Communication. An Essential Part to Life.

Communication is one of the most important factors taken into consideration while evaluating someone, whether it be as a friend or potential employee.  Leaders always have a good form of communication called practical intelligence.  It is defined as the ability to know what to say, who to say it to, how to say it, and when to say it.  In Chapter 7 of Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell decribes to us just how important communication really is.

He states that plane crashes are caused by a single technical error followed by six human errors.  It is these errors in communication that could ultimately decide whether the plane lands safely or crashes.

Studies show that cultural legacy also has much to do with plane crashes.  Many times the relationship between the captain and the first officer were harsh due to cultural legacy.  The captain would only fly the plane, leaving the first officer to do everything else.  However, if the first officer suggested anything that the captain does not like or agree with, the captain would often physically harm the officer.  As a result, the officers learned to accept their position underneath the captain.  They developed a way of getting their point across called "mitigated speech".  In essence, mitigated speech is a way of "dancing around the subject" or sugarcoating what it is you have to say.  This way, they could get their point across, however, it would take longer and not be urgent at all.

This mitigated speech proved to be one of the worst forms of communication according to Gladwell.  The devastating crash of Avianca 052 only cements this theory.  The first officer (in charge of communicating to the ATC) used mitigated speech and did not give off any sense of urgency.  This ended up being the downfall of the aircraft.  Seventy-eight people lost their lives that day, all because of one person's failure to communicate.

The most important lesson we can learn from this chapter is to not use mitigated speech in emergecies.  There is a time to be diplomatic, but when your plane is about to go down, you set that aside and tell the ATC exactly what is going on!  You have to use a sense of urgency or else people may not take you seriously, and innocent lives could potentially be lost.