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Clarity is necessary to communicate well in business. Terry Breen presents an entertaining speech perfect for business meetings called "People Will Cheer When You Are Clear."  Here's an excerpt from Terry's speech on the power of clarity:

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream.

"Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream."

We've known the song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" since childhood. When you think about that song now as an adult, doesn't it paint a pleasant scene?

Ahhhh! To be out in a boat on a gentle stream, relaxing, carefree, at peace. That is sort of a dream, isn't it?

Just why does that song affect us in this way?

It all starts with the words being clear and easy to follow.

Along with the boat and the gentle stream, these simple words might easily lead us to imagine a sunny day and hear birds singing, to feel a soft, warm breeze washing over us, and to smell pine trees and the sweet scent of wild flowers.

For me, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is an example good writing to keep in mind when sitting down to write a business message. Certainly, by using simple words that conjure up clear images and ideas for you audience, you can't go wrong. By using those effective words, you'll be rowing your message gently down the page for your reader.

But you might say, "But, in a business environment, don't you need to use words that sound more serious and complicated?"

Well, let's see. Let's say that instead of using "row, row, row your boat" in our business message, we use something like:

"Rotate, rotate, rotate dual human-arm-powered thrust-producing mechanisms attached in a secure and fixed manner to a diminuitive maritime vessel of your ownership."

Whew! And we haven't even gotten to the "gently down the stream" part.

One thing's for sure: we couldn't really use those words and have a song any more — or a song that was very easy to sing.

And I don't think we'd have much of a business message, either.

The point is: for a business message, we need to strive to be simple and clear in the words we use. It's a matter of exercising some common courtesy.

We can be courteous to others — and make the world a less confusing place — by striving to be clear in what we write.

If we work at it, we can make what we write as easy to read as rowing a boat gently down a stream.

Get in touch with Terry at Terry@TerryBreen.com to arrange for Terry to visit your company to present "People Will Cheer When You Are Clear."

Clarity is necessary to communicate well in business. Terry Breen presents an entertaining speech perfect for business meetings called "People Will Cheer When You Are Clear."  Here's an excerpt from Terry's speech on the power of clarity:

Have you ever received a message while at work that you couldn't understand even after several readings?

"What are they trying to say?" you might exclaim.

Yes, it's all happened to us — and it's the result of a lack of care on the part of the writer. Clearly, the writer has not taken the time to be clear.

Certainly, none of us has ever issued a message like this. Oh, certainly!

I've been a professional writer since way back in the past century, so I've based my living on being clear — and even I, yes even I, have penned some muddy doozies at times. Usually, they're stopped by an editor somewhere and sent back to me for a rewrite.

But in the business world, people typically don't have professional editors to help them be clear in their writing. So that's why I'm trying to pass along some tips on clarity.

The first step in writing clearly is awareness — knowing what kind of effect being unclear has on people at the other end of your message, and knowing that, if you're not careful, you — yes, you — can be unclear.

You may know clearly what your message is and what action you want readers to take as a result, but in order to grab their attention — you need to be clear in your delivery.

In other words, it's not enough to know how to throw a good fastball — you also have to throw a strike.

My goal with my speech, "People Will Cheer When You Are Clear,"  is to help you be clearer in how you communicate — because I think unclear communication happens a lot and is a problem — and I think you'll agree with me that it is a problem that can fritter away people's time.

But I think that unclear communication is a problem that we can solve — by showing some common courtesy and taking the time to care about our audience.

Clarity starts with understanding our audience and then using the most appropriate language to grab and retain their attention.

By and large, this language will be simple language, too — and language that shows action, that's human, that's relaxed, and that's, at times, even playful.

Then, after we've had our say, we need to seek feedback to see whether what we've said has made sense.

When we do these things, we can be clarity champions — and make the world a better place — by clearing up confusion.

Get in touch with Terry at Terry@TerryBreen.com to arrange for Terry to visit your company to present "People Will Cheer When You Are Clear."

