If you’ve ever had the feeling that no-one really listens much anymore, more likely than not it’s true.
They (we) aren’t. How can it be otherwise, unless you able to digitally throw your voice (which is easy. Well, easier that the old parlour trick of throwing your actual voice) to a couple of thousand+ fans, followers, subscribers or connections, you’re always fighting a gale-force of over 5.5 billion other users travelling the interwebhighway a day.
That’s a lot of noise, by any measure. A white-noise of hardly audible whispers.
And most likely those same people aren’t listening to you or me. Because if not everyone is on broadcast, I bet they’re chasing answers from “…say the experts.”
It’s not hard to find an expert. Experts are everywhere. December is a good time to dust down your CV. Say the experts. This month is a good time to appraise your social media strategy. Say the experts. Make foil embossing you go-to print finish and 19 other trends to watch in 2023. Say the experts.
Neither art nor science (and yes, I get that The Science also has its subjectiveness. Research can always be subject to bias, unconscious or no, funding, clients, or personal gain and prestige), when it comes to ‘experts’ I’ve developed an unhealthy skepticism of ‘good advice’ (at least in a business context.)
Am certainly not pointing at research nor calling it unqualified - when it’s actual qual or quant or both undertaking with people who might actually use the think you’re trying to design, then there’s my ears for the taking.
Unfortunately it’s not always possible (affordable or political) to get Research in the room so ‘expertise’ usually equates to experience rather than qualification. Neither is more useful than the other if you’re looking to understand things properly. Or to repeating other people’s mistakes for them.
So beware of ‘selling’ dressed up as expertise and develop an objective mindset when listening to ‘experience’ or the taking of either - before stopping to think about your own view - is all I’m saying.
When everyone’s yelling themselves sore, a soft-spoken opinion might not carry as much clout, but it’s much easier (and nicer) to listen to.
And the inspiration for the title today - a poor-play on the term "horse whispering" and Daniel "Horse-Whisperer" Sullivan (d. 1810), who “made a name for himself in England by rehabilitating horses” by standing calmly close, so that observers believed he was whispering to them. Rather a lovely thought.
