“Words as I speak or write them, make a path on which I walk.”
Diane Glancy
P
ersonal success relies largely on our ability to
communicate. What we say matters little compared to
how we say it, no matter what medium we use to convey
the words. To communicate with influence it is important that
we are able to use language that engages the hearts and minds
of our listeners. We can choose language that leaves people
cold and disinterested or we can choose language that engages
their hearts and their minds and that they find compelling.
The quality of language is one of the significant factors that
makes the difference between outstanding leaders and
influencers and those who would aspire to achieve their
standing but who do not ignite the hearts and minds of their
listeners in the same way. The richer our language, the richer
our internal experience and the richer the experience of those
with whom we engage.
One of the early discoveries in NLP was that skilled
communicators use language in a way that creates a climate of
trust and understanding. The difference that makes the
difference lies in the speaker's instinctive ability to adapt their
language to match the language of the person to whom they
are speaking. This way of building rapport through language is
explained in Chapter 16.
A study of powerful communicators also revealed that they
naturally use language that is rich in its use of all the senses.
For example: