Book Summary: The art of Explanation

For those of you who need to make a presentation, write an email, have an important or simple 1:1 meeting with your boss, what to communicate, and more importantly, how to explain yourself clearly is a critical and essential skill. It could define success or failure in how to convey your message across.

That is the theme of the book: THE ART OF EXPLANATION – HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH CLARITY AND CONFIDENCE by Ros Atkins, a BBC journalist, published in 2023. My daughter gave me this book for Christmas, and I could not put it down.

Like playing a sport, being good at explanation is about learning skills but also about continuously sharpening them. Ros Atkins outlines an explanation checklist, which he keeps in hand, with questions, and hopefully, we all can use that too. There are 10 principles and the corresponding questions:

1)????? Simplicity: is this the simplest way I can say this?

2)????? Essential Details: what detail is essential to this explanation?

3)????? Complexity: are there elements to this subject I don’t understand?

4)????? Efficiency: is this the most succinct way I can say this?

5)????? Precision: am I saying exactly what I want to communicate?

6)????? Context: why does this matter to the people I am addressing?

7)????? No Distractions: are there verbal, written, or visual distractions?

8)????? Engaging: are there moments when attention could waver?

9)????? Useful: have I answered the questions that people have?

10)? Clarity of Purpose: above all else, what am I trying to explain?

We also know that not only what we are saying but who we are addressing is extremely important. This is about knowing your audience; the target, and who I am talking to. Have full knowledge and pre-assessment of what they know and what they would like to know. Tailor it – how do they like to receive information? Ultimately, we need to make it personal – how best can you convey that information to them? And last, believing in the messenger – how best can you be credible?

In summary, there are seven steps for the explanation process:

1)????? Set-up.

2)????? Find the information.

3)????? Distill the information.

4)????? Organize the information.

5)????? Link the information.

6)????? Tighten

7)????? Delivery.

It may sound complex, but it is simple and very common sense, but when you systematically incorporate it into your thinking process, it can be very powerful. The key word is systematically. Explanations don’t just offer information: they offer a structure to give that information meaningful, relevance, and impact. The discipline of checking as you construct your explanation is invaluable in ensuring you are on track, which is defined by the author as a “strand of an explanation”. How we deliver words affects their meaning and what we show when we say the words also affects their meaning. If we put all these elements together, we start to understand why explanation is so critical to our lives.

Ros Atkins wrote, start well and there’s a good chance people will stay with you – finish well and there’s a good chance they will think it was worth it. He also explained the difference between “controlled explanations” versus “dynamic explanations”.

The bottom line, human communication is a magical mix of art and science. Indeed, a highly recommended book for those involved in communication, presentation, storytelling, and businesspeople.