Lean Musings and other stuff...

speak

I vividly remember the times I found my voice for the setting I was in at the moment.

• Standing in front of 36 other cadets at Officer Basic Course in Fort Bragg, North Carolina the first day as platoon lead – gulp
• Chasing down my first Winn Dixie Manager into the Butcher Shop to sell a four case stacker of White Zinfandel – gulp and gross (the Butcher area of a grocery store is best kept a secret)
• Standing in front of my first general sales meeting in Houston, Texas supposedly with all the answers – gulp and who thought this was a good idea?
• Providing a project update on a global launch of a forecasting platform to the Board of Directors – gulp and I wonder if they know what an algorithm is?
• Sitting across the table from a senior leader as I decide to tell him he’s wrong and that I can’t support his decision – gulp and thank you senior leader if you’re reading for being patient

You probably have your own list. As a matter of fact, I know you do. What does your list say about your voice? Have you found it? When do you use it? Who do you tend to use it with? Are you any good at it?

One of the hardest things to watch is to watch someone who has the skill, experince, and intellect be unable to find their voice in a moment that desperately needs it.

Ideas are lost. Relationships damaged. Teams are misused or not used at all.

I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not even saying you won’t flame out in glorious fashion. What I am saying is that finding your voice is as much for you as it is for the people and teams you interact with every day. Commit to your craft, practice, keep refining how you speak, the tone, the speed, the word choice. You may never be selected as a key not speaker, but that’s not the goal.

The goal is to find the voice that will release all the ideas, questions, and thoughtful comments the rooms and people you are in and around need to hear.

Your voice.

Speak.