It’s now been a full week since Michael Jackson’s demise and more than that since Mark Sanford’s exploits were first revealed.

In the time since then, parties associated with both camps have filled much more than their reasonable share of airwaves (and bandwidth as well), giving us much more information about the details of these situations than we ever needed to know.

I don’t need to know how many times Sanford met w/his mistress or how many other women he flirted with before, during and after. I also don’t need to know every detail of Michael Jackson’s will (somehow I doubt he left me anything), or whether or not his children were biologically his or someone else’s (they’re legally his and that’s all that matters right now).

Just once it would be nice for someone involved in one of these situations to make a simple concise statement, say that’s it, I’m done, and walk away. Too much detail doesn’t do anyone any good. Hitchcock was the master of suspense, but how much gore and blood did he show on camera? What was captivating about his movies was that the important details were left to the imagination, rather than spelled out in high definition in excruciating detail.

This is true for all of us in business settings as well: Say what you have to say, then stop and wait. Listen to the silence. Give the other person a chance to absorb what you’ve said. Don’t try to overcompensate by telling all the gory details. Let the other person use their imagination. Let them think for themselves. Appreciate the sound, and the power,  of silence.