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Back in the days when copier equipment was said to "burn copies," an Army colonel hand-carried an important document to his new assistant and asked her to burn a copy. When the paper did not resurface on his desk in a few days, he discovered that the assistant had recently transferred from a high-security division. She had had the document incinerated. Are you clear? Are you sure? The best test of clarity is the result you see. |
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Tip 11: Avoid doublespeak. |
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The previous tip referred to unintentional ambiguity due to carelessness or incompetence. With this tip, I'm referring to intentional gobbledygookexplanations meant to obscure rather than enlighten, convoluted details and irrelevant facts simmered together to make mush for the ear. |
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A financial consultant related this situation to me about his firm: "We have two boilerplate formats for our reports to clients. When we go into banks and find several ways we can help them, we use the first format. That report gives our findings and list of recommendations right up front. But if we go into banks and can't find much wrongwe don't have many recommendations for improvements and have charged them a big fee for the auditthen we use the second boilerplate. We begin the report with background on our company, the credentials of our auditors, the various audit procedures used, and then we finally get around to the findings and recommendations." He ended with "But I don't think we fool anybody." He's right. Purposeful gobbledygook only brings into question one's intentions. |
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Tip 12: Avoid exaggeration. |
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Was the score 50 to zip or 30 to 10? Did you have to wait half an hour or half a minute? Did the caller slam down the phone or hesitate to talk? Did the supplier raise the prices on your raw materials 10 percent or 2 percent? Exaggeration makes great humor but destroys credibility. |
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Tip 13: Evaluate criticisms and objections. |
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If you reject or refute criticisms and objections out of hand, without hearing them out and giving yourself time to consider them fully, you lose credibility. People identify you as a reactor rather than a reflective, credible thinker. The more thorough your consideration of contradictory information the more credible your final opinion or decision. |
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