“As an authorized representative of God, I, Ariel, an official messenger angel, present you, Grace Meeks, pet shop owner, and you Gil Meeks, piano teacher, with the deed to the Earth. Yes, you, the Meeks, are now the official owners of the Earth! Congratulations!”

“Well, thank you, Mr. Ariel,” said Grace. “My, I don’t know what to say.”

“Me, neither,” said Gil, “except that maybe there’s a misprint in the deed about the name of the recipient?”

“No,” said Ariel, pointing to a line in the deed, “there’s no misprint. The deed clearly says ‘Meeks.’”

“Well, yes, I see,” said Gil, “but I thought the line in the Bible referred to the meek inheriting the Earth.”

“Really?” said Ariel. “Sorry, but I don’t get into details about what happens on Earth.”

“Oh, I can understand that,” said Grace, patting Ariel on his arm. “Earth is probably just some minor kind of planet in the big scheme of things, as far as the universe goes, I mean.”

“No, no, ma’am,” said Ariel, “I’m sure, uh,” he glanced at the deed again, “Earth is an important place.”

“Well, we think it is,” said Gil. “Of course, it’s really all we know.”

“Yes, well, it seems like a wonderful place,” said Ariel. “Too bad that I need to move on rather quickly.”

“But, please tell us one thing, if you could Mr. Ariel,” said Grace.

“Yes?”

“Do you get some sense that we are, in fact, being rewarded for our meekness?”

“Well, don’t quote me on this,” said Ariel, “but, yes, I’m sure of it—because as vast as the universe is, it’s not vaster than God. And so, the biggest challenge throughout the universe for all creatures is to realize this sense of proportion, and, as a result, realize that being meek, or to use another word, humble, is really the only sensible and realistic way to be.”

“Well, we realize that,” said Gil.

“Oh, I sense that you do,” said Ariel. “I’m sure that God didn’t make a mistake in awarding this little bit of real estate to you.”

“Well, thank you, Mr. Ariel,” said Grace.

“Yeah, thanks,” said Gil.

“Gil and I will do our very best to continue to be as meek as possible.”

“Yes, sir, we’ve never had any interest whatsoever in seeking glory or power.”

“And we’ll try our best to remain meek,” said Grace, “even though we now own the world. My, that’s a smidge better than winning the lottery.”

“Yes, I suppose so, dear,” said Gil.

“My stars,” said Grace.

“Speaking of stars, I must be going,” said Ariel. “Good luck with your new acquisition.”

“Why, thank you, again,” said Gil.

“Yes, please give our best to God,” said Grace.

“Will do,” said Ariel, disappearing.

“My,” said Grace. “What do we do now, Gil?”

“Well, maybe we could get a bigger house.”

“Shhhh! That angel might hear you and we’ll lose our property.”

“Oh, Grace! I’m not talking about getting a mansion—but, of course, I guess we could.”

“But I like it here!” said Grace. “Even though it is a bit too cozy at times.”

“I like it here, too,” said Gil. “Yeah, I don’t really want to move. Maybe we should just do some traveling.”

“Yes, we should really get out and see what we own!”

“We could go around the world!”

“Yes, Gil, how exciting!”

“But we’re getting up there in years, Grace, and at our age, we’ll need to pace ourselves.”

“That’s true, Gil. If only we’d inherited the Earth when we were young.”

“I suppose I could take a break from teaching my piano students.”

“And I could ask Gina to run the pet store for a while. And maybe I could hire another person.”

“There you go. We’re rich now.”

“I suppose we could finally retire—and maybe we should.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Gil. People do count on us.”

“Yes, but maybe there’s a wider public out there who we can help—to spread the word about humility.”

“Yes, I suppose that’s to be expected of us now.”

“After all, Grace, we need to see our kingdom, right?”

“I guess so, Gil.”

