260 - Why the Best CEOs Are the Quietest in the Room

So what I want to talk about today, as I said in my introduction, is about being quiet.

So let me share the thing I keep saying, okay? So in my work I do, as you know, with CEOs and leadership teams, and the best leaders I know is interesting.

They really look quieter than you would expect.

And I thought a lot about it.

And no, by the way, that isn't them being passive.

They just work out something that, in my opinion, most of the leaders never really do.

Because you don't need to be loud when your standards are steady.

I call it a quiet mark.

And it's an important chapter, by the way, of my new book.

And also a lot of magazine publications, they're asking me about this.

They're interesting about this element of the quiet mark.

and is the signal quality of a leader.

And I've watched it all in every kind of a room.

Either it's a listed company, a hospital under safety review, a school through a budget crisis.

Does it really matter the context? Because the pressure looks completely different each one, but the discipline that holds it is identical.

Now, let me clear something up.

Because people hear the word quiet and think, you guess what, soft.

But this has nothing to do with being timid or avoiding conflict.

And honestly, it's the opposite.

It's control power.

It's saying less and making land.

It's holding a standard without raising your voice.

And it's protecting the truth in a meeting when it would be so much easier to protect the harmony into the room.

So what I want to talk about today, as I said in my introduction, is about being quiet.

So let me share the thing I keep saying, okay? So in my work I do, as you know, with CEOs and leadership teams, and the best leaders I know is interesting.

They really look quieter than you would expect.

And I thought a lot about it.

And no, by the way, that isn't them being passive.

They just work out something that, in my opinion, most of the leaders never really do.

Because you don't need to be loud when your standards are steady.

I call it a quiet mark.

And it's an important chapter, by the way, of my new book.

And also a lot of magazine publications, they're asking me about this.

They're interesting about this element of the quiet mark.

and is the signal quality of a leader.

And I've watched it all in every kind of a room.

Either it's a listed company, a hospital under safety review, a school through a budget crisis.

Does it really matter the context? Because the pressure looks completely different each one, but the discipline that holds it is identical.

Now, let me clear something up.

Because people hear the word quiet and think, you guess what, soft.

But this has nothing to do with being timid or avoiding conflict.

And honestly, it's the opposite.

It's control power.

It's saying less and making land.

It's holding a standard without raising your voice.

And it's protecting the truth in a meeting when it would be so much easier to protect the harmony into the room.