Technological Singularity - the point when technological progress and societal change has accelerated to a point where people lose the ability to comprehend and reliably predict what’s happening in their world.
 
   As I argue in Chapter Seven of my forthcoming book “Addicted Customers”(www.AddictedCustomers.com) -this perceived loss of control is happening today. This not only puts a premium on communication, it is forcing us to realize that communication isn’t about imparting information. It is about “making meaning for the audience”.
  
   The research of Robert Kelly of Carnegie Mellon University illustrates why the need to communicate is so critical today. Here’s a sampling of his findings. In 1986 when asked, “how much of the information you need to do you job is in your own head”, employees answered about 75%. When employees were asked the same question in 1997, the answer was 15 to 20%. It is now 2006 and you can guess the direction the answer is going.
  
   Kelly was dealing with employees who are paid to know what they are doing. Now consider the plight of people who must make sense out of the diversity of new things that are impacting their lives.
  
   Recently, I met several interesting people who demonstrated how new communication challenges are upon us.
  
   Vickie Sullivan (www.SullivanSpeaker.com) is a market analyst in the corporate speaking and training market. She reports that corporate spending on speaking and training is up in 2006. What they want has shifted. In the past, motivational speakers were in demand. Now the marketplace wants speakers with a manifesto, speakers who have insights and actionable strategies that can help executives get a grip on today’s business dynamics. They want to hear about new ways of making “meaning” out of the change and complexity we all face.
  
   Jack Barnard, a speaking coach, emphatically makes the point that speakers can have a profound impact in a rapidly changing world. Jack encourages his students to emotionally connect with their audience and actively involve them. He pushes speakers to “make meaning” for the audience and is emphatic in stating that communication doesn’t come from an information dump. Communication is about reaching others in ways that make new ideas resonate and this only happens when people become emotionally involved. (Learn more about Jack at www.speakerservices.com/about.html#jb )
  
   Jack Powers and Sylvia Newton-Robbins (www.lphinternetservices.com) set up Internet marketing programs for clients. That sounds pretty straightforward. When you get a chance to talk with them you come away with a different story. They specialize in helping small businesses that don’t have the ability to get their arms around the complexities or nuances of Internet marketing. Many have said that the Internet is the equalizer that small businesses need to compete with the big guys. That might be true, but the underlying assumption is that they can figure out how the Internet fits into their business-that’s where Jack and Sylvia come in. They provide the insight and make it real and meaningful to that particular business. Interestingly, they need to complete the circle. First, they show the owner how the Internet fits into his or her business (strategy) and then they help them engineer ways to make their business fit the Internet (workflow). Jack and Sylvia make “meaning”.
  
   I like the way John Seeley Brown (former head of Xerox PARC) puts it, “Leaders don’t just make products and decisions. Leaders make meaning.”
 

Posted by John Todor on Thursday, July 13th, 2006 at 6:55 am.