I explained it, but it didn't get through.

I feel like I've explained it, yet the same question comes back the next day. I've created the materials, yet I'm told they don't know where to look. I've put it into words, yet for some reason, it hasn't reached them. In the workplace, these situations are surprisingly common.

I am using words. The information is sufficient. The content is not wrong. And yet, it hasn't been conveyed. Reading this book, I feel like I've finally been able to put into words the true nature of that disconnect.

📘 What People Who Are Good at 'Explaining' Always Keep in Mind

Explaining is more about design than rhetoric

At first, I picked it up thinking, 'Is this a book on speaking techniques?' But after reading it, I realized it wasn't that kind of book.

If I had to sum up the theme of this book in one phrase, it is to rethink explanation not as a 'technique for speaking well,' but as a 'design for helping the other person understand.' People who are good at explaining are not necessarily those who can speak fluently or those with large vocabularies. They are people who organize information so that it is easy for the other person to receive.

What left the biggest impression on me was the perspective that 'the goal of an explanation is not for me to speak well, but to create a state where the other person can understand.' It sounds obvious. But this is something that is surprisingly easy to overlook.

Even if I think I've explained it, if the other person hasn't understood, it hasn't reached them yet. Conversely, there are times when you don't need to say much, as long as the other person understands what they need. Explanation is not rhetoric; it is closer to design. Being told that so definitively changed my perspective a little.

The idea that 'starting with the conclusion' is not always the correct answer was also interesting. If you suddenly give only the conclusion to someone who doesn't share the same premise, it can actually be harder to understand. There is no single correct order; it changes depending on the person and the situation. Just knowing that felt like it increased my options for explaining.

Telling everything is not necessarily being kind

Another point that struck me was the idea that 'telling everything is not necessarily being kind.'

I am the type who gets anxious if information is missing, so I tend to want to explain too much. Background, history, points of caution, exceptions... I want to include it all. That in itself isn't bad, and it is important to properly preserve necessary information at work.

However, the person receiving it can sometimes get lost on where to look if they are given everything from the start. The person explaining sees the connections in their head. But the person receiving it doesn't see those connections yet. I felt that this is the root of why things don't get across.

The idea that 'you don't have to say everything' isn't just about cutting information. It's about considering the amount and the order in which the other person can receive it. It's not about whether to cut or keep, but about what order to put things in and where. I think that is the design of explanation.

This applies not only to verbal explanations but also to materials and procedure manuals. What is written correctly and what a reader can understand without getting lost are two different things. It looks connected to the person who wrote it. But whether it looks the same to someone reading it for the first time is another matter entirely.

Looking into the other person's mind first

Since reading this book, I have started to think about 'what the other person doesn't know' just once before sending out materials. I am far from perfect, but I feel like I have changed just a little bit.

People who are good at explaining are not people who are good at talking.
They are people who look into the other person's mind first.
I don't think I can become that kind of person immediately, but at least I have started to be conscious of it.

That one phrase is what has struck me the most so far.

Related Articles/Magazines

I am writing little by little about how to connect the books I read to my work and daily life.

My book reviews and articles on verbalizing thoughts are compiled here.
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