The more words it takes you to describe the topic, the less prepared you are to talk. For example, when we asked one skilled person what his message was in a forthcoming performance review, he said, “I’ve concluded he is not good at managing people or projects.” Boom! Crystal clear. Simple. He’s ready. Why is this clarity so rare? Often when we

part of ownership is taking responsibility for our language to be able to see paths to what we want that are currently hidden by language that holds us back.

Here are the ten behaviors and cultural issues that leaders identified as getting in our way in organizations across the world: We avoid tough conversations, including giving honest, productive feedback. Some leaders attributed this to a lack of courage, others to a lack of skills, and, shockingly, more than half talked about a cultural norm of