Lead Positive: What Highly Effective Leaders See, Say, and Do

7

Say It with Sizzle

While the substance of what you say may be your credibility card, it is the sizzle of your words that makes them stick. When you say it with sizzle, you are engaging the hearts and minds of your audience, inviting them to feel and invest in your message. In short, the sizzle is your leadership story.

I have been researching the motivational value of saying it with sizzle for the past twenty years. One of the major tools I've found is telling rich stories of lessons learned, defeats suffered, and victories won. I was fortunate enough to witness the power of strong storytelling when DuPont's senior vice president of integrated operations, Gary Spitzer, whom we first met in chapter 2, used the story of Secretariat winning the ...