Communication is the act to convey the intended meaning, but more often than ever, today, the messages are getting distorted due to various reasons and is resulting in delusions. Everyday as we interact with the world and people, messages are exchanged, and everyone interprets these messages differently based on multiple factors.
If the message is distorted even slightly, the alignment of the resultant thought will deviate from reality. While initiating the flight, one degree variation may not sound much, but in reality the one degree variation over transatlantic flight distance may land you in Madrid rather than London.
Today as we are on the brink of digital evolution which will distort the delineation between reality and virtual world, the ability to interpret messages correctly has become indispensable. Also with information overload and shrinking attention span, courtesy to social media stories and short videos, the ability to receive messages and grasp substance has depleted.
The interpretation of these messages play a major role in the picture or thought created in the mind of the receiver. Although there are multiple factors, the important ones include the ability to differentiate substance from noise, unravel assumptions, visualize without prejudice and understand the subject matter.
Being an advisor and working with numerous clients, we have understood that most business owners and managers lack understanding of finance. And surprisingly even simple concepts of ROI (Return on Investment) and compounding (interest) are not utterly understood. Today as most refrain from understanding the depths of subject, decision making based on superficial understanding in critical subjects, such as finance, leads to fatal outcomes.
Many times rather than accepting the message the way it is, things are distorted through the prejudice of the receiver. Prejudice is very similar to tinted glasses. It also hinders the ability to view things from a different perspective. Today with social media, prejudice and facts are more easily concreted in minds through repetition and social validation. Hence inability to recognize and understand prejudice may permanently distort messages.
Today the world is overflowing with information but most of the information is noise. Noise is everything but facts. And with digital media, noise has multiplied and is growing at an exponential rate. Hence, with the repetition, noise often gets promoted to dogma, which becomes our assumption or prejudice, and results in the lack of ability to identify facts.
With tons of superficial information flowing around, along with an educational system framed around information and information processing, the ability to read in-between the lines has become difficult to cultivate. Moreover with the lack of connect with facts and relying on incomplete (or 360 perspective) information, along with shrinking attention spans and haste to jump to conclusion, leads us to quick and wrong assumptions.
The combination of these super powers, sometimes amplified through mentally alleviating substances, has enabled numerous individuals create their own perception which is out of sync with reality. Although this may not seem to be fatal today, it may not be long before many start to live inside a matrix of their own.
To help new age entrepreneurs, analysts and managers get their basics right, we have curated a special course “Product Costing and Pricing Strategy” available online on Udemy.
You can also refer to our other courses here.
Cover Image Credits: Photo by Angela Bailey on Unsplash
Savvy Munshi 