Silence Is Golden

I remember growing up and seeing leaders who would yell, scream, and shout to make their point. Sometimes they were even red in the face.

Do you remember leaders like this?

Mouth of person shouting

Image By Alisha Varga

True, they were passionate about their cause. They wanted to share what they knew with the audience. Yet something about them was off-putting.

Nothing about them made me want to get to know them as a person.

What Shouting Says

There’s a lot of noise in our world today. Many people think the way to get over the noise is to shout their message even louder. Crank up the volume and make sure others hear you.

When you begin to shout your mission, you begin to send another message.

  • You’re desperate
  • You just want to be heard
  • You’re disruptive (in a negative way)

Somewhere there’s a breakdown in communication.

Shouting tells the world, and your followers, you don’t know how to gain attention otherwise. And once your followers have heard enough of your shouting, they’ll begin to fall away.

Why Silence (Or Less Volume) Is Golden

This doesn’t sound right, you may be saying. But take a minute and listen to my reasoning.

Silence shows many things. One of those is that you’re confident in who you are as a leader. You’re able to share your message without a lot of noise.

People can tell when someone knows their message. And believes in it.

Sure, you’ll talk about your message. You’ll share your message. You’ll even get worked up about the message. But you won’t try to shout it over the masses.

You’ll let your message speak for itself.

When you’re willing to tone down the volume, more people will listen. You’ll also be able to lead in a more powerful way.

How To Lead Silently

When you decide to turn down the volume and stop screaming your message, you have to figure out a way to lead silently.

The best way I’ve found to lead silently, yet in a way no one can ignore, is to lead by example.

Take up the tasks that need to be done. Show others what needs to be done and how to do it. Lead silently but let your example scream.

As you’re able to do this, you’ll find more and more people following you and taking action in their lives. It won’t have been your words. Those will have been mostly silent.

The true change will have come from your shining example.

Question: When have you stayed silent and let your example do the talking? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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