Tim Newman [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to Speaking with Confidence, the podcast that helps you build the soft skills that lead to real results. Communication, storytelling, public speaking, and showing up with confidence in every conversation that counts. I'm Tim Newman, a recovering college professor turned communication coach, and I'm thrilled to guide you on a journey to becoming a powerful communicator. Early in my teaching career, I was tasked with teaching athletic training to high school freshmen and sophomores. I was new, eager to prove myself, and I decided to use a college level curriculum. I thought I was setting a high bar. I thought I was showing them what they could achieve.

Tim Newman [00:00:47]:
But as I'm sure you can guess, it was a disaster. Not only was I a new teacher trying to build rapport and connection with students, but the information was so over their heads they didn't understand the terminology, the concepts, or why I was teaching it that way. I saw their eyes glaze over. They were frustrated. I was frustrated. I didn't understand why they didn't understand. Then it hit me. They had no idea how smart I was because I couldn't explain the information in a way that they could grasp.

Tim Newman [00:01:22]:
I was trying to impress them with complexity, but all I did was create confusion. That experience taught me a brutal lesson. Complexity doesn't impress people. It pushes them away. But this isn't just about one awkward meeting. This is a career killer that plays out every single day in meetings. Complex language is a decision making poison. It derails the entire conversation.

Tim Newman [00:01:47]:
Instead of focusing on the core idea, people get stuck on deciphering your words. You're not leading the discussion. You're creating a puzzle that wastes everyone's time, including yours. And in pitches, it's even worse when you fail to connect with a client or stakeholder because your message is buried in jargon, you're not just losing a sale, you're damaging your credibility. Research shows that using complex language when you feel low status actually signals insecurity, not expertise. The audience's brain has to work harder to process what you're saying. And that extra cognitive load creates frustration, not trust. They don't walk away thinking, wow, they're smart.

Tim Newman [00:02:33]:
They walk away thinking, I have no idea what they're even talking about. This is the critical gap between perceived competence and actual influence. You might think you sound like the smartest person in the room, but the data says you're being perceived as inauthentic and difficult to understand. This is another reason why people get overlooked for leadership roles. Leaders simplify. They make the complex clear. If you can't translate your great ideas into a message that anyone can grasp. You will stall.

Tim Newman [00:03:06]:
Your career advancement depends on your ability to be understood, not on your ability to sound complicated. The fix for this isn't about learning bigger words. It's about applying a simple filter to everything you say. I call it the 8th grader test. If a middle schooler can't understand the essence of your message, it's not clear enough. This isn't about dumbing things down. It's about sharpening your thinking to its absolute core. The good news is the framework for doing this is surprisingly straightforward.

Tim Newman [00:03:40]:
It's built on three non negotiable mandates. This framework comes from leadership expert John Maxwell, who spent 50 years studying what makes communication work. He calls it the law of simplicity. And it boils down to three mandates. These aren't just tips, they're filters you run every message through before you speak. The first mandate is clarity. This is about making your message easy to grasp. Maxwell says the highest compliment an audience can give is what you said was so simple.

Tim Newman [00:04:14]:
And he's right. Simple isn't easy. It takes hard work to break down a complex idea. And this is where the 8th grader test really applies. If you're explaining a new market strategy, don't talk about leveraging synergistic paradigms. For example, explain it like a chess game. Here's our position, here's our opponents, and here are the three moves we need to make to win. The human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text.

Tim Newman [00:04:47]:
So when you see a clear metaphor, you're working with the audience's natural wiring, not against it. The goal is to remove every single word that doesn't serve the core idea. Complexity creeps in when we're unsure. Clarity is a mark of true confidence. The second mandate is brevity. This is about making every word earn its place. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had the right. Be sincere, be brief, and be seated.

Tim Newman [00:05:20]:
Speaking over time is a crime against your audience's attention. In 2025, actual attention spans in presentations are just five to 10 minutes. You don't have time to waste. Brevity forces you to prioritize your impact over word count instead of a five minute explanation of quarterly results. What's the one sentence headline, for example? We grew faster than the market, but our profit margins are under pressure. Here's our three point plan to fix it. Boom. The audience knows exactly what matters.

Tim Newman [00:05:56]:
Research into presentation clarity shows that people prefer slides with no more than 10 to 25% text. Why? Because when you just read your slides, you make yourself redundant. And brevity isn't about saying less. It's about making what you say matter more. The third mandate, and this is the one that ties it all together, is focus. This is about answering. So what? Before your audience even has to ask, every message needs a single clear takeaway. If your listener can't summarize your main point in a few seconds, you've lost them.

Tim Newman [00:06:36]:
Structure your communication around that one thing in a pitch. Your focus might be we will save you 20% on operational costs. Everything else in that pitch, every slide, every data point, should support that single claim. Maxwell teaches that you should be able to state your purpose in one sentence. The focus is what prevents you from going down rabbit holes or adding unnecessary details that dilute your power. When you have a sharp focus, you create what Princeton research calls neurological synchronization. Your brain and the audience's brain lock onto the same wavelength because the message is so unmistakably clear. Now, knowing these three mandates is one thing.

Tim Newman [00:07:22]:
Applying them is another. The real shift isn't grammatical. It's psychological. You have to move from an ego driven mindset to an audience first. Mindset. The impulse to sound impressive is rooted in insecurity. We think complex words will make us look smart. But the research we looked at earlier proves the opposite.

Tim Newman [00:07:46]:
Jargon is often a form of compensatory, conspicuous communication. It's what people use when they feel low status trying to mimic a higher standing. It's a verbal equivalent of wearing a flashy watch to prove you're successful. The shift happens when you realize that your job isn't to perform intelligence. Your job is to create understanding. Your success is measured by what your audience grasps, not by how sophisticated you sound. And this is where true leadership begins. Leaders absorb complexity and give back clarity.

Tim Newman [00:08:24]:
They are translators. So how do you make this shift practical? Start by auditing your own communication. Before your next meeting or presentation, take your notes and do three things. First, apply the clarity mandate. Underline every piece of jargon or technical term for each one. Ask, how would I explain this to a smart 14 year old? Replace the jargon with a simple metaphor or analogy. Second, apply the brevity mandate. Cut your initial explanation in half.

Tim Newman [00:08:59]:
Be ruthless here. If the sentence doesn't directly support your one focus takeaway, delete it. And third, apply the focus mandate. At the top of your page, write down the single answer to what is the one thing I want them to remember. This is the core of simplicity. It's a disciplined practice of filtering every message through clarity, brevity and focus. When you make this mental shift, something powerful happens. You stop being the person who makes things confusing and start being the person who makes things clear.

Tim Newman [00:09:36]:
You build trust instead of skepticism. You demonstrate competence not through complexity, but through your ability to connect. And that is what gets you noticed, trusted and promoted. So let these three mandates clarity, brevity and focus become your new filter for every message. The professional liberation comes from prioritizing your audience's understanding over your own impression. And that's the shift from just talking to truly communicating. That's all for today. Remember, we're looking for progress, not perfection.

Tim Newman [00:10:14]:
Be sure to visit speakingwithconfidencepodcast.com to get your free eBook, the Top 21 Challenges for Public Speakers and How to Overcome Them. You can also register for the Forum for Public Speaking course. Always remember, your voice has the power to change you. We'll talk to you next time. Take care.