Speaking the language of simplicity | Bangkok Post: business

BRIDGING THE GAP

'It's simple to make things complex but it's complex to make thing simple." C. Raymond Rogers, a former partner of the training consultancy Kepner-Tregoe told me many years ago.

"My strength is the ability to make complex things simple," Patama Chantaruck said in Prachachat newspaper on May 4. She was responding to a question about why she had been promoted from managing director of Microsoft Thailand to general manager for worldwide corporate accounts at headquarters in the United States.

The observations of both Mr Rogers and Ms Patama certainly ring true for me, based on my experience coaching executives on high-impact presentation skills. I start our sessions by asking them to identify role models for business presenters and the rationale behind their choices. One common trait of their role models is "the ability to articulate complex issue to make them simpler".