Blog
Emily Nichols is my professional colleague. She is also an engineer who loved working in factories, but she didn’t always love being “one of the guys”. She reminds us that words become habits, language evolves, and we control them both.
In my leadership and communication programs, I often teach how to use “I” language to reduce defensiveness in others, particularly when trying to convey a message that may be perceived as negative. “I” language is a very powerful communication tool
Your choice of words matters. Take, for example, “any” versus “some”. The two words have different polarities. “Any” is negatively polarized: it ordinarily occurs in declarative sentences that are negatively framed and usually inappropriate in those that are positively framed.