Living here in California, 40% of the people you run into speak another language besides English. (2007 census data). In fact, as of the 2000 census there were 207 languages spoken here.
What do all those folks have to teach the rest of us? Well, if you remember studying another language in your past, you discovered that the way you communicate a message in English may not work in another language. For example, Spanish is constructed to be more hierarchical, polite and formal than English. For example, you conjugate the verb in the third person (formal) for your elders and in the second person (informal) for a child. In a different example, Chinese has 4 tones. You may say the right word, but if you don’t get the pitch of your voice right (the tone) you may say something completely different from what you intended.
As leaders, we need to convey our message clearly. Speaking as we always spoke may not be enough to convey that message or to understand if that message has been accepted and will be acted on.
What languages do we need to speak? We need to speak inspiration. We need to speak clarity. We need to speak alignment. We need to speak data. We need to speak vision. And many more….
Learning a “foreign” language is hard. High school language classes meet 4-5 times a week. You have to practice every day. You have to learn new vocabulary. You are tested weekly so you did not get behind. It doesn’t just happen.
What language do you need to learn next? For so many leaders it is clarity. Ask your team where the company wants to be in 3 years, and you might hear a lot of generalities. This is hard work. It takes intentionality and daily practice. No time like the present to get started.
Illustration courtesy of http://lareliabletranslations.com/simultaneous-interpreting/