Shadowing Practice: How To Speak Like A Billion-Dollar CEO - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I've sat in boardrooms where billion-dollar decisions are made, and I've watched the leaders gain instant respect in two sentences and lose all credibility in one.
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These are the five communication skills the 1% elite use to sound like the most powerful person in the room.
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And number five, that's the one that changes everything.
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Skill number one is a tough one.
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Most people think explaining every detail makes them sound smarter.
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I was in a board meeting where the CFO loaded up
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a 60 slide deck to talk about companies' financial plans next year.
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And I asked him one question.
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What do you think the margins will be next year because of the new product launch?
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And he went into all kinds of details.
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Scenarios and product fit and product mix and market signals and internal rate of returns and caveats.
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And after he was done, I turned to the CEO.
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And I asked her the same question and she thought for a second
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and the answer just three lines Margins will be a third lower.
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We're investing in tech and marketing.
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One risk is the load on our services team But we'll have a backup done
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See the difference employees explain leaders make the call 70% of managers say that their meetings are unproductive or efficient.
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And I'm sure you've been to those two-hour meetings.
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Why?
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Because nobody makes the call.
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We think showing our work makes us look smarter.
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It doesn't.
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It makes us look lost.
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If you were to communicate like a CEO, you have to change that mindset.
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The point here isn't that you shouldn't focus on numbers, details, and execution matters in every role.
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That's not what I'm saying.
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But When it comes to communicating those results, the headline comes first.
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Here's one framework that you can use.
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I call it the 3A Pyramid Principle.
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Answer first, state your conclusion up front.
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Argument second, back it up with two or three reasons.
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Now categorize, summarize, keep it very short, keep it very tight, and add-ons last.
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Provide all the relevant details and data, but only when you're asked.
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If you're tempted to over explain, think of your answer as a tweet.
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Keep it very short.
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280 characters max.
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After the three A's, stop and just let silence do the work.
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If the room wants more, they will ask.
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Number two, most people do this all the time and it quietly kills their executive presence.
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The worst part, they don't even realize it.
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I was coaching a VP of product who was passed over by the board for a chief product officer position.
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He was very smart and strategic and he was confused.
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And so he asked me and I asked the board about how they had thought about him.
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The feedback I got from them was that the VP had lacked conviction in his vision.
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I knew the VP and I knew that he definitely had conviction.
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He believed in the roadmap that he was building.
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I told him to deliver a presentation, the same roadmap presentation that he had delivered to the board.
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And then he started delivering and there it was in plain sight.
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He spoke in hedges.
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I think we should maybe try this.
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We might possibly consider that.
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His competence was drowning under a flood of filler words.
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Research shows that hesitant language makes an audience view you as less credible.
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Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, well, to be honest, I kind of have this dream.
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It would have never worked.
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His clarity gave his words the power he needed.
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We unfortunately live in a world where promotions go to the person who sounds like a leader,
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not necessarily the one who's right for the role.
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Without clarity and authority, your teams will hesitate about you.
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Investors will worry about you.
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And customers, well, they'll just ignore you.
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So here's how you grow your authority.
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First, invest in it.
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Invest time to develop it.
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How?
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Prep like a pro.
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Every golfer, every rock star, every politician rehearses before stepping on stage.
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Why shouldn't you?
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Second, record yourself.
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Count every I think, um, maybe, to be honest.
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Analyze why and when that happens.
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Third, do a filler detox.
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Pick one hedge and eliminate it just for a week and then move on to the next one.
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And here's an extra step.
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swap hedges for silence.
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Not sure what you're going to say?
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That's okay.
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Take a beat.
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Pause.
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Silence actually builds authority.
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Even when you are answering a question, think for three or four seconds.
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Construct the answer and then speak.
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And more importantly, it'll make you become more thoughtful.
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Number three, the fastest way to lose a room isn't saying the wrong thing, it's looking like you don't even believe yourself.
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A long time ago I was giving a presentation
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and I was sitting on a chair
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and there were a lot of senior execs around me and I thought I was doing well.
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I thought I was pretty much on point.
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The presentation ended and afterwards I asked my boss for feedback.
