What we say

"Since she joined her school's debating team, my daughter has begun to speak up clearly and confidently," Natalie said proudly after tossing the yee sang.

Our clothes, accessories and haircut can make us look like a polished, successful executive. But when we open our mouth, we reveal a host of cues about our brainpower, people skills, poise, energy level and passion. What we say is the single most important factor in judging our worthiness because speech reveals far more than our ideas and judgements

What we say exposes how we think, how we relate to people, how we approach a problem, how we present a message, and how we deal with stress.