundreds of books in my library in and around the subject of meaning (semantics, semiotics...
