7 Ways to Simplify Complex Content While Maintaining Sophistication and Nuance
So, you’re full of information and have a dramatic story for your audience?
Good.
But here’s the harsh truth: every bit of knowledge in the whole world is completely meaningless if you don’t do this one thing.
Before I spill the secret, let me tell you what it’s not …
It’s not about having the right intentions. Your intentions don’t even matter.
Your burning desire to enlighten those around you thirsting for knowledge is useless unless you can clearly explain the information you’d like to share.
The problem is not your amount of knowledge; it’s how you distribute it.
Engage your internal translator
Consider world hunger for a moment.
There are nearly one billion malnourished people in the world. At the same
time, 40 million tons of food are wasted in the U.S. alone.
Although that wasted food could theoretically feed the hungry, the biggest problem is distribution — getting that food to people who need it.
Knowledge faces the same distribution obstacle.
Street smarts, book smarts, theoretical knowledge, practical knowledge — all of it becomes somewhat meaningless if people keep it to themselves, or if they try to explain it to others in a way that is difficult to understand.
Business coach Charlie Gilkey posed a question to me several years ago that has always stuck in my memory. He asked:
What’s the point of being smart if nobody understands what you have to say?
It’s far smarter to simplify your message and explain it in a way that’s accessible, while still maintaining nuance and accuracy, than to hoard information and grumble about how others just don’t understand — or worse, explain it in a convoluted way.
It’s likely you feel confident about explaining what you do. You answer readers’ common questions, use case studies, and tell engaging stories. But how do you convey information you’ve received from someone else — perhaps an industry leader, researcher, or person who works in a highly specialized field?
Enter the translator. Your internal translator, that is. In order to do your readers justice, you’ll need to explain elaborate information to them in a succinct way.
Here are seven steps I take that promote comprehension of complex subjects.
time, 40 million tons of food are wasted in the U.S. alone.
What’s the point of being smart if nobody understands what you have to say?
Step #1: Ask dumb questions
I spoke with two people for this post: a perfusionist named Travis Siffring, and a graduate student in aerospace engineering named Ilhan Garou, who designed a fault-tolerant controller for a multicopter to be sent to Mars.
When I spoke with Siffring, I began our conversation with a basic question: “What do you do?”
He told me that he runs the heart-lung bypass machine during heart surgery.
I followed up with a dumb question: “What’s a heart-lung bypass machine?”
Next, I asked the machine’s location in relation to a patient’s body, how long it can be used, and so forth.
You need to ask obvious questions (including ones that make you feel stupid) because it will provoke simple answers. If you act like you have a thorough understanding of a topic — when you don’t — the person you’re interviewing will use more complicated language.
To serve your ultimate goal of explaining new information to your audience, interview with a novice mindset.
Step #2: Create straightforward analogies
Ask additional questions to make sure you understand the answers to the questions you ask.
Compare and contrast an intricate subject to something well-known. How is it similar or different?
For example, when I spoke with Garou about octocopters, I asked if they were like drones. Then, when we talked about the octocopter’s controller, I asked if it was like a joystick for a remote-controlled car.
Verify that your analogies are accurate, and if so, they’re a great way to explain the concept to your readers.
Step #3: Get specific
Now that you’re familiar with the basics, it’s time to learn details.
During this step, I asked Garou, “Why do people use adaptive controllers?”
The answer?
Although hundreds of years of research have proven that non-adaptive controllers are extremely safe, you also have to be more conservative when you use them. Adaptive controllers allow for riskier maneuvers, like tight or fast turns.
Adaptive controllers are also easier to operate and useful if you want to experiment, save money, or both.
Step #4: Investigate
This is a fun step: look for interesting stories that complement confusing job descriptions.
Although Siffring couldn’t share specific information because of medical privacy laws, he was able to speak in generalities.
He described a typical emergency room scenario:
A patient comes in and they’re having CPR done to them — everybody’s sort of running around: the nurses are trying to set up and get ready, we’re trying to get our machine ready, the surgeons are cutting the patient’s chest open so they can access the heart, and the anesthesiologist is doing his thing … it looks like total chaos, but with everybody doing something specific. Then you put the patient on the heart-lung machine, stabilize them, do the surgery, pretty soon you take him off, and three to four days later, you see him walking out of the hospital.
Ask experts what they wish someone would ask them or common misperceptions about their industry to get vivid answers.
A patient comes in and they’re having CPR done to them — everybody’s sort of running around: the nurses are trying to set up and get ready, we’re trying to get our machine ready, the surgeons are cutting the patient’s chest open so they can access the heart, and the anesthesiologist is doing his thing … it looks like total chaos, but with everybody doing something specific. Then you put the patient on the heart-lung machine, stabilize them, do the surgery, pretty soon you take him off, and three to four days later, you see him walking out of the hospital.
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