A few words on speaking like the “duck” at work — and the latitude to make mistakes on route to your own effective ways of communicating conviction and competence.
KathleenReardon – click here for video excerpt
I mention in this segment speaking “like the duck,” which refers to talking like those above you and is from my book, It’s All Politics. There’s a time and place for speaking like the duck. You can’t do well at work if you sound too foreign to those deciding whether you should be promoted. Whether male or female, sometimes you need to sound somewhat like the duck. Does that mean adopting the entire language? No. More promising is crafting your own, adding duck-like aspects when suited to the task. High in priority is conveying competence and conviction when much is on the line. The latter may require working on tone, volume, intensity, gestures, eye-contact, emphasis on key aspects of an idea and learning to be concise. It’s a tall order at times, but over time, with observation of the “duck” and experimentation, it can become second nature.
(More video on politics and gender to come. For women in particular, my book They Don’t Get It, Do They? was re-released last week in Kindle form ($2.99) mainly because little has changed for women at work. Based on years of observing politics and communication patterns peculiar to work relationships between women and men, it focuses on the communication obstacles that hold us back, patterns (ones imposed on us and ones we create), unwanted repetitive episodes, land mines and traps, and what it takes to change them for the better)
Click here for They Don’t Get It, Do They?
