Stop Trying to Sound Smart
There's a difference between sounding intelligent and being understood.
When you address groups, you take on a new identity. The tone in your voice changes, your sentence length increases, and you speak with a more ambitious vocabulary.
When you edit your writing, you’re far more likely to add words and replace simple terms with more impressive sounding ones — even if you would never say them out loud.
It bothers you when you notice others using words just to use them…but you do the same thing.
Sometimes the language is a crutch. You use the words because you’re nervous that others don’t respect you or you don’t deserve to be in the conversation you’re in.
But oftentimes, big and complex words mask the fact that you don’t really know what you’re talking about. You’re not familiar, you don’t understand, or you don’t have an opinion of your own. Rather than admitting it — or asking questions to inform your response — you string together a few sentences that sound impressive even if they lose the point or don’t mean anything at all.
Whatever the reason. Stop. Doing. It.
Having spent my career in professional sports, I’m no stranger to this concept. The workforce is littered with ivy-league graduates and impressive people. It’s common to feel competing pressures to fit in and stand out.
Those pressures build as you climb the organizational ladder. I often found myself adjusting my language — sometimes to the point of sounding like a completely different person. I became more “opportunistic” and “candid.” Things “resonated” with me like never before. And I made things more accessible for “stakeholders.”
The problem for me, and anyone trying to sound smart, is that it usually results in the exact opposite effect.
Contrary to what the SATs might have us believe, an extended vocabulary isn’t valuable on its own. Words serve to further meaning, and when you choose a word it should be because it enhances understanding. Saying that I’m frustrated is better than saying I’m upset or angry because it conveys something different. That’s almost never the case for a word like stakeholder.
Communication isn’t about the message that’s sent. It’s about what’s received. And simple words and simple ideas are easier to understand and execute.
That’s especially true with modern distractions and attention spans. People don’t have the time or focus to parse through something unnecessarily long and complex. You only get a few moments to get your point across.
Which might be a good thing, if you don’t know what you’re talking about. No one is going to catch on if your message rambles and runs off course. But they’re also not going to find you intelligent or trustworthy — things that matter when you do have something to say.1
The seventh episode of Paradise’s second season opens with president Cal Bradford touring a new facility with the site’s lead scientist. As the scientist explains the purpose of the facility, Bradford interrupts to ask him to simplify what he’s saying.
Anders: “The atmospheric levels will be constantly monitored all over the city to maintain a precise 78.1% N@, 20.9% O2 balance. Water from the aquifer—”
Bradford: “Sorry, I’m going to need you to pause right there. Any chance we can take this tour down a few grade levels?”
Anders: “Uh, of course, Mr. President. Um, these tanks store gases, which allow us to exactly replicate—”
Bradford: “Sorry, lower.”
Anders: “The nitrogen—”
Bradford: “Sorry, it’s my fault. I’m not setting the proper bar for you to clear. Think, um…caveman.”
Anders: “These store air to breathe underground.”
Bradford: “There you go.”
Bradford doesn’t just continue to push Anders, he also recognizes that he’s partly to blame for the failed exchange.2
If you’re the only person who understands something, the impact is muted. The true mark of intelligence is being able to communicate ideas to others.
And finding the lowest common denominator rarely means dumbing things down. You can put together beautiful sentences as long as they’re making things simple and relatable. Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (which won a Nobel Prize for literature) is written at a fourth-grade reading level.
Doing better doesn’t require much effort. There are a few things you can do for more intelligent communication.
First, be honest about your own knowledge. If you don’t understand something or haven’t formed your own thoughts, you’re not going to be able to speak with confidence. Exploring and learning more will allow your ideas to stand on their own. Richard Fenyman provides an excellent reference question: can you teach the subject to a 12-year-old? If not, you still have work to do.
Review and edit your communication with an emphasis on clarity. The easiest place to start is with writing since you can re-read and make changes before it’s shared. Look for ambiguity, redundancy, and jargon. Every word, phrase, and idea should add something new for the reader.3 Eventually, you can do the same thing with verbal communication, noticing places where you’re unclear, long-winded, or overly elaborate. In most cases, you’re saying more than you need to.
At the same time, don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.” It’s more honest and endearing than the alternative. It’s also the first advice my dad gave me when I was leaving college. He told me he had far more respect for someone who said, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out” than those who pretended to know. Admitting your ignorance from time to time doesn’t make you unintelligent. It makes you human.
When I understand what you’re saying, it deepens our bond. When I don’t, it pushes us apart. And my opinion of you changes in each instance.
You try to sound smart because you want to be admired and respected. You want reassurance that you’re enough. But the use of obscure and technical language isn’t going to impress anyone. It merely builds a barrier between you and the people around you.
Anyone can make something feel complicated. The people held in the highest regard are the ones who make things clear and understandable.
In another study researchers asked participants to read the published ethics codes of public companies and rate how moral and trustworthy they believed the companies to be. The ones with less readable ethics codes were rated as less moral and less trustworthy.
The scene sets things up to make it seem like Bradford is the least intelligent person in the room. But it quickly shows that his curiosity and desire to understand are the more desirable traits in real-world situations — which is paid off later in the episode.
When I attended MLB’s Scout Development Program, they taught this lesson by taking a red pen to our reports and crossing out every word, phrase, and sentence that was redundant or unnecessary. My first few reports had 75% of the words cross out.
Very well said!
This also echoes my article from yesterday about Craig Breslow that the guy who thinks he is the smartest guy in the room usually isn’t.
https://sundaysportssection.substack.com/p/the-boston-daily-sports-recap-the-7cb?r=3u19vc&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay