Across the world, one of the principal AI-related concerns is its impact on originality.
From students copy-and-pasting essays to UK MPs being accused of using ChatGPT-generated Americanisms, AI’s often vague and repetitive vocabulary is noticeable.
Safe to say, knowing somebody is reading machine-generated buzzwords rather than their own original ideas does not sit well with those on the receiving end.
This is more relevant than ever to the world of consulting. A recent study done by Soba Private Label analysed the messaging in UK professional services and found it to be saturated with generic AI-speak: glowy, intelligent-sounding words that seem, to the general public, to mean nothing at all.
This is not to say that it is not functional, or indeed accurate – the top 5 words amongst the homepage headlines of management consultancies were “consultancy”, “services”, “business”, “management” and “expert”.
However, as one Consultancy.uk article identified, the danger of this is that companies become carbon copies of one another. The implications in a context of fierce client competition, when individuality is paramount, are obvious. Consulting firms need to write better.
How can they do this?
As an English Literature graduate I may be biased, but those who write well read well. In fact, turning to the greats can teach us more than a few important lessons about language, and how we can use it to our advantage.
Great consultants are storytellers, and mastering literary technique can help turn logic into persuasion.
This series will highlight some golden rules of literature that consultants should remember to engage their clients, stand out in a saturated market, and avoid the trap of AI vagaries.
Episode One: The Reader
The Soba study found that over 55% of companies made no reference to the reader in their top-line messaging. Instead, they spoke solely about themselves. Clients, stakeholders and internal teams are all ‘readers’ in the consulting world, whether we’re talking about written or spoken language. Considering the reader is undeniably crucial – so what can literature remind us about how consultants should communicate with their readers?
1. Address the reader directly
Italo Calvino’s If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler famously opens with ‘you are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel…’. Calvino never forgets who is consuming his words, and this direct address is crucial to draw in your reader and instantly connect with them. Remember, you are writing to your client, not about yourself.
2. Be clear: connect with your reader
George Orwell’s essay, ‘Politics and the English Language’, hammers home the importance of clarity and precision. This, however, does not mean buzzwords. Far from it: Orwell critiques ‘pretentious diction’ and ‘meaningless words’ that distance the writer from the reader. In a glorious passage that could easily be a repudiation of today’s AI-generated sameness, he writes:
‘The concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed: prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house’.
In other words, use words with real meaning. Explain concepts and make them tangible to your client – that way, you can connect with them.
3. Understand who your reader is
The greatest writers understand who they are writing to. Virginia Woolf’s ‘The Common Reader’ communicates the importance of meeting ordinary readers where they are, not where the author wants them to be. Similarly, consultants need to understand their clients and tailor their messaging accordingly.
What does your client already know? What are the gaps in their knowledge? What are the questions they want answered? What are their priorities?
4. Invite interpretation
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is full of social critique and irony that depends on the reader ‘getting it’ without over-explanation. Trust your clients to connect the dots: provoke their thoughts, rather than encouraging passive agreement with vague statements. Stimulating your client will interest them more: persuasion comes from participation.
Takeaway
Hopefully these literary tips can help you improve your engagement with your clients or potential clients.
In order to stand out, vague and generic ChatGPT-speak must be avoided, and the first way to do that is to connect clearly with who your messaging is directed towards.
India Jordan Jones is a final-year undergraduate student at the University of Oxford, reading English Language and Literature. She is interested in a career in consulting or commercial law and passionate about sustainability and energy matters in business.
Image: DALL-E
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