Nothing has been heard until it has been said several times
The hearing and understanding of a message—particular a disruptive or paradigm-shifting one—usually only happens when the message has been communicated so many times that the communicator begins to wonder if it will ever be understood.
Experience had taught me that nothing was heard until it had been said several times. Only when I heard my own words echoed or paraphrased back to me by subordinates as essential “truths” did I know they had been fully received.[1]
See also:
- Shared consciousness maximizes availability of strategic information
- Strategy is formulated and communicated at every level
Team of Teams – McChrystal, et al. (2015), ch. 11, § “Chess Master To Gardener: The Leaders We Now Need.” ↩︎