I’m not getting into all the politics of the pandemic, as that can be painful.
But on the communication front, there is one standout performer in our COVID-19 suffering for me.
That’s Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, the Deputy Chief Medical officer.
I’ve admired his straight talking throughout these long months of struggling with the virus.
But more than that, he uses a lovely trick which is a favourite of mine to help explain complex concepts:
- The magic of metaphors.
This might sound familiar because it's one of the good professor's most well known metaphors...
Here using a football analogy in a recent summary of our battle with Covid:
"In the first half, the away team gave us an absolute battering, and what we've done now is it's the 70th minute, they got a goal, and in the 70th minute we've now got an equaliser.
"Okay, we've got to hold our nerve now, see if we can get another goal and nick it.
"But the key thing is not to lose it, not to throw it away at this point because we've got a point on the board, and we've got the draw."
Why are these turns of phrase so appreciated?
Because they work and they're colourful, which means journalists and the public love, remember and quote and requote them.
I admire Professor Van-Tam's metaphors because they take the abstract and make them tangible and comprehensible, which is one of the key aims of good communication.
It’s a problem I often face here in Cambridge.
I work with some brilliant people, making amazing discoveries, and helping to build the world of tomorrow.
But the science and technology behind them is, quite frankly, often completely baffling.
Which can be a real issue when you’re trying to explain the potential of the innovations to customers, investors and partners.
It’s at that point I often fall back on metaphors.
For example, with a company that allows scientists to understand the real-time interactions between the tiny yet all important proteins which make the human body tick...
The tech is amazing and utterly incomprehensible to the vast majority.
But we needed to grab attention and interest in a headline, and in just a few words, so I came up with:
- Eyes among the atoms
And it worked a treat.
By reducing the incredible science to a simple and easily understandable metaphor.
Another was for an app which was packed with super clever technology.
It assessed your movements and exercise throughout the day, and suggested what extras you needed to do to be reasonably healthy.
There was no point going into all that smart tech, because the only thing people really wanted was the benefit.
So instead I wrote:
- The personal trainer in your pocket
And that did the trick nicely as well.
So, if you’re struggling to explain, clarify, and indeed make memorable, metaphors can be a very fine friend.
(Note the metaphor in that sentence!)
But one final thought.
Make sure your metaphors work in the way you want them to.
For a while, as a quirk, I included the phrase “wandering message magician, making all your communication problems disappear“ on my LinkedIn profile.
Funny, I thought. Cute, and effective as well.
The only problem came when LinkedIn told me one of the most common searches I was appearing in was for…
Not communications expert, or messaging master, as I might have hoped, and which could’ve brought me work opportunities.
No, instead it was…
As a magician for children’s parties.
The moral of the story being that metaphors, for all their magic, can be stretched a little too far!