Simply Complex

Posted on January 12, 2007 Written by Leave a Comment

“Making the complex simple through better communication.”

What exactly does that mean, anyway?

If you’re coming here looking for scholarly or hip analysis about communications, you’re going to get it, but not directly.

I want to have fun, and that means I’m going to write about things that intrigue me. Along the way, I’ll try to explain why those concepts are cool (to me, anyway.) And that process of explaining the complex, simply, is really just an exercise in communication.

So, welcome to my sandbox. If, as you read, you find a quirky analogy or concept that hit home or you can use, then by all means do so. The step beyond communicating a concept is the assimilation by the receiver. (Resistance is futile.)

Filed Under: Communication, Personal Tagged:

Lateral thinking

Posted on January 12, 2007 Written by 1 Comment
Hook and Lateral

Words are powerful little packages. We take them for granted, and don’t always consider all of the hidden meanings behind the words we choose. However, we too often look at the written word, and ignore the sounds of the same word as an utterance. Only then do you appreciate the rhymes, the meter, and the possibilities of mistaken pronunciations.

How much of what we call “lateral thinking” — the joining of previously non-adjacent concepts — is really the product of a pun or a bad translation? And how many words or concepts do we take for granted, even though they were steeped in mistake?

For my first example, I take you all the way back to the Fiesta Bowl, where Boise State knocked off the Oklahoma Sooners. [Read more...]

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