Has the way you communicated ever saved a life? When I was asked to give a keynote at a science conference in Slovenia recently, I chose to compare how four scientists’s communication styles shaped not only their lives, but how their work changed—or didn’t change—the world. Last week I wrote about Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison (find that article here). This week I compare two physicians / biologists. Who were they and what can we learn from their communication styles?
Ignaz Semmelweis: “Savior of Mothers”
Maybe you’ve never heard of Ignaz Semmelweis. I hadn’t before I started researching for this keynote. But Semmelweis was the first link in the chain of what we now know as Germ Theory. A Hungarian physician in the mid-1800s, Semmelweis noticed that women in a certain hospital clinic were dying of childbed fever at much higher rates than in another clinic. He investigated and found that the doctors in the high-death-rate clinic were also performing autopsies—sometimes right before going to the delivery room.
Semmelweis didn’t know why this was happening, but he offered a practical solution. “Doctors, wash your hands with chlorine!” He said it would dramatically reduce deaths. But his advice didn’t land. Why?
The Curse of the Solo Crusader
His colleagues in the hospital, male doctors, well-respected, probably with healthy egos, were offended at the insinuation that their hands were dirty. So they largely ignored him. Semmelweis didn’t often speak publicly about his work either—more of a solo crusader in his approach, he let his students do the talking for him. This didn’t help his argument.
Increasingly frustrated that no one was following his guidance, Semmelweis was eventually committed to an asylum, beaten by the guards there, and then died of an infection. He was only 47. Tragic story. Here’s another one.
Louis Pasteur: Father of Microbiology
Twenty years later, Louis Pasteur provided a theoretical framework—a WHY— for Semmelweis’s WHAT. He said that invisible microorganisms cause infection. But more than having the complete narrative explanation, Pasteur knew how to deliver messages so they landed with the audience.
Pasteur knew how to bring science to the people. He framed his discoveries in terms of practical usefulness: saving the silk industry, protecting livestock. He spoke less about how the science worked, but why it mattered. He made meaning for the average person.
Pasteur understood that the way a message is delivered matters. He said, “Science knows no country because knowledge belongs to humanity.” He knew the first rule in public speaking is “know your audience”—and he put his audience first. I wonder if hand washing would have become more widely adopted 20 years earlier if Semmelweis had been less of a solo crusader and more of a communicator.
To Communicate Means to Share
In my research, I got curious about the meaning of the word ‘communicate’. It stems from the Latin root ‘communis’, which means common, and became ‘communicare’, which means to share. It makes sense. Because you can’t communicate in a vacuum—the whole point of communicating is to make what’s on the inside known to the outside. It’s about sharing. I like to say that communication is an act of service. You have to make sure your audience ‘gets it’—or what’s the point.
So how do we make sure our own messages don’t die in the lab? Here’s how to communicate so your ideas actually change things.
THE BIG PRINT
It’s not enough to be right—you have to be understood.
How to Make Your Message Land
It’s not enough to have the right idea. You have to deliver it so others get it. Here are three simple shifts that turn information into impact:
- Lead with why, not how.
Start with what’s at stake or why it matters. Working with a blockchain venture client recently, one of our biggest shifts was to stop trying to explain how blockchain worked, and instead what it means for society. This is helping investors get on board. - Speak to the stakes.
Facts don’t move people—stakes do. What happens if nothing changes? Make the cost of inaction clear. - Make it an act of service.
When you communicate as a way of serving your audience—helping them understand, decide, or act—you shift from proving yourself to connecting with others.
That’s where credibility is born. People trust those who help them make sense of the world.
Want to read the first article in this two-part series? Find it here.
Remember, being right isn’t enough—you have to be understood. If you want help turning complex ideas into stories that stick, let’s talk. Get on my calendar here.
The author and Etosha Cave backstage at Websummit
TAKE IT FROM… Etosha Cave, American mechanical engineer, co-founder, and Chief Scientific Officer of Twelve, a startup that recycles carbon dioxide. Etosha and I worked together on her speech at WebSummit in 2024. We helped use stories to turn deep tech into deep understanding for an audience of 45,000.
Watch the clip from her WebSummit Talk last year and learn more about how her company turns carbon dioxide into jet fuel and consumer products.
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