The best examples share the same context as the issue being discussed. They are not necessarily the ones people recognize instantly.

Technical staff often want to dive into the math faster than the audience is ready for; decision makers usually get to “the top matters more than the bottom” before their own advisors expect them to. After all, most executives want to know what time it is and not how the clock is made.

FINESSE is rooted in systems thinking. Effective communication is a system of interrelated parts, not just the sum of individual skills. None of the “bones” needs to be perfect; they just need to work together to produce clarity and confidence. This reduces the pressure on any single person to be flawless and focuses on building a dependable communication system.

The Fins of FINESSE provide some helpful associations. The bottom fin of FINESSE, the audience, provides us with our balance.

Remove condensing language from your presentations by practicing replacing “you” with “we.” It can be hard work, but it is relatively simple.

Planning prior to a high-consequence, low-probability event is crucially important. A balanced approach to analytics, narratives and public perceptions is needed for effective communication in the planning stage. All bets are off once the rare event happens.

The nature of rare events makes them unexpectedly and disproportionately impactful. Rare events can usually be identified within the seven categories of crisis: economic, informational, physical (key plants and facilities), human resources, reputational, psychopathic acts, and natural disasters.