How To Achieve Better Results In Just About Everything, Clearly.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, David McCullough, said, “Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it’s so hard.” Having heard this a number of times over the years, I’d began to wonder whether speaking clearly is as direct a path to evidence of a clear mind as clear writing may be. Well, there’s some interesting evidence that investors may wish to consider.

In a new article titled, ‘There’s a link between CEOs who torture the English language and poor stock performance’ Philip van Doorn highlights research performed by S&P Global Market Intelligence that may reveal some helpful insight. It turns out that company CEOs often speak very un-clearly preceding underperformance by the company they lead. Of course, there’s a lot of data being used to support this study, but the broader point is one that is sufficient.

This all makes sense. If a company is doing really well, how hard is it to communicate that? “We’re having great success with our new initiative; we’re up 12% over the previous year. Couldn’t be happier.” They might say. Compare that to the CEO who needs to explain away his or her lack of progress and poor performance. In fact, here’s an example from Stephen Luczo, the former CEO of a company called Seagate Technology PLC: “I think from our perspective, we’ve always viewed this business as attractive in terms of its core business of selling into OEMs as well as servicing cloud service providers at one level, but really the opportunity to, I think, as architectures evolve and different customer needs evolve, to have the capability to optimize the devices either at the device level, at the subsystem level or the systems level, and if you do not have the software capability to do that, you really cannot take advantage of what we think would be a potentially significant long-term trend.”

See the difference?

So how does this pertain to you, the person who’s just trying to experience a nice, secure, successful retirement? After all, you’re not likely going to jump on analyst calls to dissect the CEOs’ speech patterns of the companies you own. To you, my advice is twofold:

If you struggle to understand the advice you’re receiving regarding your retirement plan, your taxes, or your refrigerator repair, ask for clarification. While you don’t need to be an expert in all matters to get great results, you can strive to be a well-informed consumer of advice, which can lead to peace of mind. If you can’t understand what is being presented to you, pause and consider the source of the advice. Without the ability speak or write clearly, is there clear thinking present in the solution offered?
Consider how you might communicate your wishes more clearly. Whether it’s in a business setting or a personal relationship, our ability to focus our thoughts and communicate clearly can help us avoid any number of missteps or false assumptions. I think every episode of every TV sit-com is based on a communication gaffe that could have been easily avoided, but results in hilarity. But these blunders don’t always seem as funny in real life.

In the end, relationships are the very point of just about everything we engage in. In order for relationships to work well, clear communication is key. An investor needs to know what’s going on with their investments and a father needs to know what’s going on in his daughter’s life. If we can take just a little more time to get the communication right, we might just experience better results. If we don’t, well, it’s just more painful for everyone.

Clear writing and clear speaking are a sign of clear thinking. I wonder if I made myself clear.

All the best,
Adam Cufr Signature