We all need a Flo

One television commercial I actually enjoy watching is the one in which Flo (played by Stephanie Courtney, who may just be the best actress on TV) leads some people through the jungle to a tribe of insurance agents, whose strange language she translates for them. Who among us wouldn't love to have a translator with us when speaking with insurance agents?

In fact, we could use such a translator when talking with doctors about our test results, with bankers about a mortgage, with mechanics about car repairs, with contractors about our remodeling project or when we attempt to tackle our federal income tax forms on our own. Last night our condo association faced decisions regarding reserve funding, pooled reserves and surplus operating funds. Where was Flo when we needed her?

Every industry, and even a hobby like sewing or stamp collecting, has and needs its own vocabulary. The more technical the activity, the more obscure the lingo will be to outsiders. The best insurance agents, doctors, bankers, etc., know how to talk in laymen's language.

A few days ago I read a Popular Science article about geologist Lucy Jones, who has made a career out of being the Flo between seismologists and the politicians, builders and the citizens of California, explaining the dangers posed by future earthquakes and what can be done about them. One civil engineering professor says of her, "What makes her different from other technocrats is she can understand what people outside her discipline are telling her very quickly, and she can extract stuff that you really need to know. I can't think of five people who have the ability to distill information the way she does."

If safer buildings, bridges and dams are going to be built and existing ones are going to be made safer, people like Lucy Jones are going to be necessary.

After reading the article, it occurred to me that understanding the technical and the complex and explaining it in terms others can understand is what Popular Science magazine has been doing since 1872.