Responsibility and The Power of Clear Communication

“Far too often, we assume that if somebody doesn't understand what we're telling them, it's because they are 'stupid' or 'closed-minded.' That is very rarely the case. While we know our subject matter, we may fail to know the person to whom we are explaining the subject, and therefore may fail to get our idea across.” – Radical Candor by Kim Scott.

This quote from Radical Candor highlights a common misconception in communication (and teaching): the belief that misunderstandings stem from the listener’s limitations. In reality, the communicator is responsible for adapting their message. This principle is illustrated in the story of economist John Maynard Keynes and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which Scott uses to demonstrate the failure of communication, not intelligence.

Keynes, a brilliant economist, met with FDR during the Great Depression to explain his economic theory, which could have alleviated much suffering. Despite Keynes’s genius, FDR left the meeting unconvinced.

So, who's fault was it? FDR or Keynes?

There is a convincing argument that this failure wasn’t due to FDR’s absence of an ability to understand but to Keynes’ inability to convey his complex ideas in a way that FDR could grasp.

Without understanding, Keynes' ideas remained locked in his head. It was as if his battery was fully charged, but the light never came on since it did not connect to the lightbulb. This misstep emphasizes a key lesson: even the most groundbreaking ideas are ineffective if they aren’t communicated clearly and accessibly.

The Role of Audience in Communication

The assumption that if someone doesn’t understand us, it’s their fault often leads to communication breakdowns. Instead, Scott argues that we, as communicators, must take the time to understand our audience—what they know, what they don’t, and how to present our ideas so that they resonate. This is precisely where the CORE framework comes into play.

As you communicate, keep these simple questions in mind: "Is what I am saying concise?" "Is it organized?" "Is it relevant?" and "Is it engaging?"

In the CORE framework, Concise and Organized elements are paramount. When communicating complex ideas, the key to fostering understanding is not overwhelming the listener with too much information. It’s about distilling the essential points and delivering them in a way that is easy to digest, much like how Georgia O'Keeffe describes the importance of “selection, elimination, and emphasis” in getting at the real meaning of things.

When we understand our audience—whether it’s a student, colleague, or team member—we can make intentional choices about what to include and what to leave out, ensuring that our message is Relevant and engaging, the other pillars of the CORE framework.

Relevance: The Missing Link to Engagement

The Relevance component of the CORE framework is often overlooked, but it’s essential in ensuring the effectiveness of communication. An idea, no matter how well-organized or clearly articulated, will fail to resonate if it isn’t relevant to the audience’s context.

This is where Keynes may have faltered in his meeting with FDR—he failed to connect his economic theory and the immediate challenges FDR faced as a leader managing a nation in crisis. While Keynes focused on the theoretical aspects of his model, FDR needed practical solutions that directly addressed the problems at hand.

Relevance requires us to ask, "Why does this matter to the person I'm communicating with?" Whether you’re leading a team, teaching a class, or explaining a complex idea, it’s crucial to frame your message in terms that resonate with your audience’s priorities and concerns. Scott’s anecdote about helping someone reduce a two-hour email to two sentences is a perfect example of ensuring Relevance—it’s about cutting through the noise to highlight what truly matters to the listener.

Books like Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath also emphasize this point: ideas stick when framed in ways that are immediately meaningful and relevant to the people who hear them. This is why the CORE framework puts such emphasis on Relevance—without it, even the most concise and well-organized ideas will fail to engage the audience.

I once had a mentor tell me, "Never before in human history has it been so easy to stand up and so difficult to stand out." This, of course, refers to our ability to create and publish content that very few people are likely to see. Part of solving this problem relates to relevance.

CORE Framework: Clarity, Organization, and Relevance as Responsibility

The story of Keynes and FDR isn’t just about a historical moment; it’s about the universal challenge of communication. The CORE framework teaches us that clarity is not just a matter of knowing our subject—it’s about knowing our audience and taking responsibility for how our message is received. In both education and leadership, this means tailoring our message to the needs, knowledge, and expectations of the people we are communicating with.

Educators, in particular, need to remember that understanding isn’t just the student’s responsibility. If a student fails to grasp a concept, the question shouldn’t be “why didn’t they understand?” but rather, “how can I explain this more effectively?” Just as Keynes failed to make his ideas relevant and clear to FDR, we can fail to reach our students if we don’t adapt our teaching to their level of understanding.

Books like A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger and The Art of Insubordination by Todd Kashdan echo this principle, showing that effective communication, especially of bold or complex ideas, requires precision, clarity, and adaptability. More importantly, it requires relevance—making sure that what we communicate matters to the audience in a meaningful way.

Conclusion

The lessons from Radical Candor and the story of Keynes and FDR remind us that communication is a skill that demands more than just knowledge—it demands responsibility. The CORE framework provides a powerful tool for refining our communication so that our ideas, no matter how complex, are clear, relevant, and accessible to those who need them. When we take ownership of clarity and relevance, we not only improve understanding but foster stronger connections, better education, and more effective leadership.

So, the next time you face a misunderstanding, resist the urge to blame the listener. Instead, take a step back, reflect, and ask yourself: How can I communicate this more clearly and make it more relevant? The responsibility—and the opportunity—is yours.