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I said, how do you think I did?
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And he said, you know your ideas were very strong but you looked nervous as hell.
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And I was surprised and I said, what do you mean?
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And he said, well you were nodding like a bobblehead, bouncing your leg, fidgeting with a pencil,
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just looking at the presentation screen versus looking at the audience.
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Ouch.
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He was right.
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Because no matter how clear and solid your delivery is, research shows that more than half of people's perception about you comes from your body language.
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Princeton researchers found something even more astonishing, that people decide how competent you look in just 100 milliseconds.
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And you know, those split-second judgments have literally predicted election results.
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In 1960, Kennedy looked calm and composed on TV.
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And Nixon looked sweaty and shifty.
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Radio listeners thought Nixon won, but TV viewers gave it to Kennedy.
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In 1992, same thing happened.
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George H.W.
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Bush glanced at his watch during a debate.
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One tiny gesture that made the whole country feel he was disconnected, that he'd rather be somewhere else.
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And in 2000 election, Al Gore's size and eye rolls made him look arrogant, distant, while George W.
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Bush was relaxed.
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His posture was very cool.
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And it made him look like the guy people wanted to have beer with.
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So body language and leadership go hand in hand because body language can also win hearts and minds.
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That's why CEOs weaponize their posture, their pace, their pauses.
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Here's how you can emulate this in your own way.
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First, record yourself in your next meeting or presentation, or just do it in front of a camera.
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How do you sound?
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How do you look?
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You know, when I did it, I was so shocked and surprised to see all the nervous habits that I didn't even realize I had.
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Second, slow your pace down just by 15 to 20%.
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Pause after big points.
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Sit, walk, move with intentionality.
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Challenge yourself to go through a casual conversation without fidgeting and be totally present.
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And third, claim your space.
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Sit or stand comfortably.
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Use your physical presence to amplify what you're saying.
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Number four, facts pass through the brain.
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Stories go straight to the heart.
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I was talking to a senior executive who was the EVP at Hewlett-Packard.
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For 30 years, he told me this story.
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He was delivering a speech at a convention to thousands of people.
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Lots of data, lots of facts, lots of metrics, and he was reading the teleprompter.
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Carly Fiorina, who was the CEO of HP at that point, was standing in the wings.
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Their eyes met for a second, and the CEO smiled, and she shook her head and pointed to her heart.
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And the EVP immediately understood What she was saying was, don't just rely on facts or the prompter,
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tell a story that touches people's hearts.
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Speak from your heart.
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Think about Steve Jobs.
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He could have walked on stage and said,
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we build a hardware device for audio with five gigs of RAM for your MP3 content.
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He didn't.
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Instead he said, thousand songs in your pocket.
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20 years later, that's still what people remember.
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And this is not just about showmanship.
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Back in the 1960s, Stanford researchers ran a study.
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One group of students had to memorize random word lists.
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Another group got the same words, but wrapped in a story.
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The list group recalled only 13% of the words.
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The story group recalled 93%.
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Same words, different delivery.
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So if you rely only on facts, you risk becoming forgettable.
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So take these three steps to go from forgettable manager unforgettable leader.
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First, build your three core stories.
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One about a struggle and one about a turning point.
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These are your repeatable storylines.
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Second, translate for the room.
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Boards want to focus on strategy, team wants execution, customers want value.
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Same story, three versions.
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Third, always anchor data in narrative.
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Don't just drop numbers, make them more relatable.
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Don't just say Niagara Falls unleashes 634,000 gallons of water every second.
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Make it relatable.
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That would be like emptying 1 billion bathtubs over the edge every single minute.
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Well, now you have brought it home.
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Stories can engage, inspire, even ignite entire movements.
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But here's an important question.
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Are they really about you or about others?
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Because only one of them will create real change.
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Number five, and this is the one everything else depends on.
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You can master clarity, confidence, presence, and storytelling, but your leadership will collapse
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if you can't turn every win into a we and every loss into a me.
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I learned a tough lesson years ago in one of the most tender and wonderful moments of my career.
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I was leaving the company where I had served as an SVP and I was going to another company where
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they had recruited me to my first C-level role.
