Words that Work

"It's not what you say, it's what people hear."

This book by Frank Luntz is profound and practical for anyone wanting to communicate a message to people.  Dr. Luntz has the reputation of the "hottest pollster in America" and performs numerous focus groups and polling in order to discover the most effective language for leaders to use if they want to connect their ideas to their audience. Luntz's assumption is that words are not the end; people are the end and the words we use are the tools to reach people. If you want to connect with people, you need to speak their language. It sounds like a "no-brainer" but how many times have you tried to impose and force your thoughts and opinions down someone else's throat without considering how they are hearing your words?

Luntz outlines 10 rules that aid in successful communication that are based on Orson Wells' essay "Politics and the English Language":

1. Use small words

2. Use small sentences

3. You need Credibility

4. You need Consistency

5. Offer something new (which includes offering a new twist on an old idea)

6. Sound and Texture matter

7. Inspire!

8. Visualize

9. Ask a question

10. Provide context

Put another way, speak with simplicity, brevity, credibility, consistency, novelty, alliteration, aspiration, visualization, questioning, and context.

Dr. Luntz provides many examples and case studies to prove out his point. He cites day-to-day examples of how to communicate with the hostess at a packed restaurant to high-profile examples of recalling a California governor in 2003 and impeaching Bill Clinton.

One of the limitations of the book is that it doesn't dive into visual images that work (or don't work) in communication. We live in an age of visual images all around us and it would be helpful to see which images work to communicate a point.

This is a great book for leaders of any kind (including Pastors) who craft language and speak to people day in and day out.  Even though this book focuses on the political and social realm, you can make applications to the religious realm quite easily. If you pastor a rural America church and you use the big, theological, higher education words like "the non-reciprocity of the two natures of Christ" to describe Christ, you won't communicate the idea very well.  But it would be different if you said, "Christ is 100% man and 100% God."  Which sounds easier to hear?

Some quotes that are really good:

"the act of speaking is not a conquest, it's a surrender."

"numbers with the smallest denominators and applied per individual are therefore almost always the most effective."

"Lose imagination and you lose an essential component of words that work."