How To Talk Like A Leader

The way leaders communicate is a major factor of how they are perceived. A leader should speak with a style that captivates listeners and communicates points effectively.

Even people who aren’t in leadership positions can give good impressions if their speaking skills are strong. Speaking is the main way that people express themselves to others.

What determines good communication skills for a leader can vary depending on the situation (i.e. the audience, the environment, etc.). But there are many great techniques to help you talk like a leader.

Ways to speak like a leader

Here are ways to speak like a leader.

1. Project your voice just enough (not too loud or too quiet)

It’s that sweet zone you should look for. The point where your voice is the perfect volume so that you can be heard but not be annoyingly loud.

Of course this depends on the environment (i.e. a quiet setting, whether or not you are speaking into a microphone, how far you are from your listeners, etc.). But no matter what, there’s usually a sweet zone – it just may vary depending on circumstance.

A leader should be easy to hear but not so loud that they sound like they’re yelling. The perfect vocal volume makes you appear more like a leader.

Become more aware of how loudly you speak. Practice with someone who can tell you how loud your voice is.

2. Understand who you’re talking to and why

The environment you’re speaking in determines how you should be speaking. The words you use, the loudness of your voice, how you phrase certain points, and just about everything related to your speech should be informed by your surroundings.

For example, if you’re in an informal environment, there’s no need to use fancy words. On the other hand, if you’re presenting in a work meeting you may need to use a more professional approach.

Assess who you’re talking to and why you’re talking to them. Then formulate a suitable strategy. Adjust your strategy as necessary (i.e. some work meetings are formal and others not so much).

3. Read

Reading can help develop your vocabulary and ability to communicate. By reading you can learn effective ways to communicate points and become a better storyteller. Storytelling is a big part of speaking (even if you’re not technically telling a story).

Reading is an opportunity to learn new communication techniques. Pay close attention to how points are phrased. What (if any) words are new to you? Can you incorporate them into your vocabulary?

4. Practice speaking

Communication skills, like any other skill, can be improved with practice. Allocating time to build up your ability to speak like a leader can help speak more like one.

Try practicing in front of a mirror or maybe practice with someone you trust. Pretend you’re giving a speech, a presentation or conversing with someone. Practice all of these scenarios. A talented leader should be capable of effective communication in diverse situations.

Pay close attention to what you say and how you say it. Determine if there are areas of improvement you can focus on. If you practice with someone else, have them give you feedback so you can understand what would make them feel that you are more like a leader.

Practicing can help with fine-tuning your word retrieval skills, your phrasing and your body language. Make sure to leverage practicing time as an opportunity to improve each and every area of your communication skills. Don’t focus on only one area. Take on a multidimensional approach to practicing.

5. Enunciate

A leader shouldn’t mumble. A leader shouldn’t slur their words or use hard to understand slang. You don’t need to sound like a robot but you should give out a reasonable amount of effort to pronounce words properly.

You can try enunciation games. Read a book out loud. Listen to or record yourself speaking. Play back the recording and be attentive to how you sound. Can you clearly understand yourself and make out the words you’re saying? If not, where and how can you improve?

Maybe there’s a certain letter or series of letters that really get you, for example. Work on them.

Again, there’s no need to sound like a robot so don’t give this tremendous amounts of thought. Let it come somewhat naturally. Some people naturally struggle with enunciation and that’s fine. If that’s you, work on yourself as hard and as best you can.

6. Focus on words and phrases

There could be several ways to say the same thing but certain ways resonate better than others. For example, some phrases are short and get the point across effectively. Other phrases may needlessly add more words just to say the same thing.

Some phrasing may get a point across okay but in a manner that’s difficult to understand. Some language is impactful while other language is bland.

It’s important to find just the right way to use language to your advantage so that you sound more like a leader. This might depend on your situation but some general rules apply here.

Using powerful words which emphasize your point and help your message resonate can make you sound more like a leader. For example, “We made a daring decision to enter the [whatever] industry. We’ve seen such phenomenal success that we’ve decided to make a significant expansion within this field.”

The words used there are so much more impactful than saying, for example, “We entered [whatever] industry and it worked so we plan to expand.” Wording and phrasing affect message delivery quite significantly.

Another important consideration here is positive positioning. Make sure to phrase things positively rather than negatively. Use positive language to get the same point across more pleasantly.

Instead of something like, for example, “this was done incorrectly,” say something like “there are opportunities to make this better.”

7. Be passionate

A passionate speaker could read the dictionary and sound interesting. Be passionate with both what language you use and how you use it.

Whether a topic does or doesn’t interest you isn’t important. What’s important is being able to discuss it in an interesting way regardless of how you feel.

Get excited about it. Even if you just can’t find the excitement in you, at least pretend to be excited.

When trying to communicate like a leader, your goal should be to convince your audience that you truly are the voice to be heard for a certain topic.