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It was my last day and I sat down with one of my VPs.
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I asked him, what should I do differently in my next role?
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And he paused for a second because no one had asked him that question.
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And then suddenly tears started rolling down his face and his voice cracked a little.
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And he said, you're going to be a great leader.
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I just wish you had invested more time in me.
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That just broke me because he was right.
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I realized that I had been showing off more than showing up.
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I gave him a hug and said, I'll never forget what you've said.
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So Jason, if you ever see this, I still remember what you said and I hope I have made you proud.
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That's the hardest adjustment in leadership.
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It's not about you.
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The best CEOs turn the spotlight away.
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Amateurs say, I did this.
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Leaders say, we're doing this.
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And when it fails, that's on me.
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A Gallup study found that when people receive high quality recognition,
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they are four times as likely to be engaged and more than 50% less likely to leave.
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President Truman put it best.
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It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
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That is the unwritten contract of leadership.
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When you absorb blame, you build trust.
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And trust is the one thing that matters the most at the top.
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When your team trusts you, they will move faster and rally when things get hard.
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And when they don't, any crisis can take you down in a day.
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And that's exactly what happened to the CEO of Lehman Brothers.
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When his company collapsed in 2008, he blamed hedge funds and regulators and the markets, anyone but himself.
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He became the face of arrogance and failure, and his reputation never recovered.
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From today, flip the switch.
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Stop trying to be the most interesting person in the room.
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Be the most interested person in others.
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This week, flip another switch, the credit blame switch.
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In your next meeting, when something goes right, name names.
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Michelle, you crushed it.
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At least once a week, call out someone on your team publicly for their contributions.
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Keep it specific, authentic, and tied to impact.
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And this month, practice the ACE framework to give negative feedback effectively to others.
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Acknowledge the effort.
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Clarify the issue with precision.
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Expand the path forward with support.
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That will help you focus on others.
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Speaking like a CEO is not just about precise words or polished presence.
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It's about making everyone else believe they are succeeding.
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That builds trust.
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And trust communicates way more than any communication technique.
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If you liked this video, don't forget to subscribe and check out my recent video on how to progress faster than anyone else.
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thank you and I love you
About This Lesson
In this lesson, learners will focus on developing essential communication skills used by successful leaders, particularly billion-dollar CEOs. By analyzing standout moments from boardroom discussions, you will practice how to convey ideas clearly and concisely. Students will explore the importance of prioritizing the main message instead of getting lost in minute details, enhancing their ability to captivate and engage an audience. Through this understanding, learners can improve their English pronunciation and become more effective communicators.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Executive presence: The ability to inspire confidence in others through one's demeanor and communication.
- Conviction: A firmly held belief or opinion, essential for persuasive communication.
- Pyramid principle: A framework for structuring communication by stating conclusions up front.
- Hedges: Words or phrases that weaken statements, often resulting in a lack of confidence.
- Marginal changes: Small adjustments that can significantly impact outcomes.
- Concise: Expressing something in a few words; brief yet comprehensive.
- Silence: The absence of speech, which can sometimes enhance a message's impact.
Practice Tips
To effectively employ the techniques outlined in this lesson, consider shadowing the video transcript provided. Here are some specific tips to bolster your practice:
- Shadow speech: Listen closely to the pacing and intonation of the speaker. Try to mirror their rhythm and emphasis, even if it feels a bit unnatural at first.
- Focus on clarity: Pay attention to how the speaker presents their main points and conclusions. When shadowing, prioritize clear articulation of your thoughts, just as a CEO would.
- Use a shadowing app: Record yourself mimicking the speaker. This will help you identify areas where your pronunciation can improve and highlight how effectively you convey confidence through your tone.
- Practice silence: After delivering a point while shadow speaking, pause for a moment. Embracing silence can enhance your presence and encourages others to engage.
- Limit your words: Challenge yourself to summarize key ideas in as few words as possible. Aiming for brevity can help improve your English pronunciation and overall communication effectiveness.
By integrating these strategies into your shadowing practice, you will not only enhance your speaking abilities but also learn how to communicate like a powerful leader.
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.