I was in a meeting a few weeks back and found myself thinking about language, brand and power.
Those who know me well, might guess I was thinking about profanity — a personal favorite in the language category — but alas my topic is about driving the right perception of your abilities with direct and confident language.
It is easy to undermine your own authority, by using language that is vague or indecisive.
In a world that is now dominated by global teams and conference calls, this becomes as important to personal brand as body language. What does your language tell others about you?
Does it tell them to take you more or less seriously?
Do you use mitigated speech and defer your power to others?
While your language might not be the cause of a plane crash — it can be encouraging others to perceive you as less capable.
Perception becomes reality as it relates to your career — you are crafting that perception with everything you do. Use your language as a tool to help people understand the best of your capabilities.
Meg Bear 
Great point, Meg! Language is really important to keep in mind, especially when working with global teams. For example, using a phrase like, ‘We might want to…’ means something like: ‘We’re gonna do this but I’m saying it gently to avoid conflict and get everyone on board,’ but is likely to be understood as: ‘We might do this or we might not,’ by non-native English speakers.
I wish I could write like you. But I am a native portuguese speaker and english is my second language. So I don’t have that talent in my native even on second. Congats for your blog! regards from Brazil
There are lots of ways to give back, not everyone needs to blog.