That is a problem, but maybe it’s part of the solution too.
We are spending time these days with technology, data and AI leaders who are trying to sell into senior HR, Learning and Talent professionals.
They have all the expertise in the world in their field. They have deep capability. They have smart people, strong products and high ambition.
That’s where the problem starts.
As these organisations grow, their knowledge accumulates exponentially. But what fails to keep up – and why they call on us to help – is the translation of that thinking into a clear, shared way of explaining what the organisation actually offers and how the pieces fit together.
The story works when the inspirational CEO is in the room. Once it travels beyond into marketing, sales or PR language, explanations differ, clarity becomes less certain and buying signals start to fade.
For companies selling into HR, Learning and Talent leaders, that gap is expensive.
These buyers are not buying technology alone. They are buying risk reduction, credibility and clear value for people and business outcomes. The seller needs to understand not just what the product does, but how it fits into the buyer’s world of workforce strategy, capability building and organisational change.
Our brains are not that big, but we know enough to recognise that when internal thinking has not yet been shaped with enough precision into something others can act on with confidence, it is more than a messaging problem.
It is a structural lag problem. The gap between how much a leader knows and how easy that thinking is for others in the organisation to talk about it with confidence.
It is something that I am often asked to fix, because it damages trust and clarity and ultimately hurts sales and growth.
If you are building or marketing complex technology, data and AI for senior decision makers, you may recognise this.
If you do, we would be interested to hear your perspective.