The Seismic Shift with Michelle K. Johnston
Jun 11, 2025 · 32 min · 12 segments
Bestselling author and renowned communication strategist Sam Horn joins Michelle on this week’s episode of The Seismic Shift to share the transformative power of language in leadership and life…
Michelle K. JohnstonHostOkay, so as a lot of my listeners know, I am working, I'm co-authoring my second book, The Seismic Shift in You with Marshall Goldsmith.
And two of the chapters that we're working on right now, because there's seven necessary shifts, and two of the seven necessary shifts are have to do with shifting your conversations and shifting your language.
So speaking of seismic shifts, what seismic shifts are you seeing in your world? Because you travel all over the place giving speeches.
You know, I hope people, unless they're driving, get out a piece of paper right now, because I agree with you that showing the shift makes what's confusing clear.
So if you have a piece of paper, put a vertical line down the center and over on the left, put cancel culture, right? Because right now there's a lot of people and it's very divisive and they have polarized opinion and they're canceling each other out.
Because John Mackey gave the cover endorsement for that book, and he said it is the cure for today's cancel culture because it talks about collaborative language, cooperative language that puts us on the same side instead of side against side.
I had somebody I was walking with today exercising and he and I, he's also an executive coach.
And we were talking about, he said, aren't you ever scared what you put out on LinkedIn? I said, what do you mean? He goes, all of your quotes? I said, no, what do you mean? He goes, I'm just so scared that if I put myself out there, I'm going to get canceled.
And how sad is that that we're in so many leaders are like that they're scared to actually speak authentically.
You know, Michelle, isn't it sad that we're not taught this in school, are we? We learn math.
We're not taught what to say when someone blames us for something that's not our fault or when someone tells something about us that's not true.
Okay, so as a lot of my listeners know, I am working, I'm co-authoring my second book, The Seismic Shift in You with Marshall Goldsmith.
And two of the chapters that we're working on right now, because there's seven necessary shifts, and two of the seven necessary shifts are have to do with shifting your conversations and shifting your language.
So speaking of seismic shifts, what seismic shifts are you seeing in your world? Because you travel all over the place giving speeches.
You know, I hope people, unless they're driving, get out a piece of paper right now, because I agree with you that showing the shift makes what's confusing clear.
So if you have a piece of paper, put a vertical line down the center and over on the left, put cancel culture, right? Because right now there's a lot of people and it's very divisive and they have polarized opinion and they're canceling each other out.
Because John Mackey gave the cover endorsement for that book, and he said it is the cure for today's cancel culture because it talks about collaborative language, cooperative language that puts us on the same side instead of side against side.
I had somebody I was walking with today exercising and he and I, he's also an executive coach.
And we were talking about, he said, aren't you ever scared what you put out on LinkedIn? I said, what do you mean? He goes, all of your quotes? I said, no, what do you mean? He goes, I'm just so scared that if I put myself out there, I'm going to get canceled.
And how sad is that that we're in so many leaders are like that they're scared to actually speak authentically.
You know, Michelle, isn't it sad that we're not taught this in school, are we? We learn math.
We're not taught what to say when someone blames us for something that's not our fault or when someone tells something about us that's not true.
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