“When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before.” — Clifton Fadiman
Academics are still on my mind this week, after discussing the humanities.
This is more than an academic discussion (pun intended). Lifelong learning and curiosity are two of the hallmarks of great leaders―individuals who are constantly consuming information in a variety of formats, who then take what they’ve learned and weave it into a tapestry of other formats that complement their teams’ styles.
But you may have noticed that the preferred medium of communication in the last few years has skewed toward video, as we sit in front of webcams and partake in meeting after meeting on Zoom.
Video is powerful because it involves so many of our senses, but it’s also the most exhausting precisely because it involves so many of our senses.
Zoom fatigue is real―and it has a long history.
Writing is still the most powerful medium that we have, and the best leaders are also good writers; arguably, communication is probably the most essential skill a leader can have.
Everything else―strategic planning, hiring, creating a vision, motivating your team, and even financial planning―involves communication, which is simply defined as a process for exchanging information.
“What magnifies a voice is the force of mind and the power of expression, which is why Shakespeare’s plays still draw a crowd in Central Park, and why we find the present in the past, the past in the present, in voices that have survived the wreck of empires and the accidents of fortune.” — Lewis H. Lapham, 2008
Good communication makes all the difference in how your audience receives your information. Whether it’s relayed in a story or a set of bullet points, leaders need to present their ideas in ways that inspire, motivate or emphasize, and you can’t do that without spending time laying it all out in your mind.
“Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it’s so hard.” — David McCullough, 2002
Perhaps this is why exhaustion is setting in from our video calls. Because just sitting down in front of a camera and talking doesn’t require planning. Set up the shot, hit “Join Call” and start talking.
Compare that to a planned video shoot, where you’re blocking every shot and have a script to follow.
A script? Why, that’s writing!
So even for video (good video, that is), writing is necessary. It’s also the secret to giving a good presentation―writing out what you plan to present helps frame the idea and the persuasiveness before they come flowing from your mouth.
“Vox audita perit, littera scripta manet.” (“The spoken word vanishes; the written word remains.”) ― Latin proverb
With live presentations, our interactions are ephemeral. They remain in our memories, but are inconveniently inaccessible.
Think of all of the great actors of the past who were heaped with praise by critics: Edwin Booth, David Garrick, Richard Burbage, and more. Yet there’s no one alive who can convey what the experience was like, the nuances of the craft, or how it made them feel.
With video, thanks to YouTube, the second largest search engine on the internet, we have the ability to scan, search, and find material that is buried in our memory. But it can be hit or miss. The written word, not so much.
We have a record of great acting and great speeches from the last century that have been captured on film or audio, but there have been great speeches throughout history worthy of remembering.
How do we know? They were written down.
One of the reasons we still have the Iliad and the Odyssey with us today is because they transitioned from the oral tradition to the written record.
It’s not enough to simply write things down; after all, we can still read the graffiti on the walls of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Words and ideas will remain with us if we’re appropriately inspired—that is, if they’re crafted in a way to make us sit up and pay attention.
“There is nothing so intolerable as dull writing.” ― Charles Honce
If you want to become a great leader, you first need to become a good writer. What’s the secret to good writing? If you want to be a good writer, first you need to be a reader.
SUBSCRIBE TO TIMELESS & TIMELY
—
Previously Published on Timeless and Timely
—
iStock image