As We Speak
Page 9
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It’s always tempting to slide into the tar pit of trendy business clichés, especially in the corporate world. George Orwell, author and famous chronicler of English culture, says that modern language “at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else . ”6
You know this “prefab” language, or business-speak, when you hear it. It sounds something like this: “At the end of the day, going forward, we need to be team players—to drill down, do a deep dive, and find a silver bullet vis-à-vis the low-hanging fruit that will leverage the value proposition for our stakeholders so we can achieve critical mass when the rubber meets the road.” 7
Sound familiar? Avoid it. Use real words that are simple, direct, and muscular. Effective communication avoids clichés and insider jargon. Listeners will judge the freshness of your ideas by the freshness of your language. There’s a game called Bullsh*t Bingo, in which players download a bingo card with overused jargon words and phrases, and check off the words to keep themselves awake during boring presentations. When a player gets bingo, she’s supposed to stand up and shout, “Bullsh*t!” To be fair, we’ve never heard of anyone actually standing up and shouting during a presentation. But you never know. Don’t let it happen to you.
Here’s a list (not exhaustive, by any means!) of phrases that make the Bullsh*t Bingo list. Scrub them from your vocabulary! They will make your talk sound dated and stale.
• Synergy
• Out of the box
• Bottom line
• Revisit
• 24/7
• Out of the loop
• Benchmark
• Value-added
• Proactive
• Win-win
• Think outside the box
• Fast track
• Result-driven
• Empower (or empowerment)
• Knowledge base
• At the end of the day
• Touch base
• Ballpark
• Game plan
• Leverage
No matter how big and ambitious your vision may be, the language you use to convey that vision still needs to be specific and detailed. Let’s look at a few famous examples that use concrete images to support an overarching goal or vision.
Gray language is the enemy. Imagine that you are a movie director. Choose images, and create scenes in the mind’s eye of the listener.
Different words also have different temperatures. It’s important to pitch your language at the appropriate level of intensity. How much voltage do you want to send through the wires? Saying, “He let me down,” is very different from saying, “He stabbed me in the back.” The difference will affect both you and your listener.
Notice the increasing degrees of intensity in the following three statements: (1) “I’m concerned about the budget.” (2) “I’m worried about the costs. (3) “I’m fearful that this will put us into bankruptcy.”
Match your word choice to your intentions. Choose the amount of heat you want your words to convey. Sometimes it’s important to be diplomatic; other times, you need to phrase things in the most direct or dramatic way. Do you mean to attract your listener’s attention, do you mean to alarm him, or do you mean to frighten him?
If a project didn’t turn out as you planned, saying, “We failed,” may kill the hope and optimism in the team. If you want to bring their attention to the fact, but not terrify them, you might want to put it this way: “We didn’t meet all of our goals.”
On the other hand, if you’re the head of the fire department, and your guys are in a building that’s about to explode, it’s not the time to say, “You gentlemen might want to consider being more expeditious in your exit strategy.” The phrase you’re looking for is “Get out now!”
When you are choosing your words, there is no choice that is always right or wrong. The only wrong choice is to fail to make a choice. Be intentional with your language.
THE FIRST IS FROM JOHN F. KENNEDY’S “MAN ON THE MOON” SPEECH IN 1961:
THE VISION
THE SPECIFIC, COMPELLING IMAGE
“to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny.”
“First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar space craft. We propose to develop alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed, until certain which is superior.”
NOTES
The vision is the overarching objective—here, freedom (and scientific knowledge). Notice that the man-on-the-moon image is supporting evidence for that broader vision (which is actually, in the context of this speech, to defeat the Soviet Union in the hearts and minds of the world).
And notice the specifics in Kennedy’s image—landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth ... alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters!
Imagine this same speech with business jargon: “No single space project in this period will do more to maximize the value proposition for the American stakeholder ...”
HERE’S ANOTHER ONE YOU KNOW: CHURCHILL’S SPEECH TO BRITISH PARLIAMENT IN 1940:
THE VISION
THE SPECIFIC, COMPELLING IMAGE
“we shall not flag or fail” [i.e., we’re going to win this war].
