Too Much Thinking

One of the qualities that has made comunication a budding and important social science is the amount of writing and research on it that has been done over the past near half century. Collectively, scholarly articles, provocative books, the creation of college level areas of study and concentrations on various of communication, and even conferences for academicians have made communication a genuine industry of stimulating thought and analysis. What makes that even better is the reality that this trend seems only to be growing. For myself, I take much pride in the fact I am a tiny part of that world.

Still, I wonder with all the deep thinking about communication that has happened, with all the deep thinking that goes on today, and with the steady stream of future deep thinkers in the pipeline, do we yet have a true handle on what makes for effective communication? Sometimes I think yes and sometimes I think not. Many years ago the great musician Duke Ellington was asked for his definition of "good music." Ellington reportedly said, "If you like it, then it's good." I wonder: maybe what makes for "good communication" is as simple as that. Maybe the only quality communication needs in order to be good or effective is whether it is understandable.

Perhaps professional practitioners and public speakers do not need to be as glib, slick or polished as they think in order to connect with or possibly even motivate a public. At the gym or in a public setting, I sometimes overhear people around me wrapped up in conversation on various topics. And while their grammar and phrasology may not as proper as it should be or their specific words may not be ones I would choose, they seem to be doing just fine and having no problem understanding what is being said. In that regard, what I am hearing is effective communication. Maybe - just maybe - communication as an action and as a social science is as simple as that.