How I Want You To Communicate... As A Pro

• Treat your audience with respect. Don't be condescending, but don't be an ass kisser either. Whether it's your boss, or the local cleaning help, you communicate the same way. The only exemption is the Queen.
• Balance selling your message versus being economical with your (and their) time. Your message is more clear if it is built up in the reader's/listener's head step-by-step, but often people do not have the time to go through a whole study, background and reference.
• Be aware that what you say, imply, seem to imply affects people's emotions and (re)actions. Stick to the facts. If something cannot be empirically proven, referred back to, or validated, it is NOT a fact.
• You can discuss your own feelings and opinions, but you cannot and must not project that on others without good strong arguments. If you can't, don't.
• People will catch up with a lie, and then wait for the opportune moment to kick your ass with it. Own up.

Priorities

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption and subsequent paralysis of European air travel has clearly brought our priorities to the forefront: we understand when a natural occurrence disrupts our way of life, but not when it takes up more than four days.

Most business news outlets are reporting on a call for ease of air restrictions. The basis of the argument is that test flights show the ash clouds are not that bad. Also the costs of staying on the ground are mentioned as a killing factor for major airlines.

You'd think safety is the main point of contention here. Crying about costs (and truthfully looking up at the sky I do not see much darkness) seems to indicate safety is deemed of lesser importance than the economic impact.

Is this what the armageddon looks like? Closed airports? Lower share prices?

Priorities guys, priorities...

UPDATE: Silvia Wadwha from CNBC had one anecdote (here), that rings true no matter which way you put it.

"By the way, the aforementioned NATO official was an ex-fighter pilot of 20 years experience and now high-ranking air force officer. Naturally I asked him what he thought about airport closures and flight cancellations.

"One thing we have learned is that you do not fly when volcanic ash is in the air", he declared categorically.

And what if this continues for weeks or months, I asked.

“You don’t fly in volcanic ash."

Just one opinion, but there it is."

Another Good Idea

Why is No One coming up with a Volcanic Ash Radar? Just like buienradar.nl

Advanced Exaggeration

Whenever people make an argument and have to state a number or an amount, and they are not sure about it exactly, they err on the side of exaggeration to make sure the argument remains somewhat strong.

The manner of exaggeration is always:

• an extremely high number; which you hope won't be topped or countered. It's like in poker when you go All-In with aces high on the button. You'd hope the blinds don't have anything good, and hope the aggressive bet keeps them from moving against you - which is why you should counter such an argument with an even higher number...
• a somewhat exaggerated number at the start of the argument, and then incrementally increase the number as the discussion moves along. "So at first I was fighting off five people for the last ticket to the U2 concert, and later on it was twenty, and at the end of the argument I beat out five hundred people for the right to smack Bono upside the head." - which makes it so ridiculous if you continue the argument yourself, and go incrementally higher. At some point the amount gets ridiculous, incredulous and silly... Just like poker, at some point re-raising upon re-raising is just pointless.
• exactly 80 percent (or the inverse 20 percent); even though whatever you're saying is nowhere close to either number. The illusion is that a percentage implies a part of the whole, which means obviously that your argument considered the whole, and thus you're a stud... which is an exaggeration. - So to counter this name a more exact percentage. 74 percent, 87 percent. It doesn't really matter what number, as long as it doesn't end in zero or five for that matter. Make up a source that's not easily referable, or has too many outlets to refer to. Reuters. AP. Oprah. Don't say however "The News", "The Government", "Them". That's just not exact enough. Also don't say the source is Gartner, because they will sue your ass for defamation.

What Are We Waiting For

Rationally I can't claim to be in a difficult situation. In fact I'm overloaded with choice, and only have myself to blame if I take on too much.

However something is still sapping energy away, and it's not coming back in great amounts. I think it has to do with the atmosphere, and the general, overall mood. Everybody's tired, easily agitated. Keeping things close to heart. Only the inner circle is decent, and everybody else can kiss your ass.

It's like everybody's waiting for the world to change. And in the mean time we bore ourselves to hell. God forbid somebody interferes with our boredom.

April Fools Me Once

Here's something to ponder... can you make a major - actual - announcement on April 1 and be taken seriously? Would anyone believe you? Are you expected to?