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Communication (from the sender) is about what is said and how it is said.

What is said needs to be true, honest, and have substance. How it is said supplies the meaning, feel, emotion, and image. HOW something was said, determines WHAT is said, more than what was said. How you say something can dramatically alter what you meant to say. (Communication to the receiver is about what was received, perceived, interpreted, and understood. Complete communication requires sender and receiver parties to not only properly convey, but to accurately receive.)
This exercise demonstrates my principle. Read each sentence below out loud and emphasize the C A P word only. Listen to how the meaning changes each time: W H O do you think you are? Who D O you think you are? Who do Y O U think you are? Who do you T H I N K you are? Who do you think Y O U are? Who do you think you A R E? It is interesting to hear how emphasizing a different word can change the meaning of an entire message and project a different meaning. This impacts the influence of the message projected to the listener. Children and pets understand this concept. So does anyone else when they truly listens carefully to what and how something is said. This communication principle is one of the major reasons why: artists, writers, photographers, singers, and comedians exist. Why they are needed to give life and meaning to whatever they communicate. Look at a can of Cambell Soup. Compared it to how pop-artist Andy Warhol made it look in one of his silk-screens / paintings. Read a description of anything by a great writer. Then ask a regular person to describe it. Compare the two. Look at a great photograph. See how it captures and brings your attention to a piece of reality you might not have ever noticed, or did not look at the same way. Read the lyrics of any famous song out loud. Then listen to how the singer who made that song famous sings it. Read a George Carlin comedy script out loud. Then listen to how he delivered it and notice the difference. A complete message is the right balance of what and how something was communicated. Or, there is a failure to communicate. in-one-ear, and-out-the-other.

~Michael Iva

Copyright 2001-2013 Qually & Company Inc. Some rights reserved. You have the right to post this message / email forward this message / or print a copy from your computer, as long as you do not change it in anyway, and give full attribution and credit to the author; and never charge money for it. Should you republish this please be so kind as to notify me of the usage for my records at ivamichael(at)hotmail(dot)com

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