The weight and impact of your words
"Be sure to taste your words before you spit them out." Quoteseverlasting.com
Are you a leader? If you are, you must know everything you say, indeed, everything you do is watched, analyzed, and emulated. As a leader, your words have weight and meaning as never before. Many leaders overlook this. In so doing they spout words and phrases which confuse, misguide, or even offend. Leaders who understand this, select their words carefully. They contemplate what words and phrases they will use and when and where they will use them.
In coaching I share this philosophy. "Do only those things which only you can do." In other words, delegate. It was taught to me as an Army leader and I've carried it forward into my encore, entrepreneur life. The spirit of this phrase and of delegation is not handing off busy work as an act of laziness. Thinking, strategizing, engaging with people, and developing words and phrases to influence people and teams are what leaders do. Seriously. A leader's words have weight and impact.
When I became the commander or CEO of my Army Brigade in the 101st Airborne Division, I brought with me a philosophy of "Investing in People." People, not weapons, plans, or policies were central to all we did. I used the phrase, "Investing in People," countless times each day. Of course, I explained my intent behind this, but the phrase itself held weight and impact. Soon I started hearing it back when engaging with leaders across my organization. These words were followed by deeds and it produced the number one brigade in the Army for human resource performance.
Head to the gym because those words you are carrying around weigh a lot. Spend some time with them. Choose the right ones. Your people are listening.
Make it Personal!
Rob
Rob Campbell