Sea Turtles

Communication is not all that different than sea turtles. Perhaps a big reason for that is they are such underdogs. Thousands of them hatch out of eggs on an ocean beach. Because they are instinctively compelled to crawl to the ocean waters and into the sea, that is exactly what they start doing the moment they free themselves from their eggs. As newborns, their gait is tentative and shaky. Their journey is several hundred yards in length and across hot, uneven sand. It is also incredibly dangerous. Just above them are scores of sea gulls who enjoy nothing more than chowing down on defenseless newborn sea turtles. And that is exactly what they do, with great success. About one out of every 1,000 newborn sea turtles actually makes it to the ocean waters. While that is enough to ensure the existence of the species, the odds against making it successfully to the ocean waters sure do not bode well for any individual sea turtle.

The odds of individual communication messages being successful are not all that great either. In fact, the majority of them end up much like newly-hatched sea turtles: gone moments after being launched. They may not be eaten by flying predators, but the obstacles they do face are just as uncompromising. One fierce hurdle is another message or a number of them. This obstacle comes in many forms, shapes, colors and level of quality. Its purpose is to either distract, overwhelm, over shadow, contradict, challenge, or a variation of each. Another obstacle is the message itself. It may be weak, poorly crafted, misguided, vague of purpose, and without a specific goal. A third key obstacle is the environment in which the newly-crafted message is expected to survive. It may not be ready for it or even want it. People may not want or be ready to hear messages about climate change, for example, because they are too focused on making enough money to pay their bills or, even more fundamentally, hang onto their jobs.

So, the journey of a communication effort is not easy. While such a reality should not discourage those wishing to pursue careers in the communication field, it should be enough to ensure they do so with their eyes wide open. Communication is not easy much of the time. Further, even the best of strategies or messages have more than their fair share of obstacles designed to either slow them down or stop them all together.