{"id":6589,"date":"2019-09-26T20:45:14","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T01:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=6589"},"modified":"2019-09-26T20:45:14","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T01:45:14","slug":"4-ways-that-exaggeration-can-damage-your-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/26\/4-ways-that-exaggeration-can-damage-your-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways That Exaggeration Can Damage Your Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As a leader you must certainly project optimism. But when you cross the line into hyperbole, your leadership is facing\u00a0significant risks.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
Recently, a\u00a0<\/strong>leader in my orbit described a meeting as \u201cQuite possibly our best meeting ever!\u201d<\/strong><\/header>\n
<\/header>\n
Right away,\u00a0<\/strong>the thought flashed through my mind, \u201cI need to keep watching my own communication for any signs of such exaggeration.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>How many of these statements, or statements like them, have you used?<\/strong><\/header>\n
\n
    \n
  • \u201cThat was the best (event, class, earnings quarter, meeting) we\u2019ve ever had!\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • \u201cThis promises to be the best (board retreat, youth outreach, stockholders meeting) ever!\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • \u201cThere is an unbelievable sense of momentum and excitement building in our (church, company, ministry, club)!\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/header>\n

    If you find that these types of hyped-up, hyperbole-filled statements are creeping into your leadership communication, watch out. Your leadership could be taking hits that you\u2019re not even aware of.<\/p>\n

    You can be seen as inauthentic<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Let\u2019s face it. Not\u00a0every<\/em>\u00a0event can be the \u2018best ever\u2019. If you use this kind of language excessively people will start to see you less as a leader, and more as a \u2018pitch-man\u2019.<\/p>\n

    Remember, you need to cast vision, not sell a Sham-Wow.<\/p>\n

    You can lose credibility<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    You know that event you described as the \u2018best ever\u2019? Well guess what. Your people were there, and they know it\u00a0wasn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0the best ever.<\/p>\n

    When your communication creates a gap between what your people know to be true, and what you\u00a0claim<\/em>\u00a0to be true, you start to lose credibility.<\/p>\n

    Young people start to tune out<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Young people today have their radar on \u2018full alert\u2019 for anything that smells like hyperbole, exaggeration or hype.<\/p>\n

    You can\u2019t afford to alienate this group with you communication.<\/p>\n

    You create a culture of desperation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    As a leader your words have a powerful ability to form and shape culture.<\/p>\n

    When your communication is flavored with constant hype you are creating a culture of desperation. For your followers it\u2019s a short walk from desperation to suspicion.<\/p>\n

    Because of my own optimistic nature, I\u2019ve learned that I need to be vigilant to ensure that hyperbole doesn\u2019t creep into my own communication.<\/p>\n

    And I would urge you to be just as vigilant.<\/p>\n

    Because what you lose in \u2018hype\u2019 you\u2019ll more than make up for in authenticity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As a leader you must certainly project optimism. But when you cross the line into hyperbole, your leadership is facing\u00a0significant risks. Recently, a\u00a0leader in my orbit described a meeting as \u201cQuite possibly our best meeting ever!\u201dRight away,\u00a0the thought flashed through my mind, \u201cI need to keep watching my own communication for any signs of such…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1017,769,478,1016,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-culture-2","category-featured","category-integrity","category-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6589"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6597,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6589\/revisions\/6597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}