Managing Leadership^®

That’s the word of the day: echolalia. It is used generally to refer to the reflexive repetition of what one has just heard (see here for such a use of it, but also here for more specific definitions).

There are two ways otherwise normal people can find themselves falling into this peculiar habit.

One is through discipline; the fully aware, intentional regurgitation of something you may not fully agree with, but which advances a larger cause you do believe in. An example of this was given by a colleague of mine a few years ago.

Every morning over coffee we would have our daily good-natured political debate. He was always very focused, and thus often set the direction and tone of the discussion. I began to notice, though, that later each day the news covering the agenda of the party he supported reported the same points, from the same perspectives, and sometimes even with the same language. He was on the party’s “theme of the day” fax/email list, used to keep everyone on the same page, and the party’s agenda on track.

The more common way echolalia occurs, though, is as a result of ill-discipline and incomprehension. In this case people often simply want to be associated with, accepted by, and recognized as one of a particular group they admire. These are easy enough to identify: they are the ones who cannot explain what they’re saying, other than by saying it again.

This is a seductive habit that can ensnare many more of us more often than we might like to admit. What’s more, it can develop momentum as it spreads, cloaked with a superficial patina of authenticity that obviously need not be challenged, given the number and quality of its echolalic advocates.

This phenomenon is, sadly, widely seen in discussions of leadership today. Next week, we’ll look a little at some of the implications for us of this, and of the other fundamental matters we have noted over the past two weeks. In the meanwhile, have a great weekend!

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Today’s tip: The power of speech arises not only from knowing what you mean to say, but having the means to say it. Clearly, that power is growing: please see this piece from The Economist about  “voice extensible markup language” – using verbal commands to create web sites.

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