CHAPTER 11

Declarations Create Possibilities

“We’re going to make history together today.”

That’s what Steve Jobs said when he first took the stage at the Macworld 2007 event I described in Chapter 1. That one simple statement changed the energy in the room. He piqued excitement. Imagine if he’d begun as many speeches do: “I’d like to share some exciting updates with you about the company.” Not quite the same effect, is it?

Language holds power. When it’s filled with confidence and passion, and backed by our authentic presence, it can transform us. Remember in Chapter 2 when you practiced slumping in your chair, a negative posture, while speaking words that were genuinely positive? You felt the impact in your body and in your mood.

Declarations are powerful. It’s tough to inspire by playing small.

In this final part of I-Presence, we are covering how to inspire with your presence, whether through a vision, a process of change, or your daily communications. Your presence is conveyed by the way you communicate in total. Part of that is through the words you choose. This chapter delves into the realm of language. In essence, inspiring through language is about painting a picture of what the future could be. It includes the use of declarations, exactly as Steve Jobs demonstrated with his “We’re going to make history” statement. Inspirational language steps us into a bigger game. After all, it’s tough to inspire by playing small.

For some of you reading this chapter, this type of bold communication won’t feel like your style at all. And yes, authenticity is still the goal of this book. I suggest that you suspend any initial reactions and let the ideas marinate. Being declarative involves both style and mind-set. Declarations can force us out of our comfort zone. As we learned in Chapter 9, our brain chemistry automatically resists uncertainty, even when the end result can be exceedingly positive.

In this chapter and the next, I’ll highlight the best communications practices of leaders that anyone can emulate, regardless of industry or position. Declarations are our starting point. These ideas aren’t difficult to grasp and buy into. Finding what methods work for you and putting them into practice is usually the harder part. As you’ve done throughout the book, take what works for you and try it out. You don’t need to do everything, or to do it all one way. As you read on, you’ll discover that there are many ways to inspire.

Declarations Broken Down

What makes a declaration so powerful? In a way, it’s a public frame for our intentions. Declarations create and clarify vision for others and ourselves. They help to define that all-important sense of purpose around our work.

A declaration is a promise of something more, of greatness. Declarations are made individually and shared. Declarations inspire followership.

Simply put, a declaration is stating, “I (or we) will do _____________.” The blank is all yours, and only yours, to fill in.

Declarations are compelling, ambitious, strong, direct, and enticingly risky. They show confidence in oneself and in the power of the collective. They force us to push ourselves and play on a bigger stage. They provide a rallying point that brings a group together.

Declarations are all around us. You can find them in social movements and political campaigns. The civil rights movement declared “We shall overcome.” Think of the 2008 Obama campaign’s “Yes, we can,” or the implicit declaration in Reagan’s 1984 slogan “It’s morning again in America.” Declarations open up possibilities. They change our viewpoint. John F. Kennedy proclaimed in 1962 in his speech at Rice University that the United States would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Kennedy’s bold claim precipitated a cascade of new thoughts and actions. Ultimately, the goal was realized.

We have many examples of compelling declarations from American leaders or billionaire entrepreneurs. We expect them and gladly accept them from larger-than-life personalities. But similar to vision, declarations aren’t the strict purview of futurists or iconoclasts. We all can incorporate declarative statements in our communications when we want to put a stake in the ground, create change, or get noticed. Declarations can be grand and idealistic, such as “We’ll make history.” They can be specific and measurable, such as “We will surpass our fourth quarter goal by 10 percent.” Declarations can be personal (“I will write a book this year”) or group-oriented (“We will out-market our competitor”).

Declarations are compelling, ambitious, strong, direct, and enticingly risky.

The content is secondary. The belief and commitment are primary.

Declarations are a personal communications tool that everyone reading this book can use today. It doesn’t matter where you are on the path of leadership. In fact, you could argue, declarations make leaders. People who boldly put themselves out there are more interesting, memorable, and charismatic. They exude presence. We admire their pluck and daring. We orient ourselves differently around them.

I believe that declarations are the most effective and underused communications tool in companies today. Many studies have shown that worker satisfaction is tied to the feeling of being part of something larger than oneself. It is that sense of purpose that creates drive, as outlined by author Daniel Pink. Spend even a small amount of time in corporations and you can see that we are in dire need of leaders to chart the way.

