If you are a lover of the Harry Potter series, you will have heard of parseltongue. The language of serpents. A Parselmouth is anyone able to speak parseltongue.
If you don’t have a clue what I am talking about, you are reading this and feeling at least a little uncomfortable. Relax, it is all make-believe.
However, don’t relax for too long because your influencing skills might be hampered by how you are providing your advice. Why? Because finance, HR, IT, procurement, risk and many other functions have been hijacked by well-meaning technical specialists. So technical, so smart, that they created so many technical requirements, surrounded by technical jargon, that it becomes parseltongue to business leaders. That is, completely indecipherable.
Because of the damage done, many senior leaders desperately avoid conversations with support function technocrats. Despite their advice being sometimes vitally important.
So grab that report or have a think about your last conversation and decide for yourself. Were you speaking in parseltongue or were you speaking in their language?
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Bryan's new book teaches you practical methods to cut through with your advice and make the impact you want to make. Available on Amazon or order here now.
YOUR DECISIONS DEFINE YOU.
Available on Amazon or order here now.
Bryan Whitefield works with strategic leaders across all sectors to help organisations harness uncertainty – uncertainty is the strategic leader’s best friend. He is the author of DECIDE: How to Manage the Risk in Your Decision Making and Winning Conversations: How to turn red tape into blue ribbon. He is the designer of the Risk Culture: Build Your Tribe of Advocates Program for support functions and the Persuasive Adviser Program for internal advisers. Both can be booked individually or in-house. For more information about Bryan, please click here.
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