Sometimes, marketers, musicians or speakers dig themselves into a solipsistic rabbit hole.
They’ve heard their stuff before. They think everyone else has too.
So they bury the lede, look for new laughs and most of all, try to avoid boring themselves.
Which often leads to confusion or controversy or, most of all, a muddy message.
You’re not speaking up to entertain yourself. You’re here to teach the next group of people who need to hear from you.
Empathy in communication requires you to repeat the stuff that works as you continue to explore the next layer of what might work even better.
In the words of my late friend Jay Levinson, “Don’t change your story when you’re bored, or when your partner is bored, or when your team is bored. Change your story when your accountant is bored.”