The Weight Of Your Words

Early in my leadership career, I didn’t know the importance of words. 

As a young leader, I would lead and direct teams that were sometimes upwards of 25 years older than I. 

And as I led, I saw how team members who looked to me for direction hung on every word. 

I soon learned the power of words. 

My intention with my teams has always been for growth, to encourage, to help build up.

And the tool of proper communication quickly became a powerful asset. 

I’d like to focus on this Spark that a major anchor of leadership is composed by the intentionality of your word choice.

Regardless of your rank, the words you chose to use today will heavily determine the outcomes you see tomorrow. 

The most important words we speak are the ones we say to ourselves. 

You see, words are powerful because they shape the way we view our world. 

It all begins in the mind, the intellect. 

We understand an idea, a concept, or a solution in our mind first, and then we communicate it first to ourselves and then maybe others.

The words that we use for ourselves, paint the picture we have of ourselves. 

I won’t dive too deep into this but I will leave you with this note, you are a marvelous artist. 

So why mention self-image psychology here on a leadership post?

Well, when we communicate with others, we also play a part in painting their picture.  

And if you care about your fellow humans, you understand the weight words have. 

These are two of the most important forms of human communication: 

How we think and communicate about ourselves to ourselves.

How we think of others and how we communicate with them or about them. 

For ourselves: we either limit our potential by our thinking or set out to do extraordinary things, that we were always capable of, by our own thought

For how we view others: we either speak to bring others down or us our words to bring them up and encourage them to be all they were meant to be. 

This is more than just fake flattery or empty words and motivation. 

This is a powerful way to embrace reality. 

Our thoughts direct our actions. 

And our words direct our thoughts. 

When you lead others, you must communicate in a way that is best suited for the service of the team and your combined mission. 

Anything less is mediocre and self serving. 

Proper word choice supports others and also supports the sharing of one mind to another. 

To ensure other minds grasp our ideas, add to them and improve upon them.

This is the basis of collaboration. 

Learn the weight of your words. 

If you have others looking to you for direction or are responsible for a team, practice intentional communication.

You may also see a transformation in your own life.