Stephen Monrad

This is a follow-up from yesterday’s post where I talked about the book “Made to Stick” and my need to improve my writing.

The chapter “Simple” says that to communicate an idea effectively, a core needs to be identified and clearly articulated. I don’t do this. I try to communicate a lot of messages and in the end communicate nothing clearly.

I want to convince people that our current economic system is a failure. I want to explain why it is a failure. I want to talk about the importance of human irrationality. I want to present a bunch of ideas about how I think the economy can be made to run better. These are all good ideas that need to be written about. To communicate effectively, though, I need to pick only ONE idea to be my main point.

I may change my mind. However, right now, I think THE core message I want to communicate is that we can build an economic system that works much better than systems that are used today. The test that makes me think that this is THE core message is that I would be happy if readers were convinced that we can build a much better economic system. If enough people believe that a much better system is possible, it is only a matter of time until one materializes.

I think everything else I have to say can be brought in to support the idea that a much better economic system is possible. I agree with the authors of “Made to Stick” that focusing on a single core message will help tie all that I write together better and make it more powerful.