If you prefer video content over text, I explain this material with fun, musical examples in my YouTube video.
Do you need to have an impressive vocabulary to be a great speaker? No. But the nuances of your words influence your audience’s experience.
In this article, I break down why word choice is so important and how to find the right words to express your ideas.
What Not To Do
Consider this sentence, where [ ] is a placeholder. I want you to consider what word you’d use to fill in the blank:
“I believe there is a better version of us around every corner and I have seen firsthand how organizations and communications and individuals change at breathtaking speed especially if trust is broken. That’s [ ]”
What should [ ] be? How about “agility”?
It’s ok. It’s like trying to paint a picture of the sky and just using “blue”. “Agility” certainly connotes “change” and “speed”, but misses the nuance of “improvement” we want.
How about “innovation”?
Better. We’ve added a touch of pink to our sky. “Innovation” captures the idea of “moving forward” and “leveling up”, especially in the context of organizations.
But something’s still missing … something to snap our explanation into place.
What To Do
Check out how Frances Frei, bestselling co-author of “Move Fast and Fix Things” delivers this sentence. You only need to watch about 30 seconds from the video below to get a sense of Frances’ technique.
The word Frances chooses is “redemption”.
There’s the snap and perfect fit. We’ve added a touch of red and orange to our sky. “Redemption” articulates not only “change”, “speed”, and “improvement”. It also suggests “a better version of us” emerging, “especially if trust is broken”: personal, aspirational transformation.
How do you find the right word when you speak? Here are two resources:
- Use a thesaurus. It’s not old-fashioned. Go to a website like thesaurus.com and type in the word you think you want. Take a look at all the related suggestions, like looking at all the colors in a paint shop. Do this consistently and you’ll develop an even richer palette of words to choose from.
- Use AI like ChatGPT. Go to chatgpt.com, for example, and use a prompt like: “I want to choose a word that expresses change, speed, and improvement as well as becoming a “better version” of myself especially if trust is broken. Give me 10 alternative options to choose from”, where you swap the bolded text for your intended idea.
Summary
Don’t feel compelled to use big, fancy vocabulary to sound “smart” and impress people. You can clearly express complex ideas with very simple words. However, being purposeful in the words you choose is important.
Practice deepening the verbal palette at your disposal, so the words you use have the nuances you want.
If you’re looking for further guidance on how to differentiate your communication skills and stand out in the workplace, take my free self-assessment.
I’m writing a book on thinking quickly, speaking clearly, presenting convincingly, and supercharging your executive presence. Follow me on LinkedIn for more updates on the book and its release!
