Leading Through Language

3 ASSUMPTION-DRIVEN JARGON

In the early 2000s, my team and I were delivering a Speaking as a Leader workshop to a group of senior bankers who collectively ran a large personal and commercial banking business unit. Prior to the workshop, we had met with the sponsoring executive to discuss the presentations that each of the eight participants would be preparing using the communications methodology we would teach in the workshop. This approach would show them how to move from “information to inspiration” and deliver a message that would engage and inspire their audience.

The executive told us that this was an ideal opportunity for each member of his senior team to prepare a presentation that would elaborate on how the company's new globalization strategy would enable them to drive profitable growth.

When the workshop got underway, the participants expressed excitement about the exercise. They spoke about their passion for the globalization strategy, their collective commitment to it, and the sense of unity they shared in “going global” after years of being locally focused. At the end of the first day participants worked on the outlines for their presentations, which they were to present the next day to their colleagues – and to their boss.

The team didn't know it yet, but they were all operating under a common, but mistaken assumption: that they had a common definition of the word “globalization.”

The next morning, the presentations began. First up was Geoffrey,¹ a passionate ...