One of the communication principles I teach most often is this:
Trying to say everything usually means your audience hears nothing clearly.
We see it all the time at work.
- An engineer explains every technical detail instead of the few that matter.
- A financial planner presents six perfectly valid options and leaves the client unsure which to choose.
- A manager gives all the background instead of the key message.
The intention is good: “I want to give people everything they need.” But the result is often the opposite. People leave confused, overwhelmed, or unsure what to do next.
Over the past few months, I’ve realised I’ve been making the same mistake in my own business.
For the last six years I’ve spoken, trained, and written about workplace communication in all its forms—meetings, emails, presentations, leadership communication, and much more. Before that, I spent 20 years helping technical teams explain complex ideas to business people.
Looking back, there has always been one thread running through everything I’ve done:
Helping experts communicate with people who don’t share their expertise.
Whether that’s engineers explaining technology, lawyers advising business teams, financial planners speaking with clients, or cybersecurity specialists talking to executives, the challenge is remarkably similar.
The better we know something, the harder it can become to explain it simply.
So, I’m making a change.
Not a complete change – I’m not throwing out everything I’ve done before. I’m just going to be clearer.
Going forward, I’ll be focusing much more of my work on helping experts explain complex ideas, products, and services so customers, stakeholders, and colleagues understand, trust, and act.
The topics won’t feel completely new. You’ll still see practical advice on being clear, avoiding jargon, structuring messages, using stories and analogies, and making complex information easier to understand.
The difference is that everything will now be connected by one central question:
How do we help experts speak the language of the people they’re trying to reach?
I think it will make this newsletter more useful because every article, tip, and example will build towards solving that problem.
So here’s a question for you.
Where has your own communication become broader than it needs to be?
- Are you giving too much detail?
- Do you offer too many options?
- Maybe you’re explaining how something works before explaining why it matters?
Or perhaps, like me, you’re trying to speak to too many audiences at once.
Sometimes the biggest improvement doesn’t come from adding something new. It comes from having the confidence to focus on what matters most.
Until next time,
Chris