I have just come across this blog or advert: How to learn a language in 20 minutes a day!

With an industrial revolution taking place in communications, there are so many ways to link up with people and talk to them, and do so with ever greater speed. Is Facebook already passed its prime? How did we survive until now without WhatsApp? etc etc. Ways are now available for the blind to see. And now I am being asked to learn an additional language?

If I think about it, we are taught to communicate within moments of emerging into the world. The doctor gently slaps the baby to get a reaction. The new born cries, and the circle of life can commence.

Fast forward to the home. How many times a day are there basic misunderstandings? And at work, the list of poor interactions can be added to near daily by all of us. Let me take one example; preparing a presentation, maybe for an investor.

There are million of blogs out there explaining that presentations need to be brief and dynamic. They need to have a “wow factor”, usually with a personal edge. Above all, they should show what’s in it for the investor, rather why the technology is so brilliant. And for all that guidance, as a business mentor and coach I am inundated with poor work.

Last week, I was given a very specific brief; to edit the English of a presentation. When it was pointed out that the messaging was poor, the response was that as they are a start up, they are not expected to have a killer set of slides.

In my view, nothing could be further from the truth. After all, at home you try to express things clearly to your partner or parents or children. When addressing a colleague, you look to ensure that they have understood. So why cut corners in a vital presentation, directed at investors or otherwise?

There are few really good platforms that help you to perfect your “one sentence pitch“, and then go on to help you create some killer slides. And it is rare that you come across a commercial that makes you choke, and thus you are drawn to the product or service. Why? Because it ain’t that easy!

There is a double lesson here. For all our deep and extended experience in communicating with others, we take the skill for granted. And to achieve the right results, we should look to invest resources, like it or not …… or else we need to be slapped like a child?