A Communication Parable

In the land of Burgartha, faithful disciples of the great teacher Mugwump were gathered to observe the ancient rite of toe-snipping, a rather gruesome ritual involving the amputation of disciples’ little toes. Centuries before, Mugwump himself had written, “If thou wouldst be clean, cast away thy little toes, separate them far from thee.” This rather cryptic communication from the past seemed clear enough; and, while no one was quite sure what little toes had to do with inner cleansing, they believed in Mugwump’s wisdom. If chopping off a digit here or there would make them clean they would suffer the pain.

Two thousand years earlier, according to historical records, the people of Burgartha were plagued with an infestation of tiny flea-like insects. These blood-sucking parasites were so small that the people could not even see what was causing their affliction. It was the great teacher Mugwump who, using a convex shaped glass, discovered and identified three types of tiny siphonapteras: throgs, omits and ekites. A little know fact of history—a fact that would take some investigative research—was that as the people cleansed themselves of throgs, omits and ekites an idiom emerged: “Cleanse yourself of little TOE’s,” meaning wash away the tiny throgs, omits and ekites. It meant, “Take a bath.”

The point of this silly little parable is to point out the importance of precise and unambiguous communication. Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2006) define effective communication as the ability to transmit information with a high probability that the intended message will be passed to and understood by the receiver (p. 437).[1] Thus there is a responsibility on both ends of the communication to be sure the intended message is given, received and understood. The Burgathites in the story above would have done well to dig a little deeper to find out the true message initiated and intended by Mugwump. Leaders initiating messages today will do well to take extra measures to be sure the message they want to convey cannot be misconstrued.

Communication at its core is basically cooperation. When someone shouts at you “Look out!” and you jump just in time to avoid being hit by an automobile, you owe your escape from injury to the fundamental cooperative act of communication by means of uttered noises. You did not see the car coming; nevertheless, someone did, and he made certain noises to communicate his alarm to you. Indeed, most of the time when we are listening to the noises people make or looking at marks on paper that stand for such noises, we are drawing upon the experiences of others to make up for what we ourselves have missed (Hayakawa, 1964, pp. 10-11).[2] A wise leader will skillfully learn to utilize communication to the fullest advantage to enhance cooperation toward a shared vision of a preferable future for all concerned parties. At the same time, he or she will also learn to recognize and avoid pitfalls to clear communication, that progress is not hampered by personal or organizational injury. Let us make sure no toes are unnecessarily sacrificed.

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[1] Hughes, R.L., Ginnett, R.C. & Curphy, J.C. (2006). Leadership. Enhancing the lessons of experience. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

[2] Hayakawa, S.I. (1964). Language in thought and action (2^nd ed.). New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.