Karen Restivo
In Other Words....
The Art of Communication
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the Difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
Mark Twain
I’ve adopted a new skill for my resume - wordsmith.
The word has a purposeful intent to it.
Thinking back to the days of blacksmiths and bladesmiths, the process of preparation, manipulation, integration and placement by a skilled artisan determined the quality and performance of an owner’s outcome for survival.
Speaking of a wordsmith, we need look no further than author Mark Twain’s quote noted above.
What a fine line there is between saying what we mean and meaning what we say.
Words have power.
They can capture the hearts in romance, all the while slaying the relationships between lovers.
Before embracing my path to wordsmithery, I checked to make sure it exhibited no negative connotations. Merriam-Webster writes, “Occasionally you might hear the title of ‘Wordsmith” to describe someone’s gift as an accomplished user of words.
"They are those whose writing is eloquent due to the variety of vocabulary they can draw on when writing and speaking. Being labeled as a wordsmith is a compliment.”
That’s good enough for me.
In person or on social media, idle chitchat can be fashioned deliberately or carelessly, creating a host of challenges when a person’s intentional message doesn’t match the listener’s/reader’s perception.
Here in lies the quagmire.
To polish our professional and personal communication skills, I turned to Forbes’ Coaches Council member and author Cheryl Keates (guessing with her position wordsmith is in her skill set), article “The Five C’s of Effective Communication,” where she states, “When initiating a conversation, always make sure the time is right and that you have the other person’s undivided attention.
"Here are the five C’s of effective communication:
"Be Clear. To communicate effectively you must know what you want and take ownership of your own needs;
"Be Concise. Keep your requests direct, simple and to the point;
"Provide a compelling request. Once you make a request for change, you’re in negotiations.
"Be curious. Listen to what the other person needs.
"Be compassionate. Make an attempt to understand the other person.
"Listen carefully to their feedback and put your own assumptions aside.”
In other words, whether speaking, writing a newspaper article, novel or social media post, communicate your message with clarity, no matter how eloquently said or expansive your vocabulary appears.
Maybe if we filtered more of our idle chitchat, we’d summon world peace (think butterfly effect in chaos theory - the phenomenon where a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere).
Orchestrate your message from a place of love, never fear.
I’ll end with Maya Angelou’s famous quote, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel
Karenrestivo57@gmail.com