Great article, thanks Jason.

It really made me think. Yes, communication is so important and everything here points to your responsibilities and effective methods in getting it right.

But everybody can do this. Every wealth management company, bank, school, medical or legal practice can say: 'Yeah, we are experts at communicating. Check out what we do, how we do it and see how much better we are than those other guys!'

There's a good term for this:
Lip service.

Moving lips mean nothing unless we CONNECT with others (not necessarily with their lips, but that's cool too). Communicating is pointless unless you connect and engage with others, and that's a more mysterious art.

Maybe it goes back to the old market roots of trading.

I live in East London, I can see the city's financial landmarks from my doorstep. There are the best and oldest street markets here in my part of town and a long tradition of street market traders moving to the city and becoming slick wide boys in banking and finance. They brought their swag with them. The loudest voice in the street market sells more, no? I hear competing shouts in my local and rather famous street market 'GET your JUICIEST toms, here!' 'POUND A BOWL!'

No. I look at the fruit and enjoy the banter from these guys. 'Hello, darling, come and give these coconuts a shake!' Naughty but engaging! The key is to connect with your clients and humans do this best in a fun, relaxed environment with a little help from humour, art and music. Of course professionals have to have an air of seriousness about them, but we all know the best professionals are the ones that can put us at ease and have a way of connecting with us on a level that inspires trust. Confidence in one's knowledge and limitations allows for honest engagement. Real connection gives a lot of freedom to communicate with compassion and a little light heartedness about very serious issues.