Shared Movie Quotes = Good Communication

I have often said that the only real communication comes through the use of shared movie quotes. What I mean by that is that the full message of what we are trying to communicate is sent and the same message is received as long as you have a shared experience that permits the intent, tone and content of the message to be mutually comprehended. The ultimate purpose of communication.

How many time have you heard someone say “Houston, we have a problem!” The actual quote is “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”(Apollo-13) There is a subtle difference in communicating the actual essence of the message. Are you telling us that you had problem and you are going to be sharing it or are you identifying that we, collectively, have encountered problem. 

The second most common, at least for me is “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” This one falls on deaf ears for millennials who have never seen Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. They are more inclined to grasp “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” (Star Wars)

Either way, we need to have more shared experiences, whether they are virtual, as in watching movies from home, or other facilitated experiential learning in video conferences, where we come together and learn to move in the same direction.

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