Usually, what people remember from a communication is different from what was intended.
Which is why leaders need to be deliberate in every engagement. No room for ambiguity.
If what you want to speak about is not yet clear to you, defer speaking on it. There is no medal for having an answer or an opinion on all questions asked.
I have been in discussions where I hear people speak about something so different from what a leader shared, that we might as well have attended two different meetings. Usually, when I probe further, it is because of needless use of innuendo where clarity is all that was required.
As a leader, people expect you to have given everything you say deep thought. They believe your words are your convictions, and that action will follow accordingly. So it goes without saying that you shouldn’t share what you don’t expect people to act on, even when you do it with a caveat emptor.
– Osasu Oviawe