“... 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.”
NOTES
Notice the list of clear and simple nouns: beaches, grounds, fields, streets, hills. Four of the five are single-syllable words: clear, forceful, concrete.
Here’s how it might sound in business-speak: “We need to come out of our silos and create new synergies with increased enthusiasm, while leveraging our existing aviation to its fullest extent. We’re going to fortify all of our existing resources to cover the territory, regardless of the investment. We will be continuing those efforts with the kind of commitment that we’ve always been known for, for as long as it takes to be successful. I’m absolutely confident that this team can achieve those kinds of results, and I look forward to our continued success in the future.”
AND FINALLY, FROM MARTIN LUTHER KING’S FAMOUS 1963 SPEECH:
THE VISION
THE SPECIFIC, COMPELLING IMAGE
“that all men—yes, black men as well as white men—would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
“I have a dream that one day, on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
NOTES
Again, specifics: red hills of Georgia ... table of brotherhood ... sweltering heat ... four little children. These are concrete pictures that are immediately clear in our minds.
For a reminder of just how vivid King’s images are—and, by contrast, how bland and uninspiring corporate jargon can be—try putting King’s ideas into business clic
hés: “Going forward, we need to think out of the box to find a scalable solution to racial inequality. We need an impactful solution that will break down silos between black and white people ...”
REFRAIN
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: one of your biggest challenges as a speaker is that your listeners will immediately forget 90 percent of what you say. So what’s a speaker to do?
To help solve this problem, we turn to the group of people who create memorable word patterns better than anyone else—songwriters. Ever notice when you leave the theater after a good musical, everyone is humming the same tune? That’s no accident. In any given song, there is a chorus, or refrain. The refrain is repeated, not just once, but many times through the song. If it’s compelling enough, it will stick in your head for years—or forever. Think, “. . . and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.” Very few people know all the words to that Led Zeppelin classic, but almost all of us can all hum the refrain.
There is a sense of inevitability about a great refrain—a way in which you can hear it coming. When it arrives, there is an uncontrollable impulse to sing along, because everything has been building up to it. The lyrics all lead to the chorus, giving a sense of satisfaction and closure.
Like a good song, any good speech will have one memorable “red thread” that weaves through it. Powerful political campaigns and speeches nearly always feature a refrain of some kind. Think Obama and “Yes we can.” Or Ronald Reagan’s famous “Tear down this wall” speech. John F. Kennedy’s speech in West Berlin on June 26, 1963, was a classic example of the powerful use of refrain:
There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass’ sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.
One of the most famous uses of refrain comes from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, in which he repeats the phrase no fewer than nine times. He ends the speech this way: (Note that there are actually two additional repeated elements in the finish, on top of the original “I have a dream” refrain!)
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
These are all pretty lofty and poetic examples of the use of refrain. But a refrain can be simple and pragmatic as well: “And that’s why we need to move quickly.” Or “We all need to work together.” Or “. . . because we know that you’ll make the right decision.”
Although the use of a refrain has the effect of a sophisticated rhetorical tool, it’s actually quite simple: pick an element and repeat it. Keep returning to it. Anytime you repeat something, you create a pattern, and the brain loves patterns. Coming back to something familiar helps you regroup, and ensures that everything relates back to your central point. Using a refrain can also help you build your argument, by pulling the content forward.
What should you use as a refrain? More good news—you’ve already done the hard work of finding your refrain, when you clarified your point. When you repeat your point more than once, it becomes your refrain.
Three years ago this team suffered massive cuts. We had no training, and we faced huge challenges. We overcame them. Six months ago, people were leaving, we had a lot of chaos, people didn’t know to whom they were reporting. We faced those challenges, and we overcame them. Now our fiercest competitor has created a beachhead in a territory that has always been ours. Once again, we are facing enormous challenges. And once again, we will overcome them.
