In a recent conversation about The Value of I don’t Know, a friend and valued mentor of mine, Theresa Lewandowski Van Etta relayed this:
Leadership and language are essential partners in business.
– Theresa Lewandowski Van Etta
This resonated with me. Let’s chat about the ‘why’.
I’ve previously blogged about the power of language, which I think is also summed up by Leah Boroditsky when she says:
What we have learned is that people who speak different languages do indeed think differently and that even flukes of grammar can profoundly affect how we see the world.
Words are the physical manifestation of an intent to speak, the audible result of will.
If we can readily agree that language, that our words, matter then it is not a leap to see why our words impact leadership.
Language reflects our thoughts, our essence. Leadership is the thoughtful and methodical application of a continually studied framework that becomes a mindset.
If our language does not reflect the culture we are trying to build in our businesses, it impacts and affects our leadership ability and credibility.