4_DiscoverBenelux_Issue17_May_2015_Q9_Scan Magazine 1 28/04/2015 13:13 Page 63
Discover Benelux & France | Business | Columns
What communicates? TEXT & ILLUSTRATION: JOSIAH FISK
Why words should never challenge visuals to a tug-of-war. As my colleague and I left the café in Libramont, Belgium, he grabbed the handle to pull the door open. The door didn’t budge. “POUSSEz,” I said, reading from the large sign on the door. My colleague is no idiot. His reading skills are top-notch and his vision is perfect. He’s been to university, run successful businesses and raised three amazing kids. He can beat every one of you at pétanque (the addictive French version of bocce) and his first language is French, so there was no language barrier involved. So what was involved, exactly? Very simply, it is a battle between a word and a visual cue. When we humans see a handle, we instinctively want to grab it. In fact, that’s not even limited to humans. Some other primates have the same instinct. It’s a handle. If we’re not supposed to grab it, why is it there? Sometimes, of course, it’s there so we can push rather than pull. But a sign has never been invented that can reliably overcome the power of a visual cue as strong as what a handle sends. So many failures of communication are failures exactly because they take on a challenge like the one that fell to the unfortunate
“POUSSEz” sign. It’s very much an uphill battle. In essence, it’s the battle of the higher mental functions versus the more primal ones. We all know how that battle is supposed to end, and we all know how often it doesn’t end that way. Called upon to solve this type of problem, it’s easy to start thinking along the lines of better sign placement, bigger type, brighter colours and other efforts to get the sign to 'yell louder'. But a reliable answer doesn’t lie in that direction. The only solution that will work 100 per cent of the time is to swap out the handle with a flat brass plate. There’s only one thing you can do with the plate: push it. And our brains get the message so quickly and reliably we hardly even notice. So next time you pull when the sign says push, don’t feel stupid. your brain is only telling you what millions of years of evolution have taught it: handles are for pulling. Even a monkey knows that. Josiah Fisk
Josiah Fisk is the head of More Carrot LLC, a clear communications company with offices in Boston and Luxembourg.
Declutter! TEXT & PHOTO: STEVE FLINDERS
My coaching client has had an awful six months at work. It’s sorted now and part of the solution is for him to reduce to working four days a week. “What are you going to do with the extra free time?” I asked, expecting him to say something about writing a novel or learning to skydive. But he said: “I’ve thought about this a lot and first of all I’m going to declutter.” This might have passed me by if the same evening a dinner guest hadn’t mentioned that someone she knew had recently become a declutterer. There’s even a professional association for them, she said (I checked, there is). Intrigued, I googled ‘declutter’ and straight away found myself in one of those parallel universes which makes surfing such weird fun. I discovered organising consultant Marie Kondo, the Japanese author of the best-selling The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Not only does Marie tell us how to fold our socks, she
advises us to put our possessions out on the floor and ask of each one: “Does this spark joy?” If it doesn’t, she says to get rid of it. One reader disposed of her husband this way. That may be taking it a bit far but I can see the seriousness of the intention. Modern consumerism creates material clutter in our private lives and modern global communications create clutter in our electronic in-trays. Try deleting old emails with your eyes closed, it can be quite thrilling and very satisfying. So why declutter? Getting rid of stuff can give you greater physical space which allows you more mental space as well. Take it further and it’s the difference between the infinity of the Eurasian Steppe, with that huge sense of liberation and lack of constraint, and the claustrophobia of the broom cupboard. Unloading possessions (and thinking twice before acquiring more) at home and at work can have a positive
impact on our lives psychologically as well as being good for the environment and your local charity shops. Try coaching yourself to come up with simple rules for Kondo-ing (yes, she’s been turned into a verb). As Ms Kondo says herself, it’s all about letting go. Steve Flinders Steve Flinders is a freelance trainer, consultant, writer and coach who helps people develop their communication skills for working internationally. He’s also a member of the steering group of Coaching York which aspires to make York the coaching capital of the UK (www.coachingyork.co.uk): steveflind@aol.com
Issue 17 | May 2015 | 63