Shadowing Practice: Employees Who Speak Like This Become Executives Fast - Learn English Speaking with Video
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174 sentences
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This is you.
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You have all the knowledge in your mind.
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Now you are presenting to people who in your mind,
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in your mind, they are senior and they potentially have more knowledge than you
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and they have some sort of authority or leverage over you.
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What do I mean?
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If you do a bad job, if you give a bad explanation, you are going to embarrass yourself in front of them.
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They will think you're not that smart.
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They will not trust you as much anymore.
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They decide your career, whether you get promoted, whether you get a pay raise.
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So you have a lot hanging in the air.
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So in your mind, what you start to do is you start to question yourself.
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why do you do this you're thinking I know my stuff
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but these people are more senior than me what
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if they know something that I don't know what
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if I think I know the right answer but
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when I say it it's actually not the right answer
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and I'm going to make a fool of myself
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so now in your mind what you're doing is you're trying to manage risk
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if I say something will I say the right thing
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Will they find out that it's not actually the right thing?
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What if I think this is the right thing, but it's not?
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So you're trying to, you're looking for some sort of safety in this situation.
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So you're scared.
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I think I know my stuff, but if I say it out loud, they don't like me.
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All of a sudden, they think I'm stupid and I might lose status.
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This fear of being wrong, this fear of people will find out that I don't actually know, it holds you back.
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So then you have the words, but all of a sudden when they come out, you start hedging the words like,
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yeah, so maybe we could try this.
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Like I had a little bit of a look on this thing and maybe, you know, one of the things we could try.
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Notice the language tends to soften.
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What I'm doing is I'm not committing to my words.
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So instead of saying, I've looked at the data.
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This is what we should do.
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This is me committing.
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I have looked at the data.
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This is what I think we should do.
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I have high conviction in what I'm saying.
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But if I had the same knowledge, but I'm afraid I might be wrong, then the words come out differently.
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Yeah, so maybe this is one thing we could consider.
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Of course, if you have other plans, that's okay.
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So I look into the data, and I'm thinking, what if we try to do it like this?
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Can you see the difference?
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So what am I trying to do?
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I'm trying to soften the impact of what I'm saying.
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Because if I don't, if I'm not committing to what I'm saying too much, then you might not think I'm stupid.
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You might think, oh, well, it was just an idea Yasser was sharing.
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He wasn't going all in on it.
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So even if he's wrong, whatever, it's okay.
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But if you go all in on the idea, all in on the thought, you say something with high conviction, and you tend to be wrong,
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then people will think, well, this was a terrible idea that Yasser came up with.
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We can't trust him for anything ever again.
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So that's why people don't commit when they speak.
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And when they don't commit, they hold back, they shrivel, and it doesn't come out with certainty, okay?
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So this is my first theory, that you are speaking to superiors, and you keep second -guessing that whatever you're saying might not be right,
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or these people are the judge of the information.
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They know better than me, so I just need to give enough information to appease them.
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Like, is this right?
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Is this right?
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Am I saying this the right way?
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You're trying to put out a fire before you even know there's a fire.
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A lot of us do this.
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When we go into a job interview, we're very defensive.
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When you go into a pitch, we're very defensive.
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So two things you can do about this.
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One is realize some things you know about more than the other people.
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They want you to speak because they weren't there.
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So if you were a project manager, you were leading a project, they want to know, hey, what's happening with this project?
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They have no knowledge of it.
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So they're relying on you.
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So take that as a privilege that, hey, they're asking for my opinion.
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I want to share that with them.
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Number two is you want to ask yourself, why does your mind believe that there is a risk in you opening your mouth?
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Now, this might very well be the case
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because maybe your boss is the type of person who you open your mouth
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and all of a sudden you say something to them and they don't like it and they publicly berate you.
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Now you're afraid of embarrassment so you don't open your mouth anymore.
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Maybe there's no psychological safety built in there.
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So maybe there's a real consequence of opening your mouth.
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For a lot of people, what also happens is this, talking to superiors, there's something called authority anxiety,
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which is you have an anxiety of people who are superior than you in the social hierarchy.
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So this could be your parents, this could be your teacher, this could be your boss.
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You're just afraid of disappointing people who have higher authority because if they don't like you,
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it might affect your place in society and you might not have a job, you might get fired, you might get embarrassed, right?
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For a lot of people, this develops early in their childhood.
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early in their childhood.
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So maybe your parents were, hey, do this, or I'm not going to love you,
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or get good grades, or you're not going to get my approval, whatever it might be.
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So now, as a kid, we have learned, I must bow down to my parents.
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I know for me, in my culture, your parents can never be wrong.
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Even if they are wrong, you cannot say it because it's you speaking up to authority.
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So your parents are always right.
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Your teachers are always right.
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Your boss is always right.
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Whoever's the eldest, most superior, they're always right.
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What does this train you to do?
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It trains you to always appease to superiors.
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So now whenever I'm opening my mouth, I'm second guessing it all the time.
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So superiors, ask yourself why this is happening.
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Why is it that you feel all frozen up and your conviction goes out the window, even though you know your material?
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And that's one reason.
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The second reason could be a more technical reason.
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This could be, maybe you have no fear of superiors.
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Maybe you have no issue around authority.
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Maybe it's the tone with which you say it.
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Maybe it's the tone with which you say it.
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It's simply, you just don't know what certainty sounds like.
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So, for example, if I said,
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I am wearing a black shirt today.
