Posted on: September 24th, 2009 by Reuben Turner

 

It’s been a funny old week. One characterised by that most common of business problems – the total misunderstanding. We spend time agreeing a brief. We’re all agreed the answer is some form of fruit, in, possibly, a rounded container.

It comes to us – a bowl of apples! A meeting is called. Excitedly, we lay our bowl of apples before the client. We like your bowl of apples, says the client, after some consideration. We really do. But we were just wondering…

We hear thunder on the horizon. A stiff breeze blows under the boardroom door. If it couldn’t be something a bit more like… this!

Collectively, we’re not at sixes and sevens. We’re at sixes and turquoise. We’re not even wrong, as they say in quantum physics.

How did we get there? Often, by email, you won’t be surprised to hear. The opportunity for miscommunication, misreading and misunderstanding seems to be exponentially increased by the favoured communication medium of the modern age. Especially when used in a pressured business setting.

So, we sat down together. On a sofa, not round a boardroom table. And we had a chinwag. And believe it or not, the answer was a tray of pears.

2 Responses to “We say a bowl of apples. You say the Battle of Jutland. What now?”

1. Dave says:

   September 24, 2009 at 8:44 pm

   Anyone for fruit salad?
2. Bettina Jeppesen says:

   September 24, 2009 at 10:52 pm

   Hmm – the art of language – and the science of 5-a-day!