Communication is King: Quick, Easy Ways to Improve Your Skills
Practical tips to help you improve the way you relate to other humans
There’s nothing more annoying than another blog post on how to be a better ‘communicator’ - it’s always shared as part of an essential leadership course, workplace training, or somehow tied to our efforts to gain influence in our environments. It’s kind of awkward that I’m sharing one, given the context, but I think that communication is far more than an arbitrary exercise of power. It’s an opportunity to relate to, and understand, ourselves and others around us. It’s one of the most fundamental, basic, and yet important tools we have at our disposal, when it comes to building meaningful relationships and communities.
My thoughts on communication always take me back to the days of high-school drama. I remember fighting tooth and nail to take the subject, especially as it wasn’t seen as ‘rigorous enough’ to make a serious application to an Oxford or a Cambridge University. But, I loved drama. It was one of the rare subjects where I felt I could truly experiment with everything - my voice, my speech, my body. I could choose to inhabit the life and characteristics of someone else, tell stories in the most unique ways, and interact with my co-stars and audiences. Funnily enough, as I reflect on which skills I ended up using the most in my career, I’d happily make the argument that drama was the most fundamental. As a content creator, entrepreneur, podcaster, speaker and community builder - all these roles have something that drama prepared for.
How to communicate well.
Key Summary (TL/DR):
Communication is king
The art of the soft skill: interpersonal intelligence
The principles of communication: a practice