You present the same kind of analysis you have presented a dozen times before, in the same clear, direct way that has been right more often than it has been wrong. Halfway through, you catch someone glance at a colleague before responding to you, the kind of look that asks whether a second opinion is needed before this gets believed.
A Habit Worth Listening For
Notice your own opening words the next time this happens. A lot of women in business learn early to soften an opening sentence: “I think maybe,” “this could be one way to look at it,” “I could be wrong, but.” Those openers are fine to use when you genuinely are unsure. The habit becomes a problem when it survives into the moments you are not unsure at all, and the room ends up responding to the hedge instead of the analysis underneath it.
Before Your Next Presentation
Before your next presentation, write your opening sentence down and read it back. If it starts with a qualifier you do not actually mean, cut it and start with the finding itself. “The numbers point to renewing the contract” lands differently than “I think maybe we should think about renewing the contract,” even when the same person did the same work behind both sentences.
Before changing the way you speak, it can be helpful to notice when you begin shrinking your own certainty. When you use those qualifiers intentionally, they begin to mean something again, because people learn that your uncertainty is genuine rather than automatic.
Conscious leadership is not about making your voice louder. It is about becoming aware of the moments when you disconnect from your own knowing and choosing to return to it.
The OM Factor audiobook explores the emotions that can arise when you feel unseen, unheard, or disconnected from your own confidence, offering practices for returning to a place of awareness and self-trust.
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