I smiled when I read this, because my boss LITERALLY had this exact conversation with me yesterday. A hack I’ve found to help connect and get instant engagement is starting the conversation with: “Imagine if… “
I really like how the advice boils down to being specific, unless I'm mistaken.
Cross functional collaboration and other corporate jargon mean nothing but when you're spexific about not seeing the hard work recognized because of poor communication, that hits harder.
And it's more specific than the jargon.
Being specific also gives people a stake on the ground. It's saying "this is where we stand"
this is one of those pieces where the practical advice is dead on but I keep coming back to what sits underneath it.
the leaders I've seen who struggle with "being inspiring" usually don't have a communication problem. they have a clarity problem. the reason their language defaults to abstract buzzwords is because the actual strategy is abstract. when you genuinely know what you're solving for and why it matters, the concrete language shows up almost automatically.. you're just describing what's real.
curious whether you've seen that pattern too, where coaching someone on communication technique reveals the deeper issue is they haven't locked in what they actually believe yet.
Making someone ‘feel emotion’ is more than a thought exercise to prioritize your feature. It’s about understanding their goals and ambitions and how you do or don’t align. If they don’t align all hope is not lost but you need to undertake some discovery on where the misalignment is and shine a light on it before trying to find alignment. That’s the work.
Love this reframe. Inspiring in a workplace context is about clarity and follow-through, not big speeches. This is practical and useful.
I smiled when I read this, because my boss LITERALLY had this exact conversation with me yesterday. A hack I’ve found to help connect and get instant engagement is starting the conversation with: “Imagine if… “
I really like how the advice boils down to being specific, unless I'm mistaken.
Cross functional collaboration and other corporate jargon mean nothing but when you're spexific about not seeing the hard work recognized because of poor communication, that hits harder.
And it's more specific than the jargon.
Being specific also gives people a stake on the ground. It's saying "this is where we stand"
this is one of those pieces where the practical advice is dead on but I keep coming back to what sits underneath it.
the leaders I've seen who struggle with "being inspiring" usually don't have a communication problem. they have a clarity problem. the reason their language defaults to abstract buzzwords is because the actual strategy is abstract. when you genuinely know what you're solving for and why it matters, the concrete language shows up almost automatically.. you're just describing what's real.
curious whether you've seen that pattern too, where coaching someone on communication technique reveals the deeper issue is they haven't locked in what they actually believe yet.
Making someone ‘feel emotion’ is more than a thought exercise to prioritize your feature. It’s about understanding their goals and ambitions and how you do or don’t align. If they don’t align all hope is not lost but you need to undertake some discovery on where the misalignment is and shine a light on it before trying to find alignment. That’s the work.