Avoid the intersection of ignorance and arrogance

The rules are simple: Tell the world what is so important to you at this moment in 140 characters or less. That’s it.

Welcome to the vastly growing universe of Twitter.

If you’re like me, you might scoff at this notion and question the relevance of such communication. Why would anyone want to tell the world such things? And, more importantly, who would care what I have to say?

To begin answering these questions, follow me at www.twitter.com/d_j_allen.

Being a part of the Twitter world is not about the way I want to communicate with others. It’s about the way other people want to be communicated with. We must resist the urge to stay ignorant to the way technology has changed communication.

Former NBA player and current UNLV assistant basketball coach Steve Henson tells the story about Arizona State head coach Herb Sendek at a recent workshop. Sendek told the group of coaches that if you are that guy who brags about not knowing how to turn on a computer, you are already way behind in the profession.

We all know someone like that, or, worse off, we might actually be that person. Many of us like to mask our incompetence with something new by devaluing its relevance. Often, we do this without taking the time to actually learn the details.

The intersection of ignorance and arrogance is a dangerous place to dwell. We all must seek to avoid it in the many areas of our lives.

Communicating with others is not about what we say – it’s about what other people hear. Without the ability to communicate with others at a high level, great ideas or institutional knowledge are limited in their usefulness. (In our decade of assisting businesses and organizations, we’ve found that 95% of problems in organizations occur from poor internal communication. And, generally, it begins with a poor communicator at the top.)

It all starts with understanding your audience. In the college basketball world, coaches are looking to reach out to teenage athletes and persuade them to play for their respective programs.

Coaches are kidding themselves if they think these young men are going to sit down and read full-length letters that adequately describe the benefits of attending a particular institution.

And it’s not just the younger generations. In fact, how many of us actually sit down and read all of the full-length letters we get? Give me bullet points. Text me. Shoot me a quick e-mail.

This is not to say it is right. In my perfect world, everyone would love to take three minutes to read columns such as this. And everyone would love to listen to me make 45-60-minute presentations. However, that world is not reality.

We must know our audiences and talk to them. Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari (www.twitter.com/UKCoachCalipari) and USC football coach Pete Carroll (www.twitter.com/PeteCarroll) have mastered this. If you did not know who they were, you might think some of their posts were from teenagers themselves. But this is not about what you and I think, this is about what their potential recruits think. And that is the lifeline of their respective careers.

My co-author of “The Xs & Os of Success” and UNLV head basketball coach Lon Kruger (www.twitter.com/LonKruger) joined the Twitter world just this past week, and this is what he had to say to Steve Guiremand of RebelNation: “It’s the way young people are communicating,” the 56-year-old Kruger said.

Period. It’s that simple. It’s not about him, it’s about his audience.

Twitter, Facebook, texting, e-mails, etc. They are all valuable tools in today’s world of communicating – just like good old fashioned letters, telephone calls and (the granddaddy of them all) the face-to-face conversation. Each one of them is valuable in their own way with different sets of audiences.

When preparing to communicate with others, think about the ways your audience wants to best receive the message. Then proceed.

Make it less about you and more about them. That is how we succeed as communicators – and, ultimately, as people.

The lost art of the jump shot – and basic writing

ESPN high school basketball recruiting expert Paul Biancardi made a simple – yet telling – statement during this past weekend’s ESPN RISE National High School Invitational. The inaugural tournament featured eight of the top high school boys’ basketball teams in the nation.

When asked about the evolution of high school basketball players, Biancardi talked about how today’s players are better athletes than ever before. He also discussed their increased skill sets because they play throughout the year.

Then he made the comment many veteran coaches around basketball echo. He just wished the players would work more on their shooting.

Pure shooting is becoming a lost art in the game of basketball. The ability to continually knock down the open jumper from 10-to-17 feet is rare to find.

Instead, today’s basketball players grow up wanting to emulate what they see on highlights. Three-point shots, dunks and acrobatic drives. Unfortunately, there is not much flashiness in being able to consistently nail a 15-foot baseline jumper.

But think about it. Shooting is the core fundamental skill needed to achieve success in the game of basketball. It is the crux of everything in the game offensively. If your team consists of good shooters, it opens up the options of driving, having a strong inside game and providing great spacing on the court. All of this leads to the highlights we discussed – but more importantly, it leads to offensive success on the court and winning as a team.

The lost art of shooting in basketball parallels the lost art of writing in today’s world.

Being able to communicate is paramount to succeed in life – both personally and professionally. Writing is the fundamental skill set needed to communicate at the highest levels. Strong writers are generally able to prioritize their thoughts and deliver compelling messages to their audiences – both formally and informally. Show me a good writer and I will show you someone who has the opportunity to become a brilliant communicator and, thus, an all-star in business and life.

Unfortunately, many of us in today’s world are poor writers. We struggle with condensing messages or conveying the proper tone. Also, many of us struggle with grammar or vocabulary. (The minute we use the wrong “there/their,” “its/it’s” or “defiantly/definitely,” readers begin to question the validity of our message.)

Writing is simply a chain of small details coming together to form important messages. Truth is revealed in the details.

Like the 12-foot jumper, basic writing is not the most glamorous of skill sets to hone. However, it does separate the best communicators from the rest.