Hitchcock’s 1st 'Golden Rule of Communication

“If you want someone to listen, they need to understand. And if you want them to understand, they need to listen.”

Simple, right? Yet somehow, big business often manages to completely miss the memo, drowning us in jargon and corporatised buzzwords that leave us scratching our heads. 

Case in point: enter Alex Burghart, Tory stand in at PMQs, who cut through the noise by labelling a complex agricultural inheritance debate as ‘the farmer’s tax’. Boom —instant clarity. Why? Because it hit Hitchcock’s sweet spot: I listened, I understood, and I felt the weight of it.

Compare that to gas companies waffling about the “age of their assets” (spoiler: they mean old pipes) or supermarkets agonising over “range reduction variability” (translation: fewer brands on the shelf). Yawn. 

Here’s to ditching the fluff and keeping it focused.  Let’s champion English that lands like a well-aimed arrow—simple, accessible, and unforgettable.