5 Rules to Talk Like an Executive

Now, whether or not you are aware of what your true struggles are, you're going to feel some things. Maybe you notice that you have a lot of fears when you are in front of higher ups, but you're okay when you speak to your direct reports. Maybe you notice that you have a lot of hesitation and loss of words to say when you're speaking in larger groups, but you're okay on one-on-ones. If you're noticing this, there's an inner struggle that you may not be fully conscious of. I'm Dr. Grace Lee and you're listening to the Career Revisionist Podcast for executives, team leaders, people and managers, and ambitious professionals from all backgrounds. It's for those among us who can't stay stagnant and admire anyone who demonstrates exponential growth. We challenge ourselves to step out of our comfort zone and into higher levels of leadership and we are determined to rise confidently in our industry so that we can make our greatest contribution using our knowledge and expertise. We have worked hard to become great at what we do, but only so we can achieve the goals that give our lives meaning and purpose. While we persevere through a college education to get us here with our technical skills, we understand that to get to the next level where we desire to be, it requires a different kind of skills. We're not comfortable with failure because we experience satisfaction when we are advancing. And while some of us work well under pressure, all of us perform the best when we are part of a winning team. And instead of just hoping to achieve what's important to us, we choose to become a more optimized version of ourselves to make it happen. We're not just A players, we are A+ players and we are the source of consistent output that makes positive advancements in the world around us. Communications is the highest level of value in the marketplace. Have you ever noticed that in the workplace, the ones who get promoted to the next level aren't necessarily the ones with more experience, but they are invariably the ones that communicate well. They speak well. They know how to talk and advocate for themselves and share their ideas. If you have been on the receiving end of it, you might have noticed that there have been co-workers and other members in your workplace that have been promoted that with less experience from you, then that is what you're noticing is that communication is the highest level of value. So in this video, what I want to share with you is five rules on how do you talk like an executive? Now, it doesn't matter whether or not you are an executive or you will become an executive. It doesn't matter where you are in terms of your career growth, but it wouldn't be important to understand that the principle here is communications. How do you effectively communicate your ideas? How do you effectively advocate for yourself and advocate for your teams? And more importantly, how do you articulate something that is abstract, something that maybe you have only an intuitive understanding of, but you can speak clearly just like an executive. The first rule to talk like an executive is to foster fair exchange. When it comes to the workplace, fair exchange is a very important concept. In any relationship you have in the workplace, whether it be to your manager, your skip level manager, your colleagues or your direct reports, there is a firmestats that individuals have with fair exchange. Every individual that you will work with will have a meter of wanting to achieve fair exchange in the things that are important to them if you think about it. Anytime you're in conversations with others and anytime someone else is speaking with you, you have a metric of you want to have a fair exchange in the things that are important to you. So the same thing is true when you're talking, you're audience members who are participating in the conversation, they desire to experience fair exchange in the things that are important to them. So the first step, the first rule in talking like an executive is how do we foster this fair exchange? If you are initiating the conversation, if you are bringing forward your idea and you are advocating for something that you believe in, the owner slides on you to create that fair exchange, to foster that fair exchange. And by the way, the concept of fair exchange is the most of the most important things in creating meaningful relationships. Meaningful relationships are those that have equity and fair exchange and this the only way that relationships are sustainable is when there is fastest, when there is fair exchange. So that is the first rule on talking like an executive is foster fair exchange. The second rule to talk like an executive is to focus on fiscal responsibility. Think about this a little bit more. What is an executive? What constitutes executive position? Executives have on their roles and responsibilities. They are accountable for making decisions that are fiscally responsible. Physically responsible means that the decisions they make, the conversations that they are part of, the ideas that they bring up, the investments that they have in their time and their energy and the budget of the company in that of course, fiscally responsible means that they bring about growth for the business as it pertains to the financial statements of the business. What is being fiscally responsible? Because every business exists so that they can grow and contribute to clients and and customers. Yes, it does. But the essence of a business is that there is growth when there is a durable competitive advantage in the marketplace that the business continues to have such durable competitive advantage in the marketplace, whether or not the business is public or privately traded. So if you want to be able to talk like an executive, it's important for you to understand what constitutes fiscal responsibility. How am I being fiscally responsible when I speak? How am I being fiscally responsible when I share my idea? How is my idea fiscally responsible? If I am good to bring up a recommendation, if I'm going to bring up a solution, if I want to create change in my department or in my function, is it fiscally responsible? Is my decision fiscally responsible? And therefore the onus is on you to be able to demonstrate how what you're sharing is fiscally