“I Don’t Do Risky,” and Other Excuses

Inevitably, when I bring up declarations in a workshop, people are squirming in their seats, bursting to tell me why this is a crazy idea. They are uncomfortable making bold proclamations—out loud—that they might not be able to live up to. They worry about losing credibility. They live their life by the motto that it’s better to under-promise and overdeliver. They play it safe.

I am not advocating making fanciful declarations that you can’t possibly meet. I’m suggesting that declarations have a pivotal role in pushing others and ourselves toward larger objectives that are just within our grasp if we strive. Declarations are about inspiring others, using our personal influence, and showing confidence in our own abilities.

We live in a world where the de facto standard is a workplace of masterful hedgers. (The cultural expression “CYA” emerged for a reason.) We walk around hedging our bets and making watered-down declarations all the time. It’s neither interesting nor inspiring. And it’s a missed opportunity to be more.

We walk around hedging our bets and making watered-down declarations all the time.

Consider these common workplace statements. What are your reactions to them?

When you see the statements side by side, the difference is abundantly clear. You can’t get very excited about a statement filled with caveats. On the other hand, the declarations help you envision the goal.

When I videotape leaders in my coaching sessions, the power of language and how it is used hits home. When they see themselves littering key statements with “I think” or “I might,” they realize how much of their own influence they are leaving on the table. Just making the tweak to “I will” or even “I plan to” completely changes the tone of their discourse. Suddenly, they’re not just informing but inspiring.

It’s Okay to Fail, but Not to Hide

In Chapter 6, I talked about how failure can deepen trust if it is confronted and used to improve. I want to expand upon that thought. Declarations do involve risk. It’s a fact that if you make a commitment you might not meet it. You have a zero percent chance at failing at something you don’t try. Yes, you might fail. People do it all the time. You don’t lose your credibility from failure itself but from how you handle the failure. You can fail; you just can’t hide.

You don’t lose your credibility from failure but from how you handle it.

Consider this common workplace scenario: Your company rolls out a new initiative with a daring claim. Perhaps the CEO herself states that the company will achieve said goal. Months go by with no further word on the initiative. Eventually, the rank and file begins to wonder what happened. Easy answer: The goal wasn’t met, the company got distracted, and leadership hoped the issue would blow over. The CEO is embarrassed to discuss the failed initiative. But by now she’s on to other things—and she hopes everyone else is, too.

In fact, of course everyone remembers! And credibility is damaged. More important, an opportunity to inspire achievement has been wasted.

Humans understand failure. We give permission to our leaders to fail. As we discussed in Chapter 6, hearing how other people struggle actually helps us connect with them. We simply expect accountability. Imagine the difference if instead of hiding, the CEO had stood up to say, “We didn’t meet our goal. Here’s what I could have done better. Here’s what the company could have done better. Here’s how we are adjusting the goal with this new information to ensure success next time.”

This narrative plays out repeatedly in politics, too. Candidates make big campaign promises that are watered down in the legislative process. “No new taxes” is a common one. Then inevitably, Congress passes some form of a tax, even if it’s not an income tax increase. At that point, the politician has an opportunity to increase or erode his trust level with constituents. If he backpedals on his campaign promise—“Well, I never said no taxes. What I meant was no new income tax”—then his followers lose faith in him. However, if he stands up and says, “I did make that promise, and it was a personal mission of mine. When I saw the latest deficit numbers I had to make a tough decision that involved a form of a tax. Here’s why I believe it was the right thing to do for our district …,” voters may still be disappointed, but trust can be preserved and even built.

Here’s another point to consider. When we put declarations out in the world, even if we don’t meet them, we advance further than we would have otherwise. We learn more. And we put ourselves on a broader path.

Declarations are authentic when you believe in them and when you have the ability to make them happen.

Now, for those of you still squirming in your seats with discomfort, let’s acknowledge that there are people who get a reputation for making audacious claims they can never achieve. Our radar goes up around these people. We may get sucked in one time because we so want to believe in them, but we learn quickly. This kind of bombastic style is not authentic presence. Your declarations are authentic when you truly believe they are possible. They are credible when you have the capability to achieve them.

What’s Your Declaration?

We can all use more declarations in our lives. Why not start now? Take this opportunity to make a personal declaration. For inspiration, consider these questions:

• What would you like to achieve this year?

• What to-do item have you been carrying in your head and waiting for the right time to act on?

• What’s an audacious goal you can make for your life?

• What feels like a right next step for you?

