Date: 8/28/2015

Title: LANGUAGE, TONE, & LEADERSHIP – Part 1

By Jennifer Erickson

Language and voice tone are so important to leadership. They are skills that we must observe in ourselves and finely hone. They are skills that set the stage for expectations of ourselves and others. And, language and voice tone can be “subconscious”.

In his book Blink, (Little Brown, 2005) Malcolm Gladwell talks about the power of thinking without thinking. Now, how can that be? We spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours trying to refine the way we think. We take classes; we read books; we practice mindfulness; we meditate; we work Sudoku puzzles.

Yet Gladwell says we make choices in an instant….in the blink of an eye. These decisions aren’t as simple as they seem. Some people seem to be excellent decision makers. In fact, these people are often sought out to help solve problems. We marvel at how these people seem to follow their instincts and are correct most of the time, with relative ease.

Gladwell talks about the idea of “thin-slicing”. This is our ability to gauge what is important from a narrow period of experience. In other words, spontaneous decisions can be just as good (or better) than those that are carefully considered. Thin-slicing means making quick decisions with minimal amounts of information. Thinking has always been a “conscious” act. Whenever something is conscious, it becomes drug out and longer to complete. There is research that contends after a certain period of time, a decision is no greater than one made in a few minutes.

To learn more about how to practice this understanding, contact Results Group, LLC at www.ResultsGroupLLC.com or 515-330-2866.