Leading Through Language

Choosing Words That Influence and Inspire

Bart Egnal

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781119087717
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781119087755
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

Become a more effective leader—cut the jargon and say what you mean

Leveraging. Strategizing. Opening the kimono. Unlocking human capital. Trying to nail that BHAG. All on a go forward basis. These are only a few examples of the jargon-ridden language that is too often the mainstay of business communication. Jargon frustrates, confuses, and generally alienates listeners. Yet it's also everywhere, and using it can often seem like a mandatory requirement for anyone who wants to establish credibility in a professional workplace.

To be an effective leader, you must be brave enough to be the first to drop jargon in favor of simple, coherent language. This can be difficult if you've spent years immersed in business culture, but Leading Through Language will show just how much you've come to rely on jargon, why it's holding you back, and how to trim it away to more effectively convey information and ideas.

• Understand why jargon is reviled, yet ubiquitous
• Learn why "business speak" gets in the way of business
• Discover what kind of language influences and inspires others
• Convey ideas with clarity, energy, and conviction
• Approach all communication as an act of leadership

Communication often falls by the wayside in favor of more measurable data-backed performance metrics; but good communication has the power to improve metrics in every area of an organization. Leading Through Language is the business world's much-needed guide to true leadership communication, showing you how to eliminate idle talk and master compelling communication.

Part I
THE MANY FACES OF JARGON

INTRODUCTION TO PART I: WHY DOES JARGON EXIST AND WHY SHOULD LEADERS CARE?

Anyone who wishes to lead – to inspire others to act – must approach communication with conscious intention. Anyone who wishes to lead must treat every interaction, from a town hall meeting to a conference call, as a chance to reach audiences and move them to act. And anyone who wishes to lead through communication must think consciously about language and, in particular, the language that many use as a default in the world of work – jargon.

Jargon has always fascinated me – yet it also puzzled me. When I embarked upon this project, I had many questions about jargon that I had been wrestling with for some years. Specifically:

• Why does jargon exist, particularly since most people loathe it?
• What are the benefits and consequences of using jargon?
• Should leaders use jargon and, if so, what kind?

Having spent over a decade teaching leadership communication skills to managers and executives, I had formed some strong opinions about how these questions should be answered. Specifically, I had developed a strong view that when it came to leaders, jargon was ineffective or even detrimental. Leaders would be better served avoiding jargon in favor of the kind of clear language and powerful rhetoric that can reach and inspire audiences.

My viewpoint has been developed over the course of many years of listening to thousands of our clients from a wide variety of industries complain about jargon. Invariably they have described it as confusing, unnecessary, lacking in substance, and frustrating for audiences. They expressed a desire to have it eliminated from their own speech as well as from their workplace cultures, and indicated it was only their need to fit in and speak in the language of their organization and industry that convinced them to use it.

INSPIRATIONAL LEADERS THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE SPURNED JARGON

My conviction was also reinforced whenever I examined the words of inspirational speakers in more recent history. Over and over, I was struck by the consistent absence of jargon in their language and the presence of powerful rhetorical devices like repetition, metaphor, parallel structure, and alliteration (more on these and other patterns of rhetoric in Chapter 20).

Consider Winston Churchill, who inspired Britain through the power of his words and voice during World War II. He used no jargon; instead, he used rhetoric to share his convictions. Here is an excerpt from his speech to the House of Commons on June 4, 1940, delivered shortly after the British had been driven out of Europe by the Germans:

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender….

Churchill's use of repetition and parallel structure (constructing sentences in the same way to aid in understanding and retention) helped him rally a nation in its darkest hour.

John F. Kennedy was also known for the power of his language – and, like Churchill, favored rhetoric over jargon. Here's the famous conclusion of his inaugural address on January 20, 1961:

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it – and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you.

Kennedy's use of antithesis in his “ask not what your country can do for you” sentence saw him contrast two sentences with different ideas. This powerful use of language made this one of the most memorable calls to action in modern history.

Churchill and Kennedy are but two examples. Margaret Thatcher, Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Clinton, Golda Meir, Nelson Mandela, Ghandi…the list of great leaders throughout history who chose not to use jargon but to use powerful and clear language to bring their ideas to life is a long one.

RESPECTED CORPORATE LEADERS ALSO SKIP THE JARGON

It isn't just world leaders who have used rhetoric and skipped the jargon. Today, many of the corporate world's most respected executives and thought leaders make the same choice when deciding what words to use. Here's Sheryl Sandberg, in her 2010 TED Talk “Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders,” using conversational, personal language to describe her aspirations for women in leadership positions:

My generation really, sadly, is not going to change the numbers at the top. They're just not moving. We are not going to get to where 50 percent of the population – in my generation, there will not be 50 percent of [women] at the top of any industry. But I'm hopeful that future generations can. I think a world that was run where half of our countries and half of our companies were run by women, would be a better world. And it's not just because people would know where the women's bathrooms are, even though that would be very helpful. I think it would be a better world.¹

Sandberg's ability to use personal language and to convey an aspirational vision without jargon has inspired countless women (and men) and led her to write Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, an incredibly influential book that has reshaped the dialogue around women in the workforce.

And here's Steve Jobs, delivering a commencement speech in 2005 at Stanford University. Jobs had just been diagnosed with cancer. In his speech, Jobs explained that his diagnosis was shaping how he was living his life:

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

It's not just in speeches that Jobs used simple, clear language while creating a strong personal connection with his audience – his corporate remarks also made use of similar words to reach and ...

Table of contents

• COVER
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT
• DEDICATION
• PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• PART I THE MANY FACES OF JARGON
• PART II USE THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP
• CONCLUSION
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• INDEX
• EULA