By Matteo Cassese. I’ve coached founders and executives since 2019, and I still catch myself talking complicated on LinkedIn like everybody else.
You explain your work and the room goes quiet. Nobody followed. You have been communicating at the wrong level. To communicate clearly, choose the level you speak at: any idea can be said at five levels of complexity. For instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s robot, the Terminator, describes itself at level five: “I’m a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.” At level one the same fact is simply “I’m not human.” A simple exercise is to start with expressing your idea at level five, then bring it down to one. Once you hear the simple version of that complex statement, you won’t be able to go back.
Why the simplest lines are the ones people remember
“I’ll be back.”
The most memorable Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes are basic, blunt, and primal. His catchphrases will make a nine-year-old and a 99-year-old giggle. This level of simplicity and communication is something we have heard over and over from another character, this time not a fictional one: Donald Trump.
Listen to him for one minute and you hear sentences like these.
The Donald is happy. Very happy. Something is good. Great, really great. A study shows that Donald speaks like a 10-year-old. None of his opponents uses such simple language.
The moment you have to say the complicated thing
“I’ll be back” is a great way to get attention. But if Terminator wants to develop into a 360° character, he or it needs to also develop after taking bullets and not dying. In dialogue with the future leader of the insurgence, John Connor, the Terminator says, “I’m a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.” Now, this is something Trump would never say. It’s complex, and uses a mix of specialized terminologies pertaining to different realms of life.
How to communicate clearly: the five levels of articulation
Why and how do we go from “I’ll be back! Get down! Follow me!” to “cybernetic organism?”
The Terminator is using different levels of articulation. Similar to the politeness theory proposed by Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson and Steven Pinker’s Euphemism Treadmill, the articulation levels tell us that we can say the same thing at different degrees of complexity. For instance:
- Five: “I’m a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.”
- Four: “I’m a cybernetic robot mimicking a human.”
- Three: “I’m an android.”
- Two: “I’m a machine underneath, but sort of alive outside.”
- One: “I’m not human.”
Levels 1 to 2 allow us to speak to anyone. Levels 3 to 5 instead reach an ever smaller audience of experts. At level 5 you’re basically talking to yourself only.
You can apply this to anything you want to say.
- Level 5: Highly technical, specialized, academic, scholarly
- Level 4: Theoretical, conceptual, abstract, sophisticated
- Level 3: Refined, polite, nuanced, professional
- Level 2: Clear, straightforward, accessible, general audience
- Level 1: Direct, concise, action-oriented, basic
The best proof that level one is a great choice came from a man who knew every word in his language.
Tullio De Mauro, the famous linguist, would have termed these articulation levels as linguistic codes. As an erudite, I’ve always admired how he always looked for the simplest, most comprehensible word to express any concept. And he would know literally every word, as he had curated one of the best dictionaries of the Italian language. The man with an infinite vocabulary never used fancy words.
Hey articulation, meet storytelling!
Now that you know the theory, let’s go from “I’ll be back” to “cybernetic organism” in the movie. To do so, we need to meet the characters in medias res, during the action. Jim Cameron, the director, knows very well that Terminator can’t be introduced by telling a boring backstory. We need to start with the action.
After the action opening, the movie needs to set the stakes, explain what happens, and get the audience invested. Moving from different levels of articulation is done by progressing the story.
Without storytelling, Terminator kills, protects, and says funny punch lines like “Hasta la vista, baby.”
With storytelling, the world is in danger. Skynet is about to destroy everything. The stakes are high.
Without a story, we’re always at the gory level of bullets, blood, and shouting: “Get down! Get out! There’s a bomb in there!”
A story takes us to a shelter and allows us to develop our characters at different levels. They can still say “I’ll be back,” but we know they mean more than that.
Why you talk complicated at work, and how to be more concise
Let’s come to why it matters. You’re probably stuck at a certain level of articulation, and I know for a fact that, at work, you’re often talking complicated.
You want to show everybody that you’re the expert, that you have what it takes, so you use long, sophisticated, complicated words, the words that the linguist with an infinite vocabulary would never use.
There is a moment to talk about endoskeletons, and there is a moment to say “hasta la vista.” I’m guilty of this too. If you go on LinkedIn, you can see how basically everybody there is guilty of this.
How do we get out of this?
By articulating.
Every time you say something, get into the habit of saying it using more complex words and then try to say it easier. Try to get to the borders of how complicated you can make it. And then try to simplify to the max.
What you will see is that the easier you go, the more the thing you say could be something people shout on the street, like “Hey, you dropped your wallet.” Not, “beware of your belongings, as they have been misplaced.”
I have a free training where I introduce you to my process to find your own personal communication style. I would love for you to watch it.
Common questions
Why do I struggle to communicate?
Most of the time you’re stuck at a single level, and at work it’s a high one. You reach for long words to show the room you’re the expert, and every long word is a part the listener has to already know. Nobody follows, so nobody reacts. The idea was fine. The level was wrong.
Can you give me an example of concise communication?
Take the Terminator saying what it is, from level five down to level one: “I’m a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.” “I’m a cybernetic robot mimicking a human.” “I’m an android.” “I’m a machine underneath, but sort of alive outside.” “I’m not human.” Same fact, five sentences. Only the last one works on a stranger in the street, and the expert has to choose it on purpose.
How to be more concise when speaking?
Say the thing the complicated way first, on purpose, as far up as you can push it. Then say it again with easier words, and again, until it’s something you could shout across a street: “Hey, you dropped your wallet.” Do this every time you say something, until it becomes a habit. The street version is the concise one.
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What you should do next
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About Matteo Cassese
Business coach, keynote speaker, and mythmaker, Matteo helps leaders thrive in chaos and conflict. Twenty years across tech, film and consulting, seven of them at Warner Bros., founding-team at Netflix Italy, and advisory work for Sony, LinkedIn and Heineken. Berlin based. His unique perspective as a queer nerd passionate about mythology and technology creates a safe space for leaders to be vulnerable and reach their full potential. Read more about Matteo.
