My sister sent me a link to the American Enterprise Institute (yes, I know) to read a diatribe from an Angry White Man. It is actually left me in that weird place where you are simultaneously wanting to go into the dark bowels of Hell to see what exactly they keep down there, and realizing that really, nothing good can come of it.
Anyway, the thing is, in one sentence alone, I found four grammatical/stylistic errors (pretty grievous ones). I mean the phrase "In consequence we have all got used to sentences where puffed-up words like "chairperson" and "humankind" strut and preen..." is so god-awful on so many levels. I stand amazed at the fact that anyone gives this man and space at all.
This just shows me that passion counts for much. I participate in a networking community/blog by Dennis Cass, author and cool guy. In Dennis' blog (or social network), he brings up a lot of great points for discussion about what is awesome, how to be awesome, and knowing you're awesome even when you're dismissed by others.
I was sure that I had read something about the importance of passion in creating your "calling card", that thing that sets you apart and introduces you to the world. (Oddly enough, I couldn't find this thing that I thought I read when I went back to quote it.) Anyway, I find that when I collect loose data and let it float around my sub/unconscious (I am always a little shaky on where that line is - maybe Dennis' book will tell me!), the pieces that match eventually click. The combination of these two pieces of data (the power of passion and Idiot Rant Boy being the two) has really given me a powerful understanding about how to approach writing and speaking about my work.
I DO care passionately about it, yet I've backed way off to the place of Clinical and Clear. Clarity is good (and I am a big fan of concise too, by the way) but I am contemplating how it can also be injected with Big Words (I intend that not to mean polysyllabic, but to mean words with lots of oomph! and large connotations). The polysyllabic thing is a trap I fall into when I'm teaching. I love these words because they can encompass so much or be so needle-precise, thereby allowing me to be concise (there it is again). I am finding that it can really distance people, however, from something that should connect with them on a gut level.
So, passion it is. I am always looking for a new and better "elevator speech" - the 45 second answer to the question, "What do you do?" That seems like a good place to start with experimenting with using words that express my passion for my work and beliefs.
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2 comments:
The "45 second elevator speech" is a tricky prospect, especially in a field as personal as ours. It is one thing to summarize a sales position or management or manufacturing job, but to distill how you help clients through touch is very difficult. I have not found one that works very well yet.
Jonathan, I've been doing this work for 15 years, had thousands of hours of training, and still I struggle. But I think that for me, one of the issues is that I find it to be a moving target. Who I am in relationship to the work, what I believe it to be, and what I want others to perceive it as are ever evolving, which means my way of talking about is as well. A recipe for frustration.
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