At Rethink, we don't have a fancy oak boardroom table. We have a ping-pong table instead. Partly, this is because ping-pong tables are much less expensive than fancy oak tables. But there's another reason for our odd choice of boardroom furniture.
Our ping-pong table serves as a constant reminder of a simple analogy about communication— our Ping-Pong Ball Theory. It's simple. If we were to throw one ping-pong ball at you across a table, you'd probably catch it. If we were to throw five balls at the same time, you probably wouldn't catch any of them.
Most messages have at least five ping-pong balls. We strive to keep our messages single-focused, with just one idea— one ping-pong ball— to catch. This means there's a far greater likelihood that our message will be seen and absorbed.
We'd love to demonstrate this rule by engaging you in a spirited game of ping-pong, but given that you're probably not in the vicinity of the Rethink offices, we'll have to settle for a classic game of Pong.