• What could you commit to doing that would change everything?

When you’ve decided what your declaration will be, make it real by writing it down on paper.

I will commit to _________________________________________.

Now say it out loud. Take a moment to reflect on it. Does it seem risky? What’s at stake? What would hitting the goal feel like? Can you feel the excitement?

Finally, once you’ve settled on a declaration, consider how the world around you would benefit (or help you achieve it) if you communicated it. Whom would you share it with first? Perhaps start with friends and family, and then move on to your workplace. Or tell your boss what you’re doing. Leaders may want to make the declaration first to their immediate team and then to the overall company. Once you get going, you’ll find that the declaration feels more and more right, and sharing comes naturally. Outwardly communicating your declaration can bring buy-in and support. And as an added bonus, what gets shared is far more likely to be achieved.

Here’s a personal experience where I was reminded of the power of declarations. Let’s go back to 2003, when I was in the thick of running my PR firm. The market was slowly stabilizing from the technology recession and we were beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. It was still tough going for those of us selling marketing services. That’s not where companies invest first. Maintaining our staff and our competitive position while we waited for the market to come back took everything my partner and I had. We diversified our services and entered new markets while servicing clients and selling like crazy. And in the middle of all of that, I had my first child.

As every mother and father knows, the first year that you are a parent the universe does a seismic shift—which manifests itself acutely for working mothers. You feel like a different person walking through a world that hasn’t changed. You’re trying to balance this new, pressing, and daunting responsibility for another human life with external responsibilities such as work, paying bills, and—let’s face it—taking a shower and eating dinner. It’s amazing and wonderful. All the while, your internal dialogue is frequently about how on earth you’re going to pull this whole thing off.

For me, coming back to work after maternity leave presented a few challenges. First, neither my business partner nor I ever had a child before; in fact, only one other person in a company filled with women had children. I knew I was setting a precedent for how to balance it all. Several young women in the firm looking to their own future as working mothers remarked that they were watching me to see how it’s done. (No pressure or anything.) Second, my business partner and I had decided that when I returned from maternity leave, I would make business development my sole focus. No more client work for me; instead, just sales. So in sum, I was coming back to a brand-new job with hard-to-reach goals that justified my existence. And everyone was watching.

I was excited, but anxious. I didn’t know how to reconcile it all and meet my own expectations. I worried about failure. Fortunately, I was able to talk things over with my leadership coach, Clyde Northrop, group chair at Vistage International. Clyde gave it to me straight. He said I needed to put myself out there and be bold. He encouraged me to stretch out of the comfortable and announce an audacious sales goal to the whole company in our all-staff meeting. We had always had sales targets, but they had no teeth. He helped me craft the most specific, measurable stretch goal the company had ever proposed.

When I returned to the office in January 2004, I stood up and announced my new role, declaring what I would achieve: “I will bring in four new clients this quarter and exceed our year-over-year sales by 20 percent.” I willed myself to project it with confidence. And you can guess the rest of the story. I got rave reviews from our team about the session. We hit the goal, and that’s how I managed sales from that point forward.

Seek Out Opportunities to Inspire

Every day in your job you have opportunities to inspire others and to push yourself. Start looking for chances to make declarations. Times when you need to inspire change, increase performance, or generate new ideas are obvious places to start (not to mention when you need to give yourself a solid kick in the pants).

Be bold. Fear of failure shouldn’t deter you from making declarations to others or to yourself. As a friend once aptly put it: “Who wants to go sleepwalking through their life?”

If you’ve gotten this far in a book about presence, I’d say definitely not you.

Key Takeaways from Chapter 11

1. Language holds the power to transform others and ourselves. Declarations are bold statements of a promise of greatness. Declarations are both made individually and shared.

2. Anyone, at any level, can use more declarative language in communications. Leaders can use declarations to set a vision and inspire followership. Aspiring leaders can enhance their prospects for achieving success and getting noticed by using declarations.

3. Declarations can be idealistic, grand, individual, group-oriented, or measurable. The content is less important than the belief and commitment behind them.

4. One simple way to be more declarative in your daily work life is to stop hedging important statements with “I think” or “I might.” Instead say, “I will.”

5. Fear of failure shouldn’t stop you from making declarations. We don’t lose credibility from failure but from how we respond to failure. Furthermore, even if we don’t hit our goal, we’ll get a lot closer if we declare it.

Ideas I Want to Try from Chapter 11: