The Words You Choose Might Be Your Most Underrated Leadership Tool

Forbes

08-08-2025

Matthew Mathison is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder of MBL Partners with 25+ years leading business transformation.
In leadership, much is said about vision, metrics and execution.
These are essential. However, often overlooked is something even more elemental: the language leaders use to describe themselves, their decisions and their organizations.
Language is not simply a tool for communication. It is one of the most powerful instruments a leader has to shape culture, create alignment and model clarity. In high-stakes environments where ambiguity is constant, language steadies the room. And in periods of pressure, it provides calm.
Over the years, I have led through volatility, transformation and public scrutiny. One moment stands out. I was helping lead a company navigating a reputational crisis triggered by an 82-page short-seller report. Markets reacted quickly. Internally, the team looked to leadership for signals. We chose to communicate internally with transparency and confidence. Not to spin, not to posture, but to name the reality and outline our first steps forward. That decision, at least internally for employees, was critical and set the cultural tone for everything that followed. It was different from the public or external view, and I was able to really see the difference that language made to the internal vs. external audience.
Use positive vocabulary to shape the energy in the room.
What I have seen, again and again, is that people do not just hear what you say. They absorb what your words signal. Language often travels faster than strategy. It shapes not just understanding, but belief.
It starts internally. One of the most overlooked aspects of leadership communication is self-talk. The language leaders use with themselves shows up in how they show up for others. I have experienced this firsthand. In moments of pressure, when the instinct is to say, 'You missed it,' I have learned to shift toward, 'You're learning. Keep moving forward.' That is not performance coaching. That is leadership hygiene.
Real leadership often begins with internal alignment, and language plays a central role in that process. The words leaders use with themselves shape the energy they bring into the room, and that energy influences how others respond, engage and align.
This matters because teams often calibrate their mindset from leadership vocabulary. A leader who describes conditions as 'confusing' creates a different culture than one who says, 'We're exploring.' The first suggests waiting. The second invites motion. These differences are small, but they carry weight.
Choose words rooted in optimism to encourage participation.
The emotional tone of that language matters just as much. Leaders who choose words rooted in optimism and forward-thinking energy create lift. Hopeful language opens people up, helps them re-engage and encourages movement. Complaints, blame or negative framing, on the other hand, tends to drag momentum down. It closes space. It drains initiative. Over time, the language leaders use shapes not just perception, but pace and participation.
Language does not just describe culture. It constructs it.
In turnarounds and transformation contexts, I've seen how leadership language directly influences team behavior. When leaders use vocabulary grounded in ownership, clarity and direction, it creates cultural stability. Over time, these patterns of intentional language help shift organizations away from blame or bottlenecks and toward accountability, alignment and forward motion. It may seem subtle, but the words leaders normalize often determine whether teams stay reactive or step into shared responsibility.
The best leaders I have worked with treat vocabulary as part of their leadership system. They are not scripting messages. They are aligning words with values and direction. When a leader uses language that is clear, candid and steady, especially under pressure, it builds trust. It builds motion. It builds resilience.
Speak with intention to ensure your team knows your priorities.
None of this requires charisma. It requires consistency. You do not need to be a brilliant communicator to speak with intention. You need to be aligned. When your language reflects your priorities, your teams know where to aim.
In fast-moving, high-pressure settings where attention is scarce and complexity is constant, language becomes a leader's most immediate lever. It does not require a new platform, a formal rollout or a strategy offsite. It requires a single moment of clarity. One well-placed phrase. One message delivered with conviction and calm.
So here is the question I ask most often, both of myself and others: What are your words teaching your team to believe? Not just what they are hearing, but what they are internalizing. What they are repeating when you are not in the room.
Because in a climate defined by complexity, the words you choose might be the most strategic asset you already have.
Use them like they matter. Because they do.
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