My boyfriend has a great quote - "it's not what you say... it is what people hear." And I can't tell you how many times I have said, and have heard others say, "well I told him/her that why didn't they do it?"
We make an interesting assumption that every time we say something, that the listener understands what we say with the exact same clarity as we understand what we say. Not true. next time watch a conversation and watch how many times something has to get repeated, watch how one person tends to repeat things back to make sure they understand. Understanding comes from experience, it comes from connecting information to your perspective of the world.
Ok so what does this have to do with sustainability? The other day I was with my boyfriend listening to a program on the radio and the interviewee talked about sustainability in relation to marketing trends. Side note: My boyfriend is in sales and marketing. he repeated back to me concepts about sustainability that I have been telling him for years, like they were brand new ideas? I scratched my head... "Haven't you been listening to me?"
His response is incredibly important for people to take note of. he said "Yeah, but you have never said it like he did. You need to use those words."
This to me was a great eye opener on how we must communicate for understanding in order to be heard. Keep trying, keep using different words and messaging, and eventually ideas might find a connection to each of our listeners.
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