Thread by @VibhorChandel

The ultimate hack to GET HEARD in meetings & SHINE

"LOANING GRAVITAS"

Let's break it down

🧵 👇

1/ So how do you get yourself heard in a meeting,

that is FULL of Senior Executives, and

where everyone is trying to HOG THAT LIMELIGHT to put their point across and SHINE?

As a Leadership Coach I was curious...

2/ At the most BASIC level, there are 2 kinds of POWER within a company.

1st - Formal Authority

This you possess when you have other people reporting to you and you have the ability to… well... fire them.

3/ 2nd - Influence

When you are

- highly respected, and
- people want to listen to you…

that’s influence.

Eg: @naval & @elonmusk

4/ Most of you DO NOT have the FORMAL AUTHORITY.

You CAN'T fire….You CAN'T hire…

You have no control over the budget...

Heck, you can’t even buy sticky notes without first getting it approved.

5/ But…

if the

-CEO,
-Senior Executives,
-Managers and
-Members of your team,

LISTEN to you, your ideas and suggestions….then my friend….you have…what we call …the POWER of INFLUENCE.

6/ Does your boss take notes, when you speak?

Do colleagues look at you for suggestions.

Do they postpone meetings to accommodate you?

7/ There are many forms of INFLUENCE out there.

But...

if you’re lucky enough to experience what I said in the above tweet,

then you have a special version of Influence called, the

GRAVITAS

8/ GRAVITAS is a Latin word.

Romans defined it as,

"A virtue much desired in a LEADER."

It literally means “Weight”, or “Gravity”…as in gravity or seriousness… of some discussion.

But how do you know if you lack Gravitas?

9/ You know you lack GRAVITAS when despite having awesome ideas…

1: You do not get heard...but if a colleague repeats the same idea, everyone loves it.

2: People dismiss your ideas or suggestions before you even finish talking.

3: You continuously get interrupted by others.

10/ Also when...

4: You are not given proper credit for your efforts, and

5: No one pauses and listens to your ideas.

I know…it’s not fair…but it’s true...

11/ Can we develop Gravitas?

Absolutely!!!

As with any other skill in the world …Gravitas can be learned.

BUT if you need it urgently…you can,

LOAN GRAVITAS!!! 🤯

Here's how 👇

12/ When you have a good idea...

but are having a hard time getting heard in a room full of senior and junior colleagues,

you BORROW (loan) Gravitas from the ELEPHANT in the room.

Here’s a 2 step process:

13/ 1st:

Address the most senior person in the room by name and say,

“Bill, I’d like to share some relevant additional facts and ideas related to what you just said. Is it okay if I share them?"

14/ 2nd:

After getting the nod from Bill,

and before sharing what you have to share….

you start by PARAPHRASING or repeating what Bill said earlier in the meeting….and then,

you add your suggestion or idea to it.

15/ Here’s why it works.

By asking and getting permission to speak from a senior executive,

you essentially make yourself an ALLY to a HIGH-GRAVITAS personality in the room.

16/ This means that other people in the room know,

that if they interrupt you,

they would NOT ONLY interrupt you,

but Bill as well.

17/ Also,

when you start by acknowledging and paraphrasing what Bill said,

Bill knows it is important and relevant

because you’re repeating what he just said.

18/ This bridges the gap between Bill’s idea and yours,

and gets him interested in hearing you because,

your idea essentially builds upon,

and improves,

his own idea!!!

19/ When the ELEPHANT grants you the floor,

people think twice before asking you….

for the MICROPHONE.

20/ That's how you "Loan Gravitas" and GET YOURSELF HEARD in meetings.

Follow me @VibhorChandel for more threads on Leadership + Communication + High Performing Teams + Being Agile. Or Subscribe to my YouTube Channel

youtube.com/vibhorchandel

21/ You Can find my last thread on How Tim Cook managed to become the CEO of Apple here

https://twitter.com/VibhorChandel/status/1492505447894556673