In today’s Huffington Post, there is a great article about the verbal cues that give away an executive who is lying. According to a study done by Stanford University, executives who use general phrases like “the team” or “our corporation” tend to lie more often than executives who use more personal pronouns like “we” and “I”. In addition, exaggeration tends to be a key linguistic component of lying. According to the study, the former CFO of Lehman Brothers used the word “great” 14 times and “strong” 24 times while describing the firm’s performance during a conference call. The firm collapsed months later.
What type of language do you use when presenting? Do you keep it personal and use “I” statements? How have you seen language erode or increase credibility?
Jeffrey Davis is the owner of Speak Clear Communications. He is an executive public speaking coach and accent reduction coach in New York City.
Tags: executive coach, interview coach manhattan, interview coach new york city, presentation coach, presentation training, public speaking coach manhattan, public speaking coach new york city, public speaking lessons, public speaking tips, speech coach, speech lessons, voice coach