It's the Sound Bite, Stupid

From Inc. Magazine, June 2005 - By Adam Hanft

When entrepreneurs think about how to expand their companies and compete with gusto, they tend to focus on the obvious: sales, R&D, distribution, pricing. It usually stems from their backgrounds. Those who excel at sales believe that all problems require a sales solution. I once had a client who was an engineer who suffered from the bells-and-whistles syndrome -- he never saw a problem that couldn't be solved by adding another feature.

Maybe they're right. On the other hand, that new sales strategy or technical improvement isn't going to be of much use if you can't explain it properly -- to employees, clients, and the world at large. And when it comes to using language effectively, most business leaders fall woefully short. They certainly lag their peers in the political sphere, where well-crafted terms such as "culture of life" and "death tax" have shifted public opinion and even legislation.

In his recent book, "Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate", linguist George Lakoff argues that the way a position is articulated, or framed, is a key driver of how it will be received. Not surprisingly, the book has become a bestseller in Washington, D.C.

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