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  • Published: 6 February 2020
  • ISBN: 9780241373675
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352

Leadership Is Language

The Hidden Power of What You Say and What You Don't




The acclaimed author of Turn the Ship Around! shows leaders how to empower their team through better communication

Few of us realize that our language in the workplace inhibits creative problem-solving and escalates uncertainty and stress. In both high-pressure situations and everyday scenarios, in each meeting and email, we have the opportunity to empower our colleagues by using the right words.

In Leadership Is Language, Former US navy captain David Marquet expands on his bestselling leadership book Turn the Ship Around! and shows managers and leaders the next step in their development: how to enable their team through communication.

Marquet outlines a set of principles and tools that help leaders inspire their people to take responsibility and address challenges without waiting to be told what to do, highlighting how small changes in language can lead to dramatic changes in a team's success and happiness.

  • Published: 6 February 2020
  • ISBN: 9780241373675
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352

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Praise for Leadership Is Language

Full of compelling advice on how to lead more effectively by choosing your words more wisely

Adam Grant, author of Originals and Give and Take, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

A fascinating new paradigm for our modern leader that relies on a balance between thinking and doing, welcoming and minimizing variability, to get the most out of our teams and organizations

General (ret.) Stanley McChrystal, author of Team of Teams and Leaders

A refreshing, actionable framework that helps leaders navigate uncertainty and tackle thorny problems by bringing out the best in their people

Annie Duke, author of Thinking in Bets

In Turn The Ship Around, Marquet challenged us to change the way we lead; Now, in Leadership is Language, he challenges us to change the way we talk as leaders by dropping the archaic language of command and control and learning the language of creativity, collaboration, and commitment

Liz Wiseman, author of Multipliers

A truly unique take on leadership that re-engineers our language. Anchored in how teams actually talk, Marquet shows leaders how to leave the Industrial Age language behind us

Verne Harnish, founder of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and author of Scaling Up

Illustrates the powerful intersection of communication and leadership and offers simple steps to transform your thinking, your influence, and the lives in your span of care

Bob Chapman, CEO of Barry-Wehmiller and author of Everybody Matters

Drawing on a wide variety of examples from all kinds of organisation, David Marquet has written an impressive and engaging book which is not just thought-provoking, but offers simple, actionable ways of escaping the traps that our words lay for us

Stephen Bungay, author of The Art of Action

The definitive guide for those seeking to be real leaders in transformative times. David not only shows us how business and leadership has drastically changed and why the structures of yesterday are hindering our ability to business, but also how to reinvent our leadership style to meet the evolving demands of the new marketplace

Tamara Ghandour, creator of the Innovation Quotient Edge, host of Inside LaunchStreet & Author of Innovation is Everybody's Business.

This book is brilliant. Seriously

John Konrad, Author of Fire on the Horizon and founder of gCaptain

I have seen David in action using words to truly inspire and empower. This is a must-read for every leader!

George Kohlreiser, Author of Hostage at the Table, Care to Dare and Director of IMD's acclaimed High Performance Leadership Program

A useful framework for better teamwork

Financial Times, Business Book of the Month