Think. Listen. See.

I spoke at a conference last week for association executives. I really enjoyed the people and the room that I was working, and my words and ideas seemed to be well met.  These people manage big and small associations, and are often the kind of folk that would hire me to speak at their yearly conferences.  I spoke for 45 minutes and delivered a strong presentation, which garnered a lot of interest, and I'll likely book some business from it.  

After I spoke, a gentlemen came up and wanted to talk to me about my presentation. He was a tall man, with short hair and nice suit. He seemed quite nice, but I could soon tell he was an academically trained executive. He used a few acronyms and peppered his speaking with expensive sounding terms, and dropping the usual language suspects into the conversation "We just completed a 360 last year, and this year we're running a Six Sigma program..."  I began to tune him out, because it all felt a bit lifeless.  

We create the workplace by who we are being, and how we speak when we're there. The conversations we have create the culture, and the language we download and use defines what kind of conversation we're going to have. Hey, I'm all for science, of all kinds, and I know that leadership is a kind of science. But I also know that much of the color, the texture and the imagination is drained out of workplaces that become overly dependent on academic-speak, and three ring binders full of useless filler. 

The workplace is where we spend most of our time, and it seems to me that the language we use should foster the imagination and encourage creativity.  When we speak, we can be particular, concise and clear, but also recognize the power of language to create new conversations, spark some energy, and lure our often flattened imaginations into the dizzy din of words that provoke us to think, to listen and to see.  New conversations that capture new ideas is what we need most these days, without them, we'll continue to be stuck in the endless loop of academic mumbo-jumbo, political expediency, which leads to the worst state of all, static numbness. That's when we know the language of leadership has become too big, and too exclusive,  and it makes the rest just too small.

Comments

[Buy Online Rx]

Blah, blah, blah, we moved on and the kids started asking different questions. 3 minutes later, a girl named Molly asked, "I've always heard that we were made in God's image, but sometimes I wonder if that means exactly in God's image. Like, we only have 2 arms, but what if God has 4?" Quick as lightning, a guy across the room yells, "Molly, duh- God transcends arms!".

[mens health]

And what about women lawyers--is it also risky to wear the wedge to a law firm interview? No one will say that the wedge is a career-killer, like flip-flops, Birkenstocks, or Crocs. But some do think they are a bit clunky, if not funky.