When your topics are way too big, complex or nuanced for your audience

One piece of common wisdom would have you focus your content in on a very narrow topic, so people can digest it easily. Yet… if you’re reading this, I’m guessing that anything you might want to say about the work you do is not easily slimmed down to a soundbite, or an easy 1-2-3 step process.
 
So, which do you do? Give in to the short-attention span theatre that has become our public life? Or stick to a broad-ranging, nuanced way of discussing the work, but risk losing a lot of people?
 
As usual, I want to encourage you to walk a middle path here.
 
The middle path is dependent on recognizing some important truths:

Truth One: Nuance is important. 

Complex ideas are important.  Resisting over-simplification is important, because we need that nuance and complexity to engage this world in useful ways.

Truth Two: Online content for your audience is not a super long-form container. 

It’s not always a great place for folks to have the focus and commitment to digest book or chapter-length content.
 
The middle path means surrendering to the container, and embracing the nuance, and that reveals a couple of pathways forward.
 
One is to distill your ideas down until the essence of them are simple to deliver, but not simplistic. Often the attempt to simplify means losing the nuance. However, when you’ve been working with something for a long time, you move beyond simplistic, digesting the complex, until a simple idea that holds the nuance can emerge.
 
This is not easily or quickly done. It takes time to distill ideas in that way, and yet it’s absolutely worthwhile. So, for instance, our phrase “Every act of business can be an act of love,” contains so much nuance and depth, yet it’s a simple idea. It took me years to arrive at that, and I needed help to get there.
 
A second pathway is a little easier. It calls for acknowledging the larger idea, the nuance, without exploring it. A declaration like, “There is a lot of nuance and complexity in this topic, and it’s more than we can get into here. But I want to pull out this one idea because I think it will help you get traction, even though it’s not the complete answer.”
 
Or, “When I work with clients, we sometimes spend a few sessions on topic X, because the nuance and complexity in it, and what it takes to really move it. However, I want to share this one idea about it, because it’s where I start with most clients, and it’s how we begin to really get our arms around it…”
 
With that acknowledgment, many people will be able to take a breath. They know you’re not taking something complex and making it simplistic in an unbelievable way. This creates trust.
 
I know this is a relatively simple fix, and yet I don’t see many people leaning into it when trying to get help to their audience through content.

Take a moment now, and…

  1. Think of a complex, nuanced topic you’ve been wanting to communicate to your audience. 
  2. What is the simpler, small, one idea you can pull out of that larger topic that will be helpful in some way to your audience? Knowing you can create other content to address other aspects.
  3. What are the one or two sentences you would write to acknowledge the larger work without exploring it within the content? 
How does that feel to your heart?
 
It’s so important that we get complex, nuanced teachings to people. It’s a complex world, and so many are thirsty for ideas that meet the reality we’re in. And yet, it’s easy to overwhelm people by giving them way too much in simple content like this. Acknowledge the larger work, pull out the simple idea, and get the help to the people.
 
Let me know how this lands for you.
 
with love,

Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.

August 15 Virtual Retreat within the Zawiya

After letting it grow in my heart for over a year, recently I finally stepped into creating and leading a non-business, spiritual container. This will NOT replace Heart of Business.
 
However, I know that there are folks out there who have asked me to provide Sufi teachings outside the business context. So… I did.
 
There’s a lot of hard in the world… The Sufi Zawiya is a monthly spiritual container so more of us can show up in the world anchored in the Divine.
 
For ease, it’s still hosted on the Heart of Business website. And, I will mention that there is a Virtual Retreat coming up mid-August for those drawn to that kind of inner work. 
 
If you’re drawn at all, take a look:  The Sufi Zawiya 
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