Content AND Context
As a leader and decision maker, one challenge I face is clearly communicating what info I need. Which, it turns out, is almost as important/difficult as creating clarity around what I don’t want/need for it is all too easy to drown in data. The ability to separate the Signal from the Static, the Wheat from the Chaff, the Sizzle from the Steak is a true gift.
Relevancy is key and to help folk understand, I talk about the need to provide BOTH Content AND Context. Be it a Dev Model outlining building a proposed new apartment community or a contract with a General Contractor; to make a good decision, I need to know the relevant facts about the specific thing in front of me (Content) AND how it compares to others of its kind (Context).
Content tells me the specifics of this particular deal, Context tells me how it relates to ones presented to me in the past; best of breed, middle of the pack, or near the bottom and along with the whys and wherefores thereof.
Closing Quotes:
“Context is worth 80 IQ points.” – Alan Kay
“If content is King, context is God.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
“For me context is the key – from that comes the understanding of everything.” – Kenneth Noland
“Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context – a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.” – Eliel Saarine
“Making mental connections is our most crucial learning tool, the essence of human intelligence; to forge links; to go beyond the given; to see patterns, relationships, context.” – Marilyn Ferguson
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier