This week’s podcast is a focus on communication - and your responsibility as a communicator - in the “working from home” era. 

As we pivot our lives to be almost exclusively behind a video screen, it’s important to remember that your reputation is driven by the way that you communicate through the medium. 

We all have a multiple platforms to communicate - e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. And we all have constant information that we are able to communicate. To “share” information has become second nature to us - we get inundated, we filter, and we pass it on to others. 

But I ask people to take a quick pause and think through our responsibility as sharers and communicators. The information we share, and the way that we do it with tone and sentiment, requires a responsibility to do it wisely. 

There are two aspects I cover on the podcast - accuracy of communication and tone of communication. Both are vital. It comes down to a fundamental communication model - a picture of which is here: 

First, there is our responsibility of passing along accurate information and taking the time to curate it in order to ensure that the people who receive the information get it the way you intended. We are so focused on “sharing” information that we don’t take the time to think about how it will be received. 

You don’t have to be the message creator for this to impact you. Each story your share, each meme you post, is part of your communication to the world. The information you share is part of your communication story, and thus your reputation.

Second, our responsibility is to do it in a way that is supportive to the people around us. As we get increasingly isolated during Corona, and as the disease evolves, our stress levels will increase. Money problems, loved ones getting sick, and just plain isolation increase our nervousness.

In times of stress, we have a tendency to put other people down so we can either feel superior to something or feel like we have some semblance of control. It’s why we see so many political discussions on Facebook - we are stressed and it’s easy to attack someone else’s ideas. Don’t fall into that trap. 

I tell a quick story on the podcast of my career working in communications for a financial firm during the 2008 crisis. The lessons are extremely prudent today. I encourage you to think through your image, your reputation and your responsibility as a sharer of information today. 

Thanks and enjoy your week!