4.2.11.4. Harvard Business Review Article

Deborah Tannen — “The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why” (Harvard Business Review)

In this article, Deborah Tannen examines how leadership influence emerges not only from authority or role, but from the communication patterns that determine who is heard, how they are interpreted, and whose ideas shape decisions. She shows that communication is never neutral: every interaction transmits signals about intention, identity, and emotional posture. Tone, pacing, structure, and framing become levers that either strengthen or weaken influence in everyday leadership conversations.

Tannen’s central insight is that leaders do not simply deliver messages — they engineer interpretation. Team members respond first to how something is said and only then to what is said. When leaders communicate impulsively, with emotional charge, or without structure, clarity erodes. Ambiguity rises, trust weakens, and people rely on assumption rather than alignment. By contrast, when leaders speak with composure, intentional structure, and respect, communication becomes a stabilizing force that reinforces shared purpose and reduces uncertainty.

As you read, focus on three strategic insights for entrepreneurial leadership:

• Influence grows when communication style matches intention.
  High-impact leaders clarify purpose before they speak: What must be understood? Why does it matter? How does it connect to strategy? By aligning tone, structure, and emphasis with this intention, they rely on precision rather than volume. The result is faster alignment, fewer misunderstandings, and less rework.
• Structure multiplies alignment as organizations scale.
  Improvised communication may work in very small teams, but growing ventures require predictable communication patterns. Shared framing, consistent language, and communication rituals reduce confusion and increase trust. Structure becomes a strategic multiplier: people spend less time decoding tone and more time executing direction.
• Tone communicates leadership presence before words convey meaning.
  Team members interpret emotional posture first and content second. A grounded, steady tone invites openness and psychological safety. An anxious, urgent, or reactive tone triggers defensiveness, even when the message is helpful. Tone is not a stylistic detail — it is a strategic signal of leadership identity.

Tannen’s analysis exposes the hidden cost of unintentional communication: when leaders assume understanding instead of verifying it, or when emotional tone contradicts constructive intent, teams begin to interpret leadership rather than follow it. Energy shifts from execution to speculation. Over time, this erodes clarity, trust, and coordinated action — especially in high-pressure entrepreneurial environments.

Leadership reflection — where communication reduces your influence

As you work through the article, use the following questions to audit your own communication patterns:

1. Where do you assume understanding instead of making expectations explicit?
   Identify moments where you believed you were clear, but outcomes revealed misalignment, delay, or repeated clarification.
2. Where might your emotional tone distort an otherwise clear message?
   Consider situations where urgency, frustration, or anxiety may have changed how your message was received, even if your content was accurate and well-intended.
3. Where does improvisation force others to guess?
   Look for patterns where lack of structure, incomplete framing, or shifting language causes team members to rely on assumption, informal translation, or repeated follow-up.

These questions help reveal the invisible gap between what you meant to communicate and what others actually heard, felt, and acted upon. Closing that gap is the essence of strategic leadership communication.