Not Rocket Science

Actually rocket science is more predictable and you can even find enough blueprints on the web to launch a rocket. As for social web, not so much: it's about people, one of the most complex (not complicated) subjects of study for science. And once it involves millions of interactions in becomes even more unpredictable.

Aren't we all learning as we go? If that's true, than building rockets would be a more safe option.

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." – Mark Twain.
That's a lot of difference. No it's not rocket science, it's something far more subtle, complex, and human.

I *love* this. Thanks, Lori for the quote and the thought.

Haha, that's funny. There's another quote about obscurity that I really like:

"Whoever knows he is deep, strives for clarity; whoever would like to appear deep to the crowd, strives for obscurity."

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Back when my husband did welding, people would bring things in for repair, and say:

"I could do it myself, but I just don't have time."

They wanted to seem like they had the necessary skills and equipment, whether they did or not. These are the same folks who would say:

"It will only take you 5 minutes."

In both cases, they were trying to play down the value of Joe's time and skills. These are the same type of people who tell you that what you do is not rocket science. They could do it themselves in five minutes, if only they knew how and had the setup to get it done. But they don't.

And that is where the skilled craftsman comes in.

Now that's interesting. That's quite a way to see it. I was looking at the fact that I agree. You point out that it's also a weapon.

Words can bring us closer together or they can separate us. The separation stuff isn't working so well anymore, so let's hope we can lead by example and bring people together.

It's also important to recognize that when people say "It's not rocket science" what they seemingly imply is that it's not that hard and "I could do it too." And in many cases, yes you could, yet most will never tack action. Frankly, execution is where the rubber meets the road. Whether or not something is "rocket science" is of little consequence if no action is taken and those so happy to throw that phrase around come across as little more than critics adding little if any value to the conversation.

I'd also like to add that when someone masters something they frequently also master the art of making it look easier than it is.

Chris I applaud your plain (i.e. human) speak but you're not fooling most of us, you have mastered an art and we know it despite your humble nature.

Well, thank you. I understand your point.

Jordan just throws a basketball.

I'm NOT comparing myself, but that makes sense.

Scott, you make a couple of great points. I sell toys, some of which are so simple, customers say, "I could make that," to which I always reply, "Yes you could, but will you?"

As for the masters making it look easy, just think about sports. How many of you think if given twenty swings you could hit a 100 mph fastball? Michael Jordan, one of the greatest athletes of our generation who had incredible hand-eye coordination struggled with that skill.

I think the true masters not only make it "look" easy, they "make" it easy - easy for others to follow them and understand what they do.

True, it's not rocket science! But one needs to build a 'personal brand' (aka credibility) around him/her to prove that this is NOT rocket science. There are zillions of bloggers out there that write a lot, some original, some paraphrase - but not all of them get to that stage when they can claim that this is not rocket science.

Yep, it takes a lot of effort..

I couldn't concur more vigorously, Christopher. As Father Gabriel used to tell us every Friday morning at the conclusion of English Lit class, "Have a salubrious weekend."

In an effort to keep lofty-sounding, over-indulgent, over-the-top verbal gobbledeygook out of this, I'll simply say, "Yah."

And you need to have a caption contest for that picture.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eschew on my breakfast. :)

Its gotta be pretty tough for the rocket scientist/blogger out there, what does that guy say? lol Chris thanks for the post I totally agree with you, great post!

"Business value is not in big words. It’s in big understanding."

Brilliant! I love these two sentences. Better yet, I understand them! :-)

Not even rocket science is rocket science! I used to work for a company where we actually built rockets and there were plenty of cracks about rocket science, but the grand majority of our work was engineering — we had to spend our time working from well-established blue prints.

Even building rockets is a question of building value and understanding for customers.

I appreciate you for a thousand reasons. This one is #441.

I disagree that all of this is NOT rocket science, but that is a long and complicated argument we can have another day. In the meantime, Chris Brogan simplified even further. :-) http://gerardmclean.com/chris-brogan-re-written...

Great post Chris!
I've seen this time and time again (in writing & at the office) and IMHO it just makes people come off as uptight and not approachable....somewhat of a turn off. I can say from personal experience that being a bit more relaxed in writing and networking can make a difference - perfect example was the CEO of the last company I worked for - she was very professional and direct, however, her approach was to us not at us and her personality in writing and while conversing with her inspired you to listen...

I like what you said.

Thank you. Perfect timing for such a post. How did you know?

Chris you are a right "Business value is not in big words". Do you have any suggestions for people who try and tell the big wigs not to communicate in such a non human way? Long, confusing, big word laced communications are a way of life in my company. They keep writing them that way, hoping the next one, will be the one that makes everyone understand what the hell they are talking about.

