Words matter – in all aspects of life. They matter when a mother is talking to her child, when a man is talking to his wife, when you’re talking to someone at a grocery store. The words you use on the internet and on social media are important too. The words you use when talking about your business are important too.
At a business networking meeting I attended recently, an interesting piece of advice was given by an attendee. She had observed that many people had expressed the opinion that the economy was going through a difficult time, and that this was having an impact on business. She suggested that we, as business owners, should not discuss this – in fact, we should say that things are going WELL.
Since hearing it, I’ve been mulling it over, trying to decide what I think about it. The words we use daily certainly have an impact on our overall image and the feeling of those around us. After all, why would anyone buy our product or service if we say that things aren’t going well?
While this is not limited to only women in business, studies show that women tend to talk themselves down more, express more self doubt, and appear less confident than men.
With this in mind, perhaps we, as professional females in the business world, owe it to ourselves and others to pay particular attention to the words we put out into the stratosphere, whether it be in writing, in speech, or on the internet and social media. Other women are watching.
I’m a long time believer that women need to support and mentor each other – show each other the ropes. All over the world, this has been lacking. Many industries are still dominated by males – often misogynistic ones, who treat women badly – and a disturbing fact is that WOMEN sometimes also talk badly about women. Perhaps this is a form of rivalry, of trying to get ahead in a dog eat dog world?
I’ve found myself saying things like ‘my website is down, please contact me on…’, ‘I’m having a day off because I’m ill today,’ AI is a threat to the industry’, ‘I’m very tired today’, ‘my son played a big part in helping achieve this’, etc. All these examples could be construed in a negative way by any of the other stakeholders in my business.
For stereotypes to change, and for women to succeed, women need to hold themselves and each other up.
I could have said:
- ‘We’re busy working on the website so that you get a better user experience’.
- ‘I’m taking some time to strategize and recharge.’
- ‘AI is a very useful, supportive tool’
- ‘I’ve been working long hours to provide the best service to clients.’
- ‘We’re giving the younger generation great experience and mentorship’.
All of the above statements are still true yet give off a much more positive vibe than the thoughts that came before.
In conclusion, to revert to the incident which made me start thinking about this – yes, words matter. We shouldn’t lay all our problems on the world. But we shouldn’t lie either. Our clients and other stakeholders need to be able to trust us. So – we meet in the middle, with an uplifting message.
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