Seeing through the illusions of communications
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”
- George Bernard Shaw
Leaders, presenters and managers often find this to be true: what you meant to say is not what your audience took away.
For your message to land with audiences, it must be:
But communications depend on establishing trust between you and your audience, and that job has never been harder than now. Why?
Because people trust fewer and fewer institutions. As consumers, workers and voters, it’s hard to know which sources of information to trust because abundant crops of information, misinformation and disinformation get all mixed together.
Who do you trust?
Trust in American institutions is dangerously low. Gallup polls found that only three institutions are trusted by half or more of the U.S. public:
More than half of Americans distrust all other U.S. institutions. That lack of trust is at the root of?today’s divisive misinformation, disinformation, mutual misunderstandings, and receding civility.
Only about one in three Americans, 36%, trusts the medical system and higher education.
Fewer than one in three Americans trust:
Business is the most trusted institution
The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer found that business remains the most trusted institution, with 62% of people expressing trust in business. It's the only institution considered both competent and ethical by most respondents.
Edelman found people had "neutral" trust in nongovernment organizations (NGOs) at 58%. Governments and media tied for the least trusted institutions at 52%, considered "neutral."
Misinformation and disinformation fuel the fires of distrust
Real communications occur when a speaker's message lands with the audience. It's heard, understood and remembered.
But so often, that's not at all what happens. Instead people tolerate the "illusion" of communication.
When you step back from politics, it’s fascinating to hear how easily messages get mangled, dismantled and misrepresented as they pass from person to person.
Remember the game of telephone?
Because people are human, many of us tend to get messages mixed up, mangled, misconstrued, misinterpreted, miscommunicated, and misunderstood.
All this reminds me of playing the game of?telephone?in grade school. You know the game: one student whispers the original message to the next student in line, who whispers it to the next student, and so forth.
As the message gets shared person to person, it morphs into a different message. At the end of the game, when the final message is announced out loud, it’s compared with the original message, often to hilarious effect.
Cultural researchers identify this method of communications as “transmission chaining.”
For example, a global game of telephone started in Australia with the phrase “Life must be lived as play,” then it traveled through China, India, Belarus, Uganda, and South Africa. The final message that came out in Romania was, “At my station don’t work.”
For leaders, marketers and communicators, word-of-mouth is a great way to transmit messages to extended audiences. But to succeed, you need an absolutely clear, concise message that’s easy to transmit accurately.
Leaders, founders, managers, marketers, communicators and employees may sense that they’re playing telephone?every day as they communicate up and down an organization’s chain of command.
By the time a message reaches an employee in a big company, she may be rolling her eyes – with good reason. Messages that make no sense get ignored or ridiculed. It’s hard to imagine what employees at the end of a long game of telephone are saying to your customers.
If you see signs of this in your organization, get help to co-create a consistent message that lands with your audience. Get your story heard, understood and remembered accurately. Enable your whole team to move forward as one.
B2B Marketing Strategist Helps Companies with Complex Sales Get Relevant and Grow | Speaker | Author of 2 Books | Workshop Instructor
1 周Nice reminder, George. I'd say this applies to the way we approach our audiences with content, as well. It made me think about random acts of content and how that could morph the message you're trying to get across. In comparison to a storyline that builds on context shared by your audience. Or maybe I need more coffee... ??