In the technological world, where innovation and efficiency are crucial, the emotional intelligence to display them and know how to sell them is also important. That’s why heGreat Leaders Must Have These Technical Skills. And yes, Steve Jobs was characterized by this and he did it through the power of a simple nine-word phrase.
“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”
This phrase summarizes a fundamental principle of what effective communication should be. And that doesn’t belong to Jobs, but to humanity. No one knows who said it first, but who applied it best. And Steve Jobs was one of them, because he understood perfectly how not only the content of sentences mattersbut also the tone with which they are pronounced and the attitude one has at that moment.
Far from being common sense, how perceptions change depending on how a certain sentence is expressed. It is precisely on this subject that Mehrabian and Wiener’s study focuses, concluding that the same sentence can be perceived in completely opposite ways depending on the attitude and tone of the person who pronounces it. Even in a common context, this perception is not the same.
And to this is added another key factor: body posture and attitude shown. Here we can also take Steve Jobs as one of the references. Forbes experts rightly point out the casual attitude of the former Apple CEO, making his speech seem easy and without taking away its weight. Quite naturally, which is another key
Adopting this attitude also helps improve social relationships.
All this context applied to the ways of saying things is not limited to explaining only how a leader must communicate, but it is something extrapolated to anyone and with a lot of relationship with emotional intelligence. A professor at the University of Oxford demonstrated this in a study.
“The words we use are just building blocks that create conversations”
Robin Dunbar, that’s the name of the expert, discovered that 80% of the information we transmit is based on non-verbal communication. And this applies to all conversations we have in any type of context, whether professional or personal.
Other experts point to the so-called 55-38-7 rule, which states that only 7% of communication is verbal language, while 38% is paraverbal language (tone of voice, modulation, sounds ) and that a big 55% corresponds to our body language. Different numbers than Dunbar explained, but they make this conclusion clear.
Therefore, keep in mind that “it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it” This will help us to better develop our communication and strengthen our social relationships.. If our job also involves exposing ourselves to the public, we don’t have to be Steve Jobs, but we can also achieve great success.
By | Tendencies
Cover image | Ben Stanfield on Flickr
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