Power of Words
A peak into the adjacent person's newspaper in the bus today morning gave me a shock. What I saw in the Economic Times was "TCL to buy out Alcatel". After having worked for 3 years in Alcatel I was entitled to be shocked with such a news. Come on, Alcatel is a 12.5 Billion Euro company and TCL is just a Chinese mobile service provider. A fast check in google after reaching office (after the usual 1 hour travel ofcourse) revealed that it was only the stake of Alcatel in a JV (Joint Venture) with TCL that TCL is going to buy.
Though the element of shock has gone, I am left amused at the different views of the same story provided by ET and Reuters. According to ET, TCL would buy out Alcatel's stake in a JV between them. Reuters states that Alcatel is buying a 5 percent stake in TCL by selling its stake in a JV with TCL. It is the same news, but how different do each of the versions sound! The ET version sounds as if Alcatel is in deep trouble, while the Reuters version gives an impression that Alcatel is moving higher by taking a stake in TCL instead of having a JV with the Chinese firm.
The way we put information in words plays a major part in the impression created on the audience. I have noticed this in too many instances in the recent past. I tried explaining my current project to some of my friends in different ways. The responses ranged from "Another global project" to "That's awesome". May be this is why people say that we can choose whatever work that comforts us, but should make sure that we use the right words to describe them when applying for another job
Though the element of shock has gone, I am left amused at the different views of the same story provided by ET and Reuters. According to ET, TCL would buy out Alcatel's stake in a JV between them. Reuters states that Alcatel is buying a 5 percent stake in TCL by selling its stake in a JV with TCL. It is the same news, but how different do each of the versions sound! The ET version sounds as if Alcatel is in deep trouble, while the Reuters version gives an impression that Alcatel is moving higher by taking a stake in TCL instead of having a JV with the Chinese firm.
The way we put information in words plays a major part in the impression created on the audience. I have noticed this in too many instances in the recent past. I tried explaining my current project to some of my friends in different ways. The responses ranged from "Another global project" to "That's awesome". May be this is why people say that we can choose whatever work that comforts us, but should make sure that we use the right words to describe them when applying for another job
posted by Jammy at 12:27 PM
3 Comments:
Nice one da jammy.. write more things like this one !!
Jammy, very true! The same case happened with my company too! Maersk offer of invitation to a merger (or takeover! not sure as of now) was portrayed as if it has taken over.
Words play n important role in our communication.
Donno why, but this came to my mind when I read your blog..
"Theeinaal suta pun aarividum, aaradu naavinaal suta vadu" :-s pray I got it correctly, but then i think this was told because we need to be cautious with our words :)
jammy... looks like you have equipped yourself with the necessary jargon armour. now tell me your opinion on my project. "evaluation of current crm practices for dermatologists and suggesting an optimum model" :D
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