Ditch the Jargon

One of the biggest traps public and business leaders fall into is using jargon. Leaders use jargon for a few reasons:

• They’re trapped in an information bubble. It’s how their peers talk. It’s in the media they consume. They use the language that people in their world use.

• They want to sound smart, official, or authoritative. The siren song of complex words is that they sound sophisticated.

• They don’t want their audience to know what they’re really talking about. They hide behind Orwellian non-speak.

In my experience, most leaders fall into the first two traps. To some extent, jargon is a natural part of working in a profession. It’s part of an act. The Atlantic summed it up this way: Corporate Buzzwords Are How Workers Pretend to Be Adults.

However, since the public distrusts nearly all institutions right now, many people probably suspect the third bucket. If they can’t understand you, they won’t trust you.

Regardless the reason, it’s hard for leaders to break out of their language ecosystems. They should. There’s a better way to sound powerful, strong, and human.

Use Plain Language

I strongly advise clients to use plain language. For one, it’s the law.

Did you know Congress passed a law to make it easier to read government documents? It did. The feds aren’t cranking out Hemmingway quite yet, but the first step in fixing your problem is knowing you have one. Check out these tips from the National Archives:

1.       Write for your reader, not yourself. Use pronouns when you can.

2.       State your major point(s) first before going into details.

3.       Stick to your topic. Limit each paragraph to one idea and keep it short.

4.       Write in active voice.

5.       Use short sentences.

6.       Use everyday words.

7.       Omit unneeded words.

8.       Keep the subject and verb close together.

9.       Use headings, lists, and tables to make reading easier.

10.   Proofread your work and have a colleague proof it as well.

More than half of American adults read below a sixth-grade level. If you want to reach a wide audience, you need to boil your message down to the basics.

Leaders Who Speak Simply Connect with Audiences

The most memorable lines of great American speeches have very simple lines:

• “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Franklin Roosevelt, 1933.

• “The era of big government is over.” Bill Clinton, 1996.

• “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Ronald Reagan, 1987.

• “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy, 1961.

• “To solve a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the spirit.” Richard Nixon (yes, really), 1969.

Notice the short, declarative sentences, repetition, and parallelism.

Simple Doesn’t Mean Boring

To prepare the public for the pandemic, New Zealand’s prime minister hosted a Facebook Live from her house.  At the time, Jacinda Ardern was an international sensation known for her powerful speeches like the one she gave after the Christchurch mass shooting (in two languages, no less).

Instead of a formal speech, Ardern ditched the podium and talked to her people in a frumpy green sweatshirt. She spoke as a mom, leader—and most of all—as another human navigating a scary, confusing time.

Ardern ditched the jargon. And she captured the world’s attention and got millions of views.

Simple means success.