Most of us implicitly understand the power in making a distinction between the abstract and the concrete. In writing, this manifests anytime someone suggests that you should include a (concrete) example to help make your (abstract) idea clearer, or “more real” to your readers. Linguist and psychologist Steven Pinker argues that examples are so important that communicating ideas persuasively would be impossible without them.
In the field of management, some abstract ideas can become very popular, but very quickly loses all practical meaning.
I believe that some ideas can be made more real by tying it back to a single tangible concept that can best represent its core intent. You lose precision, but gain the directional accuracy required to persuade.
Let me try:
“Empowerment” is one such idea. In a business context, the core of it is that appropriate decentralised decision making is good. This lets you ask pointed questions: How many decisions are my front line staff allowed to make when they are interacting with a customer? How many decisions are my line managers allowed to make? How can I appropriately increase this while still having the right level of management control and governance? etc.
Does the abstract idea of empowerment now feel more real?
References
- Pinker, S. (2015). The sense of style: The thinking person’s guide to writing in the 21st Century. Penguin Books.
Originally posted on Linkedin