Simply Said

Jay Sullivan’s “Simply Said” is a practical guide to improve communication at work and beyond.

Key Concepts

To communicate better

• Keep it short
• Uses simple words
• Focus on the audiences

Two types of presentations

• Informative
• Persuasive

Four steps to answer questions

• Understand the question
• Describe the question using your own words which can help you to think about it more deeply
• Answer the question and restate your opinion
• Ask if there is anything else you can help with

Handle difficult conversations

• Acknowledge the other person’s feelings
• Relate to the other person’s feelings (show that you understand their point of view)
• Translate and help to provide a solution

To conduct an effective meeting

• Set the tone
• Confirm the purpose of the meeting
• Gather current information
• Discuss your ideas
• Discuss the benefits of the ideas
• Establish action items

Notable Quotes

“If we want to improve our ability to connect with others, to understand them and to be understood more claerly, the easiest and most effective way to do so is to focus less on ourselves and more on the other person.”

This follows my philosophy of being more empathetic and understanding others.

“When you talk to a larger audience, you have one of two objectives: you either want them to know something or you want them to do something.”

This is a good reminder for me to be more concise and target-oriented when talking to a larger audience. Especially when you prepare a presentation, you need to think about what you want the audience to know or do after the presentation.

Personal Takeaways

1. Less Self-focused: Self-focused communication is about you and your ideas which leads to miscommunication. Audience-focused communication is about the other person and their needs.
2. Tips for Clear Message: Short, Simple words, focused on the needs of the audience.

3. Persuasive Format:

4. Informative Format:

5. Handle Difficult Conversations: three steps called ART (acknowledge, relate, translate)
   • ACKNOWLEDGE: Acknowledge the other person’s feelings
     • I appreciate/understand.share + your feelings (frustraction, concern, concern, etc) + real stuffs
   • RELATE: Relate to the other person’s feelings
     • I also felt like you do/ I too have felt that way
   • TRANSLATE: Translate and help to provide a solution

The book is super clear and I should read it again and again to remind myself.