Using a refrain in this way not only organizes the information for the listener, but also for the speaker. In a prepared speech, you can carefully choose the spots where you return to your refrain. But in an improvised talk, a refrain is even more useful; it becomes a great springboard for the speaker. Whenever you find yourself beginning to lose momentum, you can return to your refrain like a touchstone. It will reorganize your thoughts, and send you out again with a fresh bounce, while helping you to stay on point. “I opened by saying that everything we’ve done has prepared us for this moment [refrain]. So, what does that mean when it comes to new products?”
Q&A
No matter how good your speech is, it is during the question and answer period that people find out what you’re made of. Listeners make key decisions about you and your material, by seeing how you think and relate in the moment; they want to watch the way your mind works. It is through dialogue that people develop a greater level of trust, rapport, and clarity. It is also during the Q&A that you demonstrate your real ability to respond to the listeners’ needs and create a bond. Most speakers dread Q&As, and simply hope that the audience won’t ask too many difficult questions. We suggest that you welcome the opportunity to interact with your listeners.
Don’t try to dodge the uncomfortable issues. Answer the unanswered questions early in the presentation. If last year the program cost you $25,000, and everyone in the committee knows that this year it’s going to cost $35,000, everyone will be preoccupied until you’ve addressed this issue.
The key to success in a Q&A is in the preparation. Failing to prepare for Q&A is like spending months getting ready to run a marathon, and then forgetting your shoes on the day of the race. Here are some techniques to help you prepare for and master the Q&A process: Write down and answer for yourself: (1) the ten questions they are most likely to ask; (2) the ten questions you most dread. Rehearse your answers with other people who can give you feedback. Remember the Horror Scenario we described back in the Architecture section, where there were no questions during Q&A, and you ended up slinking offstage, feeling like a fool? Well, here’s a technique that will prevent this from ever happening to you: if there are no questions, ask yourself a question that you have prepared ahead of time. Pause for a beat or two, and say something like, “One question that you might have is . ,” or “Something I’m often asked is . ,” or “You might be wondering . ” Then answer your own question. This breaks the awkwardness of the moment, and will often serve to prime the pump, so that listeners begin to ask their own questions. If they don’t, you can proceed gracefully on to your dessert.
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MASTER TIP: If there are no questions, ask yourself one that you have prepared ahead of time. Then answer it.
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In a formal event, repeat your prepared question out loud before you answer it. This accomplishes several things:
1. It ensures that you heard it properly. There’s nothing worse than spending five minutes answering a question, only to hear the listener say, “That’s not what I asked.”
2. It enables everyone in the room to hear the question.
3. It buys you a precious two or three extra seconds—and that’s all the time your brain needs to formulate your answer.
In a less formal environment, where it might seem odd to repeat the question, embed the question in the answer. This means that you repeat part of the question as you answer it. For example, if the question is, “What are you hearing from our customers?” you answer: “What we’re hearing is that customers are hungry for something new. They’re saying, ‘When is the new
version going to appear?’ and they’re getting antsy.” When you embed, you accomplish the following things:
1. You restate the question so that everyone can hear it, without sounding too stuffy.
2. You ensure that you heard the question properly.
3. Most important, embedding forces you to respond to the listener in their own preferred brain language: visual, auditory, feeling/sensory, or logical/numbers. 8
Everyone has their own preferred “brain language,” or modality. Some people are visual; they will say, “How does this look to you?” Others tend to be auditory. They might say, “It sounds to me as though . ” Digital brain types use numbers: “This happens in 37 percent of the cases.” And feeling/sensory speakers will say something like, “I just feel that we’re off track here.” If someone asks you, “How do you see this happening?” (visual) and you respond, “Well, it feels to me as though we have a rough road ahead” (feeling/sensory), there will be a disconnect in the conversation. They’ve asked the question in one brain language, or modality, and you’ve answered in another. This immediately disrupts your connection with the listener. Like a sax player entering a group improvisation in the wrong key, it will jar the harmony of the communication.
Embedding prevents this from happening, by ensuring that you answer in the modality of the questioner. For example, if he asks, “What’s your feeling on how things are going?” (feeling/sensory) you answer, “My feeling is . ” By using his modality, you ensure rapport. This will make the listener feel heard, understood, and satisfied at a deep level. Embedding the question guarantees that you are playing in the key of the other person.