Welcome back to “Irresistible Communication”.

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Two minutes, one insight

on how to find better

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words

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.

Michael: A reader recently wrote in to ask a very good question: “I know my

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message needs to be simpler, but which

parts do I cut when every stakeholder

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insists their piece is important?”

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That's brutal, isn't it?

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I mean, everyone thinks their piece

is the one that can’t go, right?

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But here's how I look at it.

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Think of your message as

the entrance to a building.

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It's not the whole building.

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Its job is to make people

want to step inside.

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So that means you don't need every single

room represented in the entrance hall.

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You just need enough to make them

curious to step in, to make them feel:

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yes, this building is worth entering.

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But if the entrance is cluttered

with everything everyone wants to

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show, people won't even come in.

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And, that means no one will ever see

your room no matter how brilliant it

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is or how important you think it is.

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So the job of the message is simple.

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Make the entrance so clear,

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so inviting that people want

to step inside and then,

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once they're in, you can show them around.

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That's when they will be

open to exploring the rest.

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But again, first they need

to get through the door.

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So when every stakeholder insists

their piece is important, I tell them:

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yes, your piece is

important for the building.

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It just doesn't have to be the entrance.

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And when they see that,

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the fight usually stops, because

now it's about creating the

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clearest, most inviting entrance,

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not cramming the entire

building into a single doorway.

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Keep lighting the path.