Dude,

Can't agree with you more.

I especially can't stand real estate people that continually paint a rosey picture of the market when in fact, the market is not.

Not only talk like a person but think like a person and base your business on reality in order to survive.

The business acumen of there is another sucker coming is just wrong and unseemly.

To all the salespeople that think this way: Go away and flip burger!

It's never in the big words- it's in the clarity of the meaning and content, and that's why Chris succeeds so well with blogging. He makes things clear, simple and actionable.

As a lawyer and someone regularly accused of having a large vocabulary, I can tell you it's never about the SAT words- it's about nuance, about clarity, and often translating the complex into the simple, but not elementary, so people understand what they are doing or signing. It doesn't have to be complex- it does have to be clear.

Great point, and it illustrates something else, something conspicuous in its absence (and by saying that I don't mean that its absence here is a failure or oversight): most worthy endeavors are never "all science."

There is science, and there is art. Art is not a reproducible formula, but it's vital. Because without the art of human communication, formulas are all you have.

Hey Chris, We've got so much jargon in the business world and especially in our Loyalty Marketing corner of the world. Everytime someone tells me that they just "jumped the shark", I ask them what they are talking about? Similar to insisting on ordering a "large" at Starbucks!

The best story I heard was from a Microsoft guy who told an audience that he was working on a "TLA" project. When he asked if anyone knew what this was, a few hands went hesitantly into the air. The speaker exposed these fakers by saying that this stood for "Three Letter Acronym" and went on to make fun of how many of these exists in technology and business.

I agree with you. Speak clearly, Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Bill

My Dad loves talking about TLAs. That used to be a common joke in our household, being that we're all computer nerds. : )

I must share this with you, a couple of years ago NPR did a piece on this phrase It's not rocket science. They asked rocket scientists what do they say when confronted with a difficult with a seemingly simple issue to compare with a complex one.

The overwhelming answer was nuclear physics - so rocket scientists say "It's not nuclear physics." I wonder if nuclear physicists say it's not rocket science? Hmmm.

Of the many reasons I love you, it's anecdotes like these that make it easiest to point out to other people why.

Thanks for reminding me of this Chris. Keeping it simple usually works best for getting my message across and takes a lot less time.

Here is another great post regarding Jargon or BS as Mark Cuban would put it.

Michael Palmer, Life Coach

Thanks for expressing what I've been thinking for a long time. Big fancy words, don't make big ideas!

Amen. Sometimes I find that the people who have the hardest time grasping this are clients (one in particular comes to mind) who don't realize that they'd reach more people if they'd ditch the jargon that is meaningless to people outside of the organization.

It's ironic to me that a discipline like digital communications (social media, whatever) that is so focused on authentic, "real" conversation between brands and fans also relies really heavily on buzzwords and positioning oneself as a 'guru' or an 'expert'.

I'm with you. It's just talking.

Guru. God that word grates me the way Air Supply grates me.

All those words are ways for those doing the describing to distance themself from the work involved.

It becomes the magical internet faeries doing their magical internets stuff, and nobody else is hip enough to understand whats going on.

You don't like Air Supply? Heathen!

Clear insight Chris!
The successful companies today project confident and clear communications for all to understand. When HubSpot graded my blog site with a Baccalaureate degree level of comprehension, I immediately knew I had to act. Folks who know me understand that my words provide the color and texture to my conversational style. Sort of like when you go to an interview, you want to dress one level above the position you want to hold, when you blog, you want to write one level below your intended audience.
With that logic, if you are selling rocket ship parts, you probably want to use words that the junior NASA engineers will understand.

Thank you for sharing! So many times we get confused between feeding the intellects of the world, who can care less, or feeding the masses that are starving for information they can consume and immediately apply. This was a great reminder to me. Thank you.

I'd like to see them attempt to do what you do. To organize topics in a more social form and manner in order to expand business and even individual worth and success the way you do is a difficult study on its own. Also, I agree with @armandoalves, that the subject of "people" is a complicated study. We do learn as we go.

You're right that it's tricky, and yet, it's human. I dunno. I just want to rework all the barnacles we've added to our hulls.

I couldn't agree more! Communicating without using jargon takes the exchange to another level of sincerity. Don't have to be rocket scientist to know the difference. Great post Chris!

You're right. It's not rocket science. But I still love my big words. I think sometimes I write more for myself than for others. It's compulsive :) Good post.

In the most basic sense, I look at it this way: Who would you rather hang out with...some elitist professor or CEO who talks to you like he or she is looking down his or her nose at you, or your friends who you can have a conversation with?

