Page 139 - Leadership Secrets of Hillary Clinton

LEADERSHIP SECRETS OF HILLARY CLINTON

“As a political spouse, career public official and recently as
a diplomat, Clinton has long showed a tendency toward
bluntness.” This follows my golden rule: Do unto others as
they want to be done unto. And this is what I mean when I
say that you need to be able to adapt your communication
style to the person as well as the situation.
Second, another aspect of adapting your style is realiz-
ing that if you have a very strong preference for a particular
style, you might not be aware of all the perceptions you are
inadvertently creating. For example, if you are extremely
analytical, you might seem to be very thorough and accu-
rate but also rigid and inflexible. If you are a very strong
driver, you may seem great at multitasking and getting
things done quickly but also insensitive to the feelings of
others or too quick to make decisions. And so on. So, it’s
important to get feedback from those you trust on how you
are being perceived and then adapt your communication
style to leverage your strengths and mitigate your weak-
nesses. After all, most of the time, perception is considered
reality, and you can affect those perceptions by being inten-
tional about what and how you communicate.
Finally, you can be more effective as a leader if you know
how to adapt your communication style effectively when
you are trying to influence others. My company does a pro-
gram on effective influencing that covers four ways in
which people make decisions. I’ll briefly explain the four
ways so that you get an idea of what I mean. Here they are:

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