An inexpensive yet highly valued way to be innovative?
Jay Ingram is a prominent Canadian writer and broadcaster.
An interesting fact about Jay: In 2009, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada for his contributions towards making complex science accessible to the public as a broadcaster, public speaker, and author, and for his leadership of future generations of science journalists.
One more time, why did Jay get the Order of Canada? (The second highest honour for merit in Canada.)
Jay received it “for his contributions towards making complex science accessible to the public as a broadcaster, public speaker, and author…”
Why am I telling you this? Fair question.
Here’s why: to remind you that explaining is a valuable art. Extremely.
Explaining the value of an idea/product/service in the most concise and compelling way is hard. Extremely.
And consequently valuable. Extremely.
How about you, can you explain well?
Consider this scenario: You are running a small web design shop. You find out that a small, family owned, and very traditional life insurance broker is interested in having a website. What would you tell them? How would you concisely promise them a benefit early in the process? How about this: “Your new website will be your smile and your hand shake on the Internet.“
My 2¢: Effective explanations shift your messages away from what you want to say toward what people want to hear, and it can be a magical thing. Crafting effective explanations is, in my opinion, the most inexpensive yet highly valued way to be innovative. It’s true, being an effective explainer can take you and/or your business from ordinary to legendary. But don’t take my word for it. Just ask Jay Ingram—he was made a Member of the Order of Canada for his contributions towards making complex science accessible…
P.S. Please remember that the icing is not the cake, and that the icing does not make the cake. Said differently, an effective explanation is just the icing. Your product/service/idea must be the cake. But when the two come together, you’ve got a beautiful package that’s hard to ignore.
P.P.S. On Sep 23, 2012, I was in attendance of the Word on the Street festival in Saskatoon (Word on the Street is a magazine and book fair stretching all across Canada) to listen to Jay promote his new book Fatal Flaws. (The above picture is from said event.)