In our most recent weekly zoomchatfest my good friend David Winkelman challenged me to think how I use the verb communicate, or should I use the verb connect, and how does one differ from the other? Which is worthy, and which is worth more?
In our world of overused noisy chatter and under-conceived business language, we tend to forget shades of meaning and proper application of verbs like communicate and connect. We bolt ahead. We clean up any mess as an afterthought.
We are all guilty of this. I know I am.
Do not mistake my comments here to downplay communication. We sure need it, more than ever, superimposing our personality and choice of words on top of bland AI-driven drivel. Communication is a great start. No more yelling into the abyss. But it’s just a start.
To borrow from the SAT exam, think about the analogy using the nouns this time in my LinkedIn pivot:
communication : LinkedIn followers :: connection : LinkedIn connections
To me, communication is what you send to your followers and their friends with little accountability or personal involvement. Whoever gets it and reads it, may benefit. So do you, (big IF) IF they take any next steps, which is always a gamble. You do not know them. They like you for some reason, almost always unknown how they found you or why they stopped by, since they can follow you with no vetting on your part.
But connectivity, ah, there’s the rub, as in massage, as in the feeling that you extended the privilege and dually agreed to connect on a higher level such that you can rely on them to be there for you : to comment, to answer, to suggest, to appreciate you as they now know why you do what you do, to refer, to applaud, to console, to co-present, to offer, to volunteer, to add value from their lens to yours. Higher and more refined, they know how to be effective fore you from experience and reputation. Theirs and yours.
See the difference?
Communicate please, but more importantly, connect with care and forethought.