The doorbell rang and a voice cried out: “Mr. and Mrs. M! It’s me, Casey!”

“C’mon in, dear,” said Grace.

Casey, a freckle-faced neighborhood boy of 10, appeared suddenly in the Meeks living room.

“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. M. You’ll never guess what happened. Mom won a piano in a raffle at my school. So my parents said it was OK to take piano lessons from you now.”

“Well, that’s great, Casey.”

“So should we start right away?”

“Well, OK—but, well, Casey, Mrs. M and I were thinking about taking a vacation.”

“That’s OK. I can start when you get back.”

“What do you say I get you started first with at least one lesson, so that you can practice while we’re gone?”

“OK. That sounds cool, Mr. M. I’ll go home and tell my folks.”

“And you can tell them that those lessons won’t cost you anything.”

“You’re giving me free piano lessons?”

“Yes, Casey.”

“Oh, boy! See you later, Mr. and Mrs. M!”

 “OK, then,” Gil told his wife. “Honey, why don’t we leave after Casey’s first lesson?”

“OK, dear. I’ll start drawing up a list of what we need to pack.”

But several weeks later the Meeks still hadn’t left on their trip.

“I’d feel more comfortable taking that vacation when Casey is further along with his piano studies,” said Gil.

“I understand,” said Grace. “It’s been so busy at the pet store lately—you know, with me giving away all the pets. I guess I better stop placing orders for more stock.”

“Yes, I really do need to spend more time with Casey,” said Gil. “He shows promise, but he’s having trouble learning to read music. He seems to have a block about it. I guess our trip can wait.”

“Yes, Gil,” said Grace. “After all, the world’s not going anywhere.”

“Well, let’s hope not!” Gil said with a laugh. “Maybe God gave us the Earth because it’s at the end of its rope.”

“Oh, Gil, don’t say things like that!” said Grace.

“I’m just joking. Or am I? Maybe this place isn’t worth inheriting.”

“Oh, it’s worth inheriting, Gil. The problem is, ‘How do you manage it all?”

“I know,” said Gil. “There’s a lot of pressure connected with being the world’s landlord!”

“You’re right, Gil,” said Grace, “I think we really do need that vacation.”

“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. M!” said Casey, suddenly appearing before them.

“Hi Casey!” both Gil and Grace said.

“Casey,” said Gil, “what would you do if someone suddenly gave you the whole world as a gift?”

“Well, first I’d give you and Mrs. M a million dollars. No, a billion!  And, of course, I’d give that to my parents, too. And, well, I guess I’d also give you and them a lot of property and cars and stuff and you could do anything you wanted with it!”

“Oh, thank you, Casey,” said Grace. “You’re such a dear.”

“And I’d hire Mr. M as my personal piano coach and I’d travel around the world playing the piano as a concert pianist!”

“Well, that can all be arranged,” said Gil. “We can all travel around the world together—Mrs. M and you and me and your parents. And I’ll arrange to have you play all the concerts I want. Would you mind if I joined you onstage?”

“Of course not, Mr. M!”

Suddenly Ariel the angel appeared again.

“Hello, again, folks,” said Ariel. “Hello there, young man.”

“Who are you?” asked the boy.

“He’s a friend of ours, dear,” said Grace.

“Grace, Gil, I’m here because of an adjustment that’s been made to your deed.”

“Are you taking back the Earth from us?” asked Gil.

“If you are,” said Grace, “maybe it’s a blessing.”

“No, no,” said Ariel. “Because of your great humility in response to receiving the earlier gift—to wit, giving away free pets and music lessons—you’ve now inherited the entire universe!”

“Cool!” said Casey. “Now we can hear what music sounds like in outer space!”

“So you’re ready to take that trip with us, Casey?” asked Gil.

“Sure, Mr. M!”

“Then run home and get your parents, dear,” said Grace. “And tell them they can pack light. We can pick up all we need once we get on the way.”

“Great!” said Casey. “I’ll be right back!”