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let's say this is what i'm this is a sentence
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that i want to say
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if i were to say it with 100 conviction how would i say as
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if i know for a fact
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that my shirt is black i would say
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i am wearing a black shirt today did you sense any hesitation in my voice did you sense
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that i'm trying to appease you in any way did you sense that i'm scared about my opinion hopefully not
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I'm wearing a black shirt today.
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But what if I said, I'm wearing a black shirt today.
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I am wearing a black shirt today.
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Almost sounds like a question and I'm telling you something.
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So you can tell me if I said it right and I can say all the right things.
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But if I say it like this,
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then it sounds like I'm asking a question and I'm not sure myself and I want you to tell me.
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So can you see how the tone affects how much conviction you speak with?
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So number one, superiors.
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Number two, your tone.
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Do you sound like you believe in what you're saying?
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And number three, I'm just going to leave this last one in there.
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Your face.
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Now, you might think, what do you mean, Yasser?
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You want me to get plastic surgery just so I can have more conviction?
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Maybe.
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I don't know.
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No, don't do that.
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Your face, the face that you make can affect how much conviction you speak with.
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So for example, if I were to say, let's say the same phrase.
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If I were to say, I'm wearing a black shirt.
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If I just make my face, I give myself a giant grin before I speak like this.
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I look like a psychopath, but go with me.
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You're like this.
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And then I say, I am wearing a black shirt.
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Notice how the words just came out with high energy, with high excitement.
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If I look like this, I'm wearing a black shirt.
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Notice how I didn't purposely try to lower my volume.
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It just followed my face.
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Whatever my face did, my volume and my body followed.
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So for a lot of people, when they speak with conviction, if someone's asked, if they're asked a question,
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hey, tell me about this presentation or tell me about this project,
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And immediately, yeah, so they lead with the face so the other person can just read their face right away.
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All the conviction goes out the window.
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So one of the first things you want to do if you want to speak with high conviction is, this is very strange, don't move.
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Especially in a job interview, right?
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When you're asked a question, some people have this deer in headlights look where it looks like they were just shocked by the question.
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So I'm in a job interview and I'm just sitting and the interview asks, so why should we hire you opposed to the other five candidates?
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Well, you know, there's many reasons that you should, can you just see it on my face?
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How am I going to speak with conviction when I'm making that face?
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So the first thing you do is, why should we hire you?
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That's a good question.
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There are three reasons that I believe that I can do X, Y, Z.
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Notice how slow and controlled the movement is.
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I'm not frazzled by your question.
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So these are three things that you can look into that will affect the conviction with which you speak,
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your relationship with superiors and people of authority, the tone with which you speak, and the face you make when you're speaking.
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Aditya hope that answered your question.
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If you're in a leadership role and you struggle to speak up in meetings and presentations and be perceived as a leader, this is for you.
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Now, there's only so much you can learn watching a video, but if you are serious about transforming the way you speak,
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you should consider my online speaking classes.
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My team and I have coached more than 30 ,000 people at companies like JP Morgan, NASA, Google, Apple, you name it,
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and we help them speak with a confidence, clarity, and credibility of a CEO.
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Now, whether you struggle with rambling when you're speaking on the spot, or you freeze in front of a room,
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or you feel like you sound boring and people stop listening to you, these classes can transform the way you speak.
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Because knowing is not the same as doing.
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So if you are at all interested in changing the way you speak in a matter of days,
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click the link down below and check out my online classes.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Employees Who Speak Like This Become Executives Fast”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: speak, conviction, superior, shirt, wearing. This video has 174 sentences and 2013 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:57. The speaker talks fast, about 184 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| conviction noun | /kənˈvɪkʃən/ | A firmly held belief. |
| superior adjective | /sʊˈpɪɹ.i.ɚ/ | Higher in rank, status, or quality. |
| tone noun | /ˈtəʊn/ | A specific pitch. |
| commit verb | /kəˈmɪt/ | To give in trust; to put into charge or keeping; to entrust; to consign; used with to or formerly unto. |
| sudden adjective | /ˈsʌd.ən/ | Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly. |
| anxiety noun | /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/ | An unpleasant state of mental uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension and obsession or concern about some uncertain event. |
| hire verb | /ˈhaɪɹ/ | To obtain the services of in return for fixed payment. |
| defensive adjective | /dɪˈfɛn.sɪv/ | Intended for defence; protective. |
| presentation noun | /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/ | The act of presenting, or something presented. |
| freeze verb | /ˈfɹiːz/ | Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature. |
| scare verb | /skɛɚ/ | To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way. |
| transform verb | /tɹænsˈfɔɹm/ | To change greatly the appearance or form of. |
| certainty noun | /ˈsɝtn̩ti/ | The state of being certain. |
| shock noun | /ʃɔk/ | A sudden, heavy impact. |
| explanation noun | /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/ | The act or process of explaining. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| come out with verb | To say (something) unexpectedly. | |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. | |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. | |
| hold back verb | To act with reserve; to contain one's full measure or power. | |
| put out verb | To blind (eyes). |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What if I think this is the right thing, but it's not?
- Can you see the difference?
- Am I saying this the right way?
- What does this train you to do?
- Do you sound like you believe in what you're saying?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've looked · have looked · have learned |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who in · person who you · people who are |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | were just shocked · be perceived |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 73 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: conviction /kənˈvɪkʃən/, presentation /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/, shock /ʃɔk/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/
- Long words — get the stress right: superior /sʊˈpɪɹ.i.ɚ/, anxiety /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, psychological /ˌsaɪ.kəˈlɑː.d͡ʒɪ.kl̩/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like conviction, superior, tone.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.