How we say it

Communication skills are vital to senior executives. Through the years, I have come to realise that it doesn't matter how smart we are, how right we are, or how much we know. If the people don't understand what we think or think they do understand but have something different in mind, we will fail as leaders.

I have learned the hard way that the content of my message will disappear quickly behind grammatical lapses, jargon, accent and inability to get to the point. For example, a five-minute response to questions that deserve a five-word answer impress few.

Many years ago, I also had an inclination to begin too many sentences with "I". Mr Daser was the one who pointed that out to me. I realise now that it branded me as an egocentric loner who doesn't much like working in teams. I have since subsituted "we" or "our team" as much as possible.

The bottomline is: How we say it is often more important than what we say.
Back row: clockwise from left: Diah, Nadeem, Donna, Jiaye, Marie, Shirley