This is a striking and very true quote which I often remind participants of when running my leadership presence courses.

Another clever woman I know, Susan Brooks, added this phrase, “The less you say, the more intelligent you sound!” 

If you want to sound more confident and commanding, project greater gravitas, get desired results and avoid babbling under pressure, practice speaking in the following manner:

  1. Use short sentences
  2. Use lots of pauses
  3. Use downward inflections just before pausing (link here to listen) 

Applying the above steps a few minutes daily in low stress moments will lead to mastery.

The good news is that pausing and downward inflections will help remove filler sounds!

Let the silence do the heavy lifting 

Susan Scott, author of Fierce Conversations

To see a powerhouse in action, check out this speech from Michelle Obama: 

Happy Partnering!
Amy