If you're like me, it's your friends you can have a conversation with. Working with clients should be no different. You may not want your clients to "hang out" with you on a daily basis, but if the option is a legitimately conversational tone vs. a "talk down my nose at you" tone, which one will leave your client with a better taste in their mouths or a better feeling in their stomachs? Nobody walks into a meeting thinking, "I hope these guys make me feel/look like an idiot." Whether it's a meeting, a conference call, or simply a blog post, connecting and creating conversation rather than dominating conversation should be the focus.

Good thoughts, Chris.

I love this post for so many reasons! I often feel like if I don't use big words I'm seen as unintelligent, but for me, that's the best way to get my point across in a way I know I'm going to be understood by everyone. Writing is much more about thoughts, feelings, opinions and emotions than big words.

Small words pass through our brains faster and get absorbed into our language faster. Big words take digestion.

I often think "anyone can do this" it isn't rocket science, but a good friend pointed out that to someone who doesn't "do marketing" it is. It is a field that they aren't familiar with. They are experts at what they do and what they are paying us to do is to do our own particular brand of magic.

So, it may not be hard for us, but it does have a certain spark of magic to those who aren't in the business and that is what we bring to the table.

A quick follow up.

This post by Amber Naslund fits right in here from a marketing perspective. You need to write and talk the same way you would write and talk to your friends because after all, you are talking to people you are building relationships and friendships with. You're spreading your message in a conversational and friendly way. Amber also includes some great examples:

http://altitudebranding.com/2009/08/talk-like-w...

Eschew obfuscation--the last real words I spoke to my last boss. He didn't get it.

You know it's funny, no matter how long we've been in business, we've been a human longer. However, for some odd reason, once we've been trained in something, we have to relearn how to be human again, how to communicate in normal "human" language everything we've been trained to do. Some people never learn this and typically, they don't do very well, but those who do flourish.

It's more like, we've been taught that business-speak is the opposite of human-speak, through 70 years of advertising taglines and customer service gobbledygook. All this authentic communication social media stuff isn't new, its old old old, but counter to what has been ingrained to 'make sense'

That's how I approach my coaching - it's not a difficult system or strangely labeled actions, categories and thought processes.

It's simple concepts and simple actions.

Nothing more.

In reading the opening of Mr. B's post, I get the impression that this is really a question of choice:

"Here’s something I hear all the time with regard to my work, especially my writing: “It’s not rocket science". It's the; ESPECIALLY MY WRITING part that jumps out.

Chris', Julien's, Mark Twain's, yours and my CHOICE in words or phrase-ology speaks to a certain audience. The DELIVERY of these words; the PRESENTATION of the speaker/writer, their age, gender, etc are all factors - people consider you a TRUST AGENT in a particular field or they don't. Why do some people have 82k followers on twitter and others are barely breaking 100? Choice! It's the audience's choice! Does what you say matter to me? And do I enjoy/appreciate the way you say it? (No different than why our customers choose us.)

Why is it that we select a car. It's not just price, but the model, the year, the color and historical performance are factors. These things matter. Assuming all cars start, stop and drive, that's where the comparison ends. So too does the manner by which the author of this post writes, compared to his contemporaries.

Chris, your approach in writings, and other messaging medium speaks to a large audience right now. No pretense or fluff, straight and free of the bullsh*t. This audience enjoys a read where a dictionary and thesaurus aren't required, at least with few exceptions.

So for me it's choice! I choose to read and listen to Chris Brogan's stuff, for as long as it speaks to me and has value - I'm not good with the whole rocket thing ;)

Amen! I couldn't agree more.

Write to be understood, not to impress.

Well said.

Well put. Simple and concise.

LOL @ "eschew obfuscation"

What was more complicated/impressive BEFORE rocket science? "Hey, it's not wheel making..."

I read articles all the time in which the writer’s excessive use of their grandiose vocabulary comes off like too much salt on your eggs. This issue has a more common name: illiteracy. Granted, it’s a very educated form of illiteracy, but not being able to communicate, in writing, simply and clearly, is most certainly a definition of being illiterate.

The purpose of writing to an audience, as you pointed out, is to make sure that audience understands what you are trying to say. If they have to drag out a dictionary in order to decode your message than you have failed. There is no harm in having a large vocabulary, but showing it off as a writer is useless if your audience doesn’t share the same love of words as you do. I try to use the “write as you talk” method. It seems to work the best.

Again, I find myself nodding in complete agreement with you. Great post!

Have to agree with you Chris -- we should keep our language simple, clear and conversational. Why then is it so hard to convince clients they don't need the acronym soup and jargon phrases they cling to? Sigh...

I've always liked this quote from Ernest Hemingway...