responsible. To focus on that as rule number two on how to talk like an executive. The third rule on how to talk like an executive is to find your point of resilience. When you are speaking in your organization, whether it be to hire apps or your peers or whether or not you have a visible position, it would be wise to develop resilience. Without resilience, this is where you have a lot of volatility from within, emotional volatility, self-doubt, anxiety, maybe fear of public speaking or fear of criticism, all of these things creep up. And the list in very long, without resilience, those things show up as symptoms within our emotions and symptoms within our bodies and physiologies. So find your point of resilience. Your point of resilience is that point where you are genuinely centered and poised. And this is, by the way, a key ingredient to having executive presence. That's centeredness, being poised, being neutral and objective in what you are saying, being neutral and objection and living being convicted in the ideas that you're sharing as well. That is from the point of understanding. I believe in my mission. I know what my mission is and the contribution I'm making when I share what I'm about to share. I'm convicted in what I am believing now. They may not agree with me and they may not like what I have to say, but liking and agreeing is not a requirement. So when you're centered in your poised and you have your point of resilience, this is where you show up not to try to impress them, but you show up to impact speaking to impact, not to impress. And this is where you show up in the realization you have the self-governance inside of you. Success comes from the inside out. You are self-government to realize that I got nothing to hide. I got nothing to prove and I have nothing to fear. So this is your point of resilience. Find that point of resilience. And this will empower you and inspire you to talk like an executive. If you're listening to this and you realize that in your workplace maybe you've had an experience where someone less experienced got promoted instead of you and you know that you have a lot of potential to offer, a lot of value to offer as well. And you also recognize the importance of communication, the importance of speaking as an executive. And maybe you do desire to one day have that seat at the table or maybe you are an executive and you want to be honed and more honed at effective communications. And that's you then I invite you to work with me. Every single week I offer training, live training, tailored training on how do you communicate effectively? How do you communicate with prudence and diplomacy as well? Especially when you're inside of the room in an organization where your higher ups had very different perspectives. They come from very different backgrounds as well. But there's a lot of power in politics and organizations. How do you navigate that through your words? If you are serious about getting that kind of help then I invite you to look below this video the first link is for you to book a call with one of my very trusted career advisors. And this is where we're going to explore if it's the right fit to work together and if it is then I'm going to welcome you into my training and my mentorship as well, tailored towards your specific needs. And if that's the case I look forward to seeing you on the inside. The fourth rule to talk like an executive is to face your inner struggles, your inner struggles. Maybe you notice that you have a lot of fears when you are in front of higher ups but you're okay when you speak to your direct reports. Maybe you notice that you have a lot of hesitation and lots of words to say when you're speaking in larger groups but you're okay on one-on-ones. If you're noticing this there's an inner struggle that you may not be fully conscious of but it's important for you to face that inner struggle. Because if not that inner struggle will continue to hold you back to the potential that you know you can contribute. And communication is such a spiritual endeavor because communication involves language and language is a spiritual value. Language is contemplative, language is competitive, language is your ability to influence as well. That is the tool to effectively share your ideas and influence. So being able to manage your inner struggles means that you are balanced in poise what I shared with you earlier as well but more importantly that you're not finding yourself in a situation where it's fight or flight. Where you're fearful of criticism, fearful of what they think about you, scared of the feedback that you're going to get as well and maybe scared that you're going to reject your ideas. That is fighting or that you are not. in that fight or flight reactionary zone as well. So facing your inner struggles means that you understand and you're reflexively self-aware of what those inner struggles are, and then taking these steps to overcome them and to combat them once overall, so they don't continue to hold you back as maybe they have been. The last rule, rule number five on how to talk like an executive, is to floor-ish with ambiguity. And the reason why this is important is because as you move up the so-called corporate ladder, as you become promoted, as you become a senior executive, you're going to be making more and more decisions with less and less information. That's just the industry. That's just the field that you're going to be in. And as a result of that, there's greater and greater ambiguity. Well, think about it. You lead a team right now. There was a time where you did not lead a team, but as soon as you lead a team, there's more ambiguity to navigate. There's more ambiguity in terms of people's behaviors, how people react to your directions, right? Greater ambiguity in all areas of your career, in all areas of the processes that you manage at work. And so it would be important for you to flourish in ambiguity, not to wish it away, not to wish that things were easier, not to be in a fight or flight mode, but to be able to flourish in it and recognize that this is part and parcel of it. And one of the most important ways to flourish in it is to create certainty within yourself and for yourself and by yourself. Creating certainty means to find that point of resilience so we go back to the previous one.