NORTHERN PLANNER

I did what I thought was some pretty good thinking on something or other. The people with me at the time did too.

so I wrote it up, then got lots of feedback from the people who weren't there that clearly showed they didn't get it.Which was my fault not theirs.

Because when I looked at what I'd done, it was pretty well written but I'd clearly got carried away with writing a piece of prose and not a piece of planning. It was lovely to read, it was even concise but it didn't make any point really well.

Smartness is all well and good, but when you're trying to communicate it to others, you need hooks to hang that smartness on. Memorable, pithy  distilations of your thinking.

It's good for your audience but it's also good for you. Boiling down your thoughts into a series of soundbites helps re-appraise your thinking, cutting out what's unnecessary, keeping what's working and, also seeing how it can get even better.

I forgot that.

Which just shows the distict disadvantage of the indpendence that comes with a little 'seniority'. 

You just don't get the constant feedback that naturally comes with a good mentor to report to.

It pays at every level to seek out as much input as you can, but I dare say that actually becomes more important with experience, not less.

One final thought. If you're working on a presentation, you really should rehearse in front of someone who isn't involved, because then the mirror neurons fire and you see your stuff from their point of view, not yours.

Suddenly all sorts of flaws – pace, delivery, ordering, clarity and, in some cases, fundamental problems with logic , structure and argument – become clear, stuff you just don't see if you're too close to it.