The Art of Explanation: Making your Ideas, Products, and Services Easier to Understand

Preface

Chances are that you explained something recently—why dinner tastes the way it does, why you were late for a meeting, what an article means to your company. We explain so many different things so frequently that we take the art of explanation for granted. This is a tragedy because a great explanation can make our ideas come to life, invite people to care and be motivated to learn more. However, we lose the opportunity to do this unless we recognize that explanation is an essential skill we can learn and master.

Imagine the potential that better explanations have for both your personal and professional interactions. What if your boss, accountant, team member, or mother could suddenly explain ideas in a more understandable way? What if they could put themselves in your shoes and make their ideas clear in a way that acknowledged your perspective? That is the goal of this book. I want to help you and the people around you become better explainers because we desperately need better explanations. Although this book is primarily aimed at professionals, it is meant for everyone, and intended to make the world a more understandable place in which to live and work.

The Art of Explanation is built on my years of experience in creating explanations for organizations and educators. My company, Common Craft, is known around the world for making complex ideas easy to understand in the the form of short videos. Through projects with companies such as Google, LEGO, Intel, and Ford Motor ...