[July 23, 2016] Yes, words have consequences and especially when spoken by senior leaders. Leaders have been known to make terrible choices of their words and then, unexpectedly, become more resolute when confronted. All of us have chosen poorly but rarely are word choices so important than when we are a leader.
Knowing what to say, when to say it, and how to say it is the crux to ensuring a leader communicates well. The demand for good leadership has never been as necessary now as the world continues to slide slowly into greater acts of terrorism, social upheaval, and polarization than has been seen in several decades. Good leadership will help navigate the treacherous waters of such problems.
Words have consequences. And it’s not just the words themselves but the meaning behind those words and the way they are spoken. We’ve all witnessed leaders making perfunctory and sometimes careless statements and in doing so they can create greater problems. When U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson pledged in early 1950 to defend all territory within its “defensive perimeter,” he left out South Korea. Six months later the North Korea invaded South Korea.
Words have power. In a much highlighted speech, U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton talked about clean energy and how “we’re gonna put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”1 Although there has been no official policy change, we are starting to see this very thing happen. Bureaucrats in the U.S. Department of Energy have implemented rules and regulations that make coal mining more difficult and costly.
Words can be deadly. We are reminded of the assassination of five Dallas police officers and wounding of six others just this past week. A spike in police shootings began with the killing of two Brooklyn, New York officers in December 2014. Each of these incidents, and others, came on the heels of senior political leaders’ poisonous, anti-police rhetoric that made the targeting of police officers socially justifiable.
Good leadership is hard to get because it’s hard to develop. It takes the right person who has grown intellectually in high-demanding positions of authority. This is much more difficult today in a zero-defect world. No surprise that senior mentors, those who help guide senior leaders, are in such demand. They’ve been there, done that. Their advice is crucial to any leader and makes a profound difference when they coach leaders on how to better communicate.
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