If you can only get people to listen by raising your voice, work on what you’re saying, not how loud.

LEADERSHIP

WHAT THIS MEANS

Raising your voice is what you reach for when the content is not doing the job. It works briefly, because surprise gets attention, and then people adapt and you have to keep escalating. Meanwhile the real problem goes untouched: the instruction was unclear, or the reason was missing, or nobody could see why it mattered. Shouting hides that from you as well as from them.

Next time you want to raise your voice, stop and ask whether what you are saying is clear enough to act on. Cut it to one sentence and say that quietly. Ask somebody afterwards whether it made sense.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

When did you get louder instead of making your point better?

MORE IN LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.