Brevity and Accomodation

It had been one year since I started work.

As I pondered over the year, I felt grateful for the opportunities available for me to be guided, corrected and trained in different aspects of my work. Here are the key things that I had learnt:

Brevity

I tend to write long and elaborate essays, which unfortunately translates into my reporting, emails and personal messages. However it became apparent that my audiences (friends, colleagues and clients) would not easily comprehend what I wrote. 

Initially I resisted the change. I felt bad that I had to "dumb down" my writing for my audiences. Here's a disclaimer: I'm not insinuating that my audiences are stupid. I am referring to the situation where I had to constantly police my language to make it readily understandable to my audiences. 

Along the way, my perspective changed. I witnessed the clear and effective communications among my bosses and colleagues. They communicated clearly in a straightforward manner. The audiences got the point and responded favourably. This beats my lengthy delivery which seemingly lacks focus.

I learn to lay aside my ego. I am writing for my audiences, not for myself. We may have different thought patterns, but it is my job to think "in their shoes" and craft my report/messages accordingly.

Less Postulation, More Accommodation

In addition, I had to curb my tendencies to postulate and put forth unsupported arguments. I love postulation and thought experiments because it allows me to exercise my creativity. I enjoy starting from a blank slate, postulating something and gather evidence to push forth my hypothesis. In short, I enjoy inductive thinking.

However I had started to realise that this mode of thinking is not widely accepted by people around me. Although they were intelligent and reasonable people, they tended to be dismissive when I floated certain ideas (which were not supported in any way).  The main criticism levelled was that “we should not make baseless statements” or “don’t try to act smart”. This tended to lead to friction between others and me. Thankfully we usually resolve the frictions before they escalate into conflicts.

For the latter, I am guilty as charged. I had a tendency to want to impress and demonstrate my intelligence, manifestations of my insecurities and narcissism. However I honestly believed that we should have an open mind to deal with ambiguities. After all, the real world is fraught with such examples, from misinformation on the internet to the advent of natural disasters to geopolitical relationships. Therefore I do not consider my postulations to be wrong. I simply start from a “baseless statement” (with ambiguous assumptions) but I had intended to find evidences to substantiate my case.

On the other hand, I realised that disagreements did not simply arise due to differences in thought patterns. I had to deal with the capricious nature of human beings. In managing projects, I had to work with multiple stakeholders. From my vantage point, I might consider my approach towards certain issues to be appropriate and well-measured. However the agendas and personalities of the stakeholders might not necessarily accommodate it. Therefore I will need to re-adjust my stance and re-evaluate my approach to accommodate them. It does not mean that I am ineffectual or unprincipled. Rather, I recognise the importance of gaining support from different fronts to ensure that the project moves forward.