How to Speak Like a Leader
You
can project power by imitating the characteristic speaking style of the
powerful, psychology suggests.
What do
powerful leaders look like when they speak?
Maybe you
pictured puffed chests, raised chins, firm gesticulations, and powerful words.
All of these may be the stereotypical hallmarks of leaders as
portrayed by Hollywood, but science suggests there is another simple
difference between speakers we
perceive as powerful and just your average schmo up on the stage: True leaders use
more abstract language.
This insight
comes out of a series of six experiments published
recently in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and highlighted
by PsyBlog. A team
led by Cheryl Wakslak of USC's Marshall School of Business looked into what
factors give a speaker the appearance of being powerful in a variety of
settings.
Abstract = Powerful
Powerful
leaders, the
findings reveal, don't get bogged down in the details. Instead, they're more
inclined to speak in broader terms, conveying the big picture or the larger
narrative. The more into the weeds a speaker gets, the less power he or she
is perceived to have.
For
example, in one political example presented to study participants, politicians
who spoke about the exact number of casualties resulting from a natural disaster
were rated as less powerful than those who spoke about the overarching idea of
a "national tragedy." This principle held regardless of the topic the
speaker was addressing.
"Use
of abstract language that captured the gist or meaning of an event led a
speaker to be perceived as more powerful, relative to concrete language that
focused on specific details and actions, regardless of whether the speaker was
discussing a person, a societal issue, or a product; describing something
negative or positive; or saying a few words or several sentences," the
researchers wrote.
Why and So What?
Why does
speaking in general terms have such a significant effect on audiences? The
researchers claim that speaking more abstractly conveys two characteristics
most people believe are central to great leadership--the ability to both see
the big picture and make judgements about it.
"When
people use abstract language, they communicate that they are removed from the
action and able to distill the gist or essence of the situation, instead of
focusing on the concrete actions that would be most salient if they were 'on
the ground,'" the study authors assert.
This link
between abstract language and perceived power is a handy insight for aspiring
business leaders, as it's simple enough to bear this preference in mind when
designing your own communications. So next time you're debating whether to
include that fourth statistic in your slide or weighing up whether to
mention just one more relevant detail, keep in mind that the more small matters
you include, the less powerful you'll seem.
BY JESSICA STILLMAN
http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/how-to-speak-like-a-leader.html?cid=em01014week28b
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