Jan 10, 2007

The Curse of Knowledge

Guy Kawasaki interviews the authors of "Made to Stick", Chip Heath and Dan Heath, and this is what I found most interesting in the post:

The better we get at generating great ideas—new insights and novel solutions—in our field of expertise, the more unnatural it becomes for us to communicate those ideas clearly. That’s why knowledge is a curse. But notice we said “unnatural,” not “impossible.” Experts just need to devote a little time to applying the basic principles of stickiness.


It's a great point, and sometimes is the reason why a Marketing head cannot fathom why the Production head cannot understand why he is saying demand will go up for the new product :-)

How do the experts communicate their ideas within your organization? Can you help them make that language and communication simpler?

1 comment:

  1. I myself have often encountered situations wherein I've got a little enthusiastic and come up with something I can't seem to articulate clearly to others. My experience tells me that if you get a little more creative and think of an appropriate analogy....it may be easier to communicate with - convey the message to - others.

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