Amir Sepehri, assistant professor of marketing at ESSEC Business School, Dr. Rod Duclos (Western University), and Nasir Haghighi (University of Washington at Tacoma) found that it comes down to the amount of information contained in a talk. When a talk is chock-full of content, broaching several topics, we tend to get information overload, leading us to disengage from the video. So, how can communicators make sure their message gets heard and their audience connects with the video?
Just the prospect of interacting with that person can be unpleasant or feel draining. There is a powerful tool that is often counterintuitive for quickly shifting your approach with such people and finding opportunities for breakthroughs. After making this shift it becomes possible to communicate effectively and in a more positive way with them. And you tend to find them much less annoying.
Your job isn't just to solve complex problems. It's to help others see how those solutions fit their world. Harvard Business Review backs this up: the best leaders use clear, resonant language to make complexity approachable. That requires more than just communication skills - it requires empathy, strategy, and what I call the Translator Mindset. The instinct is to lead with jargon, credentials or cleverness. But that only creates distance. The Translator Mindset is about meeting people where they are, then guiding them somewhere new.
Jen Psaki criticized the Democratic Party for outdated tactics and emphasized the importance of taking proactive actions instead of merely writing strong letters.