In University, I was taught that communication, in its most basic form, is the cooperation between a sender and a receiver to get a message through a shared environment.

And while that certainly holds true still today, I am more and more convinced that in business, communication is in the hands of the receiver.

Think about marketing: the receiver is forced through a myriad of messages and decides what to dedicate attention to in a matter of seconds. Think about internal communication: the receiver can call bullshit on any message management is sharing if that does not reflect their day-to-day experience. Think about presentations: the receiver is so fed up with bullet points and animations (particularly after one year of virtual meetings) to the point they can check emails or write a report while you are struggling to make a case.

The receiver is central in any form of corporate communication.

And the fact that we spend so little time trying to figure them out is the most widely overlooked device a professional has to leverage to get their messages through.