One of the most common remarks I hear from folks in consultations is, “I know my stuff—so why can’t I explain it well?” Or, “It all sounds so good in my head—so why does it come out sounding bad?” People frustrated by this conundrum often conclude that they’re bad at speaking, and seek out a coach (great news for me!). Or they say “well the issue is probably that I get nervous. I should hire a coach to help me be less nervous.” (More great news for me!) 

Now, the usual suspects—nerves and lack of skill—are indeed very often to blame for speaking troubles, at least in part. But many times, another culprit lurks unseen: Inadequate knowledge. Naturally, not knowing as much about a topic makes it a lot tougher to discuss it competently or confidently. So why do so many people not see this as a problem?* I think it’s because they do know their stuff well! Just not well enough—not enough to talk about it fluently on command, which is what good public speaking typically requires.

To support this claim, here’s a fun little framework that I’ve dubbed, “The Four Levels of Knowledge.” (Pretentious, I know, but hopefully illuminating. 👨🏻‍🏫) 

Level 1: Confusion

Someone explains something to you, or you read something, & you don’t understand it. Of course this is not very much knowledge at all. 

Level 2: Basic understanding

At Level 2 Knowledge, upon hearing or reading something for the first time, it makes sense to you—you’re not confused—but you’d have a hard time recounting the gist to anyone else. For example, I notice that if I listen to a podcast episode, I might enjoy it & track with the material well; but when someone asks me what the episode was about, I feel like I don’t come close to doing it justice. 

This makes sense, because you’re only working off of one encounter with the content. Unless it made a deep impression or connected easily to something else you already know very well, conveying it cogently to someone else will be a serious challenge. 

Level 3: Explaining in writing 

Now we’re getting somewhere. At Level 3 Knowledge, if given a prompt, a blank sheet of paper & half an hour, you can jot down a clear, well-informed answer to the question or discussion of the topic. This is very good! It reflects a lot of knowledge of the topic—you can’t fake your through it, & it’s probably the result of a lot of study or experience in that area. In fact, tons of people have long & successful careers at Level 3 Knowledge!

... but it’s still not as high as: 

Level 4: Explaining verbally

Now, on receiving the prompt, you have to deliver a high-quality answer verbally, starting right now. No time to think, no chance to review our notes, just go! 

In order to pull this off, you gotta know the content so well, it’s practically automatic—a far cry from the “ok hm let me think about this” approach of  Level 3. 

This is what I think is happening with many of the “I know it—why can’t I talk about it?” people. They’re not wrong, they do know it! & they’re smart, successful, & good at their jobs. But they’re stuck at Level 3 Knowledge, at least in some areas. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t come out of their mouths how they pictured it in their head, or how they write about it in their emails. 

While it can be jarring to discover knowledge deficits in what you do for a living, I think this is actually good news! It shifts some of the focus from novel, difficult tasks—like conquering nerves & building speaking skills—towards one you hopefully have plenty of experience with: studying! & as you move up the levels of knowledge, you should find that your ability to express that knowledge also levels up. Then, whatever speaking troubles you still have can probably be safely blamed on other things—things I can help with!

Now, there are nuances to all this—both in terms of how it works & what to do if you suspect you’re at Level 3—that I won’t go into here (gotta save some info for the Paying Clients, right? 😎😬). Instead, I’ll just note in closing that part of my job as a coach is to determine whether & how much nerves or lack of speaking skill is to blame for subpar performance, & help the student budget their self-development time & effort accordingly. So if you’re wondering where your trouble lies & how to best address it, I’d love to chat! 

*Or at least, so many of the people who contact me for coaching. I realize this is a skewed sample.