Here’s how to make any concept easy to understand
The other night I was having a conversation with my 12-year-old.
I do a lot of work with financial advisers, accountants, and mortgage brokers, and he said, “so Mum are these clients that you work with, they kind of like what dad does?”
So his Dad, Tim is a risk adviser.
And so I started explaining that, the difference between, say, financial advisers or accountants or mortgage brokers versus a risk adviser…and I was kind of going on with a lot of the stuff that I know (I’m in the industry), what have you…
And he stops me, and he says, “so is that kind of like the difference between Rugby League and Rugby Union?”
So, it’s still Rugby, but there’s some slight differences around how the game’s played, what the rules are like, etc, etc.
And I was like, “oh, my gosh, that’s exactly what it’s like!”
It still falls under the same umbrella of financial advice and helping people make better and smarter decisions and choices with their money, but there are differences.
And there are slight nuances that apply to each differently.
And it was such a great chance for me to reflect on the power of metaphor and analogy, to help take something that’s unknown and make the concept known to someone.
And I bang on about this all the time, to the point where I feel like sometimes, I get pushback going, ah but that simplifies it too much.
It’s like that’s exactly the point.
That if it helps someone understand the concept, so he gets… (mind you he’s into AFL so I’m not quite sure how he knows about Union and League).
And I don’t know anything about Rugby, but he understands that the game is Rugby, that there’s different versions of it, but they still fall under the title of Rugby.
And he knows that there’s different rules and different ways that they go about getting the score and what they can do and what they can’t do.
That concept alone, in its essence, was enough for him to go okay, I get it, I can now place that idea on top of the difference between say a financial adviser and a risk adviser, or an accountant and a mortgage broker, for example.
And so I thought I’d share it…by the way, he seems to come up with a lot of these ideas, he’s either been paying attention to me, or it’s just that inquisitive nature, that curiosity of his that brings out things that I can then use as content to share with you.
But I thought it was a really great reminder of the value in the power of using metaphor and analogy, that when you can make a concept easier to understand, it means that somebody can take it on board and use it as they will.
Good for you, and super great for them being your clients.
I thought that was helpful because after all, You are Valuable!