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Transcript
Hello and welcome to this new series, in which I’m answering questions about how to communicate with clarity and confidence in global business.
So our question today is “In business, should I start with the conclusion?”
And you may have heard this advice to start with the conclusion. It works in some cases.
So if you have an audience who is really action-oriented, likes the big picture, and is really busy, then it definitely works well.
But sometimes you have an audience where you give that conclusion first, but actually they reject what you’re saying. And then even if you give reasons to back up your conclusion, you’ve already lost your audience’s support. They won’t listen properly to what you’re saying. And it’s very difficult to persuade someone once they’ve already made a decision.
So in cases — in some cases — it’s much better to start with the background information, start with some reasoning — especially from the audience’s perspective — before you build up to your conclusion.
This especially works well when your audience is resistant, when your audience doesn’t know much about what it is that you’re proposing, and also if your audience is familiar and comfortable with the “kishotenketsu“ structure of communication. That’s a very common Japanese structure of communication where you have your starting point, you develop your story, there’s a twist, and then you get to the conclusion.
So in communication, it’s all about the audience. Think about who you’re communicating with and then decide whether or not you should start with the conclusion.
And if you would like more tips to help you create communication habits for success and happiness in global business, I would love it if you’d come along to the sasugacommunications.com website where you can subscribe to Sasuga! Tips for You, which I send out every Tuesday.
And if you have a question, you can just reply to those emails, I’d be very happy to answer your question.
Hope you’ve liked this. Hope you’ve loved this.
And ask me your questions. I’m here to help. Bye!