By Steve Adubato, PhD

Andy Cuomo dropped out of the New York Governor's race seven days before the September 10th primary. One of the reasons for him quitting at the eleventh hour was that by his own admission, Cuomo was trying to communicate "too many messages." At a press conference announcing that he was dropping out, Cuomo said, "it was like we had a new idea every day. We weren't focused enough on communicating a single message. Simplicity is very important in communication."

The lessons learned by Andy Cuomo have tremendous value for the rest of us. This is less about electoral politics than about people in leadership positions communicating effectively in an effort to get things done and rally the troops. We all do that, don't we? Campaigns are in many ways a microcosm of what we do every day in the workplace. We are like candidates communicating our ideas and approaches on a variety of issues, problems and questions facing our organization. Our audiences vote on us and our message on a regular basis.

When you get up at a meeting and talk about a new project or initiative, you want your peers and bosses around you to support you. It's all about persuasion. The key to remember is that people aren't usually persuaded or moved (much less impressed) when we come up with a new idea or proposal every day. Sure, it shows you have a lot of imagination and energy, but the problem is that people can't keep track of your agenda. While they are just digesting your last idea, you are throwing a new one at them. It gets confusing.

When you communicate with the same enthusiasm and passion about more than a few messages, people begin to wonder what's really important to you. What are this guy's priorities? When they hear a laundry list of ideas coming from you, they begin to tune you out. When you are in a meeting with your boss or a potential client, the worst thing you can do is have a ton of points you want to make. Even if all your points are valid and you make a compelling case for each one, it's a poor communication strategy. People don't want to work that hard to keep up with you, so don't make them. It's a real turnoff.

Andy Cuomo was right about one thing. Simplicity is very important in communication. We're not talking about communicating simplistic ideas, but rather getting a single message across that is clear, concise and credible. That message is your anchor. It grounds all of your communication in whatever "campaign" you are currently engaged in at work.

Tip for the week: If you have lots of points or messages you plan to communicate in your next presentation-DON'T! Rather, ask yourself, "Of all these things I want to say, which one is the most important to me? Which message is the most important to my audience?" Try to answer these questions before you open your mouth. It takes discipline. It takes editing. And it takes introspection. Oh, yes, simplicity in communication is hard work, but it pays big dividends. Try it next time and write to me.