Information from this post was taken from episode 12, It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It: How to Communicate with Power from the “Think Fast Talk Smart” podcast by the Stanford Graduate School of Business. You can find it on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here.

We all know the importance of effective communication. Entrepreneurs especially need to be able to clearly articulate their message, whether it be to investors, their team, or most stressfully, to their families at the Thanksgiving dinner table. These tips can help you effectively communicate power in any and all interactions.

First off, what is “power”? While you might think it is a trait of the individual, but Professor of Organizational Behavior Deborah Gruenfeld believes it is a quality of relationships, specifically that your power is how much the other person needs you. Now let’s move onto some of the nonverbal behaviors that radiate or extinguish your power.

• Your position “on the square” relative to others
  Radiates power: Standing straight on facing the other person with straight legs and square shoulders
  Extinguishes power: Anything off-center or at an angle on the square, any body shift that takes you off of that straight ahead stance (ex. shifting your weight onto one hip, crossing your legs, letting your shoulders slouch to one side, curling your shoulders in and compressing your chest)

• Stillness
  Radiates power: Stillness throughout your body, especially your head (imagine putting on a crown or headdress before going into meetings)
  Extinguishes power: Fidgeting, constant motion, excessive head bobbing or wagging especially while talking

• Silence
  Radiates power: Being comfortable in silence
  Extinguishes power: Talking just to fill the space

(Did the brevity of that last one make you uncomfortable?)

• Spreading Out, Taking Up Physical Space
  Radiates power: Keeping your chest open, shoulders back and down, chin up
  Extinguishes power: Shrinking down, folding over yourself, keeping your gaze downcast

• Language and Power
  Radiates power: Speaking in complete sentences.
  Extinguishes power: Trailing off mid-thought, ending with an uptick in your voice, expressing multiple thoughts in one sentence (run-on), changing your stance mid-sentence

A note on “Like” and “Kind Of”

Hedging words, such as like, kind of, and sort of, are typically looked down on because they take authority away from your statement. However, they can actually be used as a tool to show vulnerability and make yourself more relatable as a leader. As with many things, use them in moderation but know that they aren’t all bad, kind of.

“I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou