The Golden Rule

"Other people would like to be treated the way you would like to be treated."

Which, for communications, I think is actually a bit iffy!!!

Quick thoughts on why

1) There's something called The Platinum Rule by Dr. Tony Alessandra

Platinum Rule: "Treat others the way they want to be treated."

2) It shifts "this is what I want, so I'll give everyone the same thing" into "let me understand what they want and give it to them"

Everyone has diff backgrounds, communication styles, and preferences! (And we often forget our own biases - neurotypical, Western, etc.)

3) This helps you get through to someone, but also helps you understand their troubles better.

I'm not going to sugarcoat to someone who responds better to bluntness. My intentions won't get through to them. Some respond better to jokes peppered in, or lots of emojis.

4) The DiSC communication style is one of the ways to understand this!

(Note DiSC is more workplace oriented and there's more to comms style, but nuance is lost in Twitter's 280 characters, etc.)
https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/

5) Finally! If you're still unsure of what to do? Ask them what they want to see/hear from you! It's okay to ask! I've done it before.

There's a lot more to comms of course and The Platinum Rule isn't perfect, but it's one way to understand "soft skills" more.