Think You Are Being Clear? Probably Not

Do you ever feel like the more you repeat yourself, the more people around you don’t understand you? It’s not a rare occurrence for entrepreneurs to feel frustrated that even after explaining things over and over again to investors, employees, vendors, customers – they still don’t get it. And all while you think you’re being crystal clear. There is a consistent disconnect between the entrepreneur’s understanding and explanation of an issue, plan or expectation and the interpretation of the customer, employee, investor, advisor or relationship on the other end. While we may think our constituents have a secret club where together they plan new ways to screw with us, it turns out we are the common denominator in this negative repetition. If, as entrepreneurs, we continue to stubbornly insist that we are the ones communicating clearly, our words eventually will fall on deaf ears. Because, in reality, we are likely the ones not making any sense.

“We WILL get through this together.” 

Why the Disconnect?

It’s understandable.

  • You Live and Breathe It But Everyone Else Has Lives. Entrepreneurs live and breathe their business every minute of every day. The rest of the world is selfish enough to be thinking about other things like family, social lives, world politics and their jobs during some portion of the day. Most of your constituents—advisers, board members, existing or potential investors, employees or consultants—step in and out of your world. We are the only lunatics who think about this twenty-four hours per day. They do not live and breathe your venture like you do.
  • You Know Every Detail. Entrepreneurs not only live and breathe their business, but we know every detail of every issue. The history of every issue is etched in our minds.
  • Your Balloon is Full. The entrepreneur’s balloon is full and we are looking for a way to let some air out. For some reason it feels good to send a five-paragraph email on why we chose the office space we did.
  • You Think We Need Every Detail. Entrepreneurs adopt the perspective, which is normally wrong (and not usually appreciated) that their audience must know all the details of a particular issue to fully comprehend it. When someone asks you how you picked your logo, it is tempting to reply with the ten-page version but clearly the person asking was only looking for, and only needed, the ten-second version.

Think about these things next time you’re starting to feel frustrated. We know the feeling. There’s a better way.

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