Land the plane…

I feel that I am similar to you.  When we have an idea, anecdote, or opinion on our mind we like to share it with others, true?  We try to be a patient receiver when we’re on the listening side as well, but we know that can be a challenge. 

In my case, it’s not “what” I have to share but rather “how” I share it that is worrisome.  If you look up the definition of “verbose” you’ll find several definitions.  Perhaps the most appropriate for today’s purpose is: 

Wordy 

Guilty.  

I’d like you to know that I’m not blind to my tendency to “throw more words at it”.  That’s a common trait many salespeople have.  When we don’t know the answer to a prospect’s question, when there is dead space, or when we’re nervous, we have a tendency to hold onto the talking stick too long.  

I bet you’ve been in that situation on the “buy-side” of a sales presentation.  You ask the salesperson a question and after sitting through a lengthy, sometimes confusing, occasionally contradicting response you decide not to ask any more questions for fear you’ll have to bring in dinner before the sales rep leaves. 

I’m retired from the technology sales profession now, but still selling.  I prefer to think of it as story-telling.  Either way, deep down inside I want my audience to listen to me and to like what I have to say.  I bet you do, too.  Thanks to a long-time friend of mine, Debbie Ryder, now I can tell.  She cued me during lunch recently.  I was relating something or other I thought was of interest.  When I started heading down the wordy path she smiled and said, “Gary, land the plane.” 

Similar feedback was offered by my friends Pat and Monica.  Two steps involved with preparing to self- publish my book, The Peace and Power of a Positive Perspective, are a “Summary” as well as “About” the author.  After sending them a draft they responded firmly and politely, “wordy”.  

I suppose my readers (all readers really) take a different approach with writers; even apologetic writers: 

I apologize for writing such a long letter. I didn’t have the time to write you a short one. 

Pascal   

Readers simply stop reading, yes?  Here’s a test… how many of your incoming emails and instant messages do you read start to finish?  Makes one want to tell the writer, “Land the plane”.  This is not a new phenomenon, just ask Norman R. Augustine: 

There are those individuals, both outside the federal government and inside, who are endowed with that special talent to take fairly lucid concepts and, through subtle embellishment, make them very nearly incomprehensible. 

Ah yes, embellishment, guilty again.  But in my defense, it’s not because I’m oblivious to my verbosity: 

If I am to speak for ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now. 

Woodrow Wilson 

I try to heed the advice from Pascal and Norm Augustine.  I’ve read much about Abraham Lincoln.  Sometimes I worry that he was referring to me: 

He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met. 

Abraham Lincoln 

So if you find one of my little ditties is too wordy for a small idea, please feel free to hit reply and say, “Gary, land the plane”. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.