Run the Room

The translation tax

↓

The best people in any field pay a hidden tax, and most of them never figure out what it is.

I'll tell you what it is, because I paid it for years :)

Decision-makers don't reach for the most rigorous person: they reach for whoever is top of mind. Which is to say, the person who is brief, who is clear, and who is visible.

The deepest expert in the building gets a polite "fascinating," while someone who knows half as much, and can say it in one sentence, gets the keynote

That's the translation tax. The more you know, the more it costs to make it legible — and no one will pay that cost for you. They just move on to someone easier to understand.

When I fist tried to change how dozens of countries treat community health workers, I talked about "catalysing high-impact community health systems design." Oh so catchy, right?

Nothing moved until we put it in language a finance minister could act on: #payCHWs. Here's what it costs, here's how you do it, here's what you get. It's now policy in 56 countries.

Change the world the same way you run a room: make the right things easy. The first room is the one you've been trying to get into.

Try this

Write down, in the words you'd normally use, what you do. Then throw it out and write one sentence in this shape: I help [these people] solve [this problem] so they can [do this]. Use their words for the problem, not yours.

🌿 Stop paying the translation tax.

Under-recognition is not a talent problem

Which is good news, because talent is hard to add and translation is something you can start today!

Getting the right people to see what you're worth is one of the things I do with a few people at a time. If you suspect you've been the best-kept secret in your field for too long, come talk to me.

Start making it easy

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