“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.”

Would anyone care to argue that Hemingway didn't get his points across clearly?

Sometimes when you're pitching this stuff though, people think your trying to sell them rocket science... Or they don't have time for rocket science, Or they act like they already know all there is to know about rocket science.

I will say that I personally probably spend way too much time on much of this stuff as if it were rocket science. JamesRSutter - Cincinnati

Santa Claus delivers happiness to three billion kids. If you try and tell me he's doing something else, I'll call you out on it and say you're full of shit.

Thanks for keeping it simple, fella.

Fight the Bull! A free downloadable tool to make sure your writing is straightforward and free of, well, "bull". You get a grade and it highlights the offending words. It also gives you very funny feedback. You can find it at www.fightthebull.com

Patty

I agree that too many people complicate their communication unnecessarily (e.g., big words and jargon to impress/confuse others). I'm a firm believer that the most complex issues can be explained either in words or pictures that 99 percent of us can understand, and there's really no reason not to.

On the other hand, some people take this too far and use "it's not rocket science" as an excuse for lazy, sloppy writing filled with bad grammar, misused punctuation, misspellings, etc. I've seen too many self-proclaimed "gurus" assure people that "close enough" writing is good enough. For those of us who make effective communication our profession and mission, that's equally offensive.

Simple, clear, effective communication free of jargon and confusing language should be everyone's goal.

I agree. I come from the insurance industry, and some of the writers/bloggers can not seem to write for humans. Not all, just some. Many are very smart, very analytical, very technical people in their field. However, I rarely think of a person as an "expert" if they can't condense the ideas and the language down to "undergraduate in college" level. 8th grade level would be even better. Or 5th. Now, if they want to write a piece that uses "beyond post-doctorate" language that's fine, depending on the audience (an academic journal maybe?). But too often the high-level language just hides the fact that the writer doesn't fully understand what s/he is writing about.

If there was more humility in the world, people like you wouldn't have to call BS. When my friends think I'm a marketing "genius" for knowing basic things, I point out that they are whatever type of "genius" applies. I don't program, I don't cook, I don't wire houses, I don't spay or neuter cats...

As a recent perpetrator of the "not rocket science" comment on an earlier post, I want to wholeheartedly endorse this post. When I say that what Chris Brogan does is not rocket science, I mean that your advice is accessible, clear and actionable. Not only do you utterly eschew obfuscation, but you also disregard esotericism.
Your writing is inclusive and welcoming rather not bloated with jargon and self-regard. Rocket science may be good for rocket scientists, but the rest of us are doing just fine here.

Actually these people are right, as good writing is an art and not a science. Hopefully it will stay that way. Look what happened to marketing when it stopped being an art and became a science.

A good friend and great speaker, Joe Gerstandt (http://www.ourtimetoact.com/), uses the line "It's not rocket science, it's harder because it's about people" when referencing his diversity work. I like it and have adopted the line for my work in Social Networking.

For proof of this statement, look no further than you local tech wizard. Most Uber-geeks I know could create and tweak the code that runs the social media platforms, but can't understand how to engage other people on those same platforms.

My friend and fellow rabble-rouser Joe Gerstandt (http://www.ourtimetoact.com/) uses the line "It's not rocket science, it's harder than that because it's about humans" when referencing his diversity work. I love the line so much I borrowed for my social networking work.

If you know an IT wizard who could code the crap out of any of the platforms we use but just doesn't get how to connect to the humans who use the platform, you understand this statement.

I too recently started my own blog with blogger. I have very little understanding of blogging but I also know what as you have so glaringly (to me at least) put it while it's not rocket science you do need a direction to go with the blog if you want to get something accomplished. Whether it be self serving or othes serving. I agree with your broad objectives in your article but I think I would like mine to eventually trend towards income along with an outlet for political, motivational, etc., places for me to vent. So do you have any ideas?

This one makes me laugh!! =) It makes me think about all the "terms" you have to learn in the corporate world. If you don't learn the lingo it's hard to be "one of them" honestly. I think you mention that in Trust Agents.

It's a catch 22 of sorts isn't it? I get that (and agree with) using big'ol words makes no sense if there is no meaning or usefulness to them. If you can use simpler terminology and make it more useful to people a better result will likely come of it. But I also live in the world where you have to know the lingo, understand how to translate the lingo and do something with all of it in order to make survive (especially at first).

Am I off here?

http://twitter.com/franswaa

Chris, I think your blog is very valuable. I am reading it very often to get more ideas and tips on better business communication. I agree, there is no rocket science in social media, simplicity is the key. But people forget sometimes how to be humans in business and somebody has to remind them how to do it right. Your blog is great guide.