Using Rare Words to Master Modern Leadership.

Working in the technology profession feels like being a character in a science fiction film. Rooms are filled with smart, serious engineers and PhDs working to solve knotty problems or achieve breakthroughs. It is exciting, and I am inspired daily. Part of that inspiration is picking up on some of the habits these very smart people have cultivated. One of those habits is that smart people often have a hobby outside their profession that they are passionate about. Some people enjoyed building doll houses, and others learned to paint. The skills they enjoy outside of work often inform what they do inside. I spend plenty of time reading and writing. My taste includes science fiction, philosophy, and non-fiction. The ideas blend, helping me become a better leader and writer. Along the way, I encounter plenty of vocabulary that helps me redefine my view of my profession. Today, I want to share some fun words I use in my leadership practice.  

Foreign words say it better –

The language has traveled around the world. From the darkest corners of Africa to the Icelandic Fjords, the language has borrowed words and given them new or different meanings. Much of the language we speak today can trace many of its words back to other languages, including German and Latin.

For a brief moment, I considered pursuing a PhD in Philosophy, but then I discovered that many PhD programs required speaking Latin, German, Greek, or French. My language skills are lacking, so clearly my chances of receiving a PhD in Philosophy are nonexistent. It does not mean I don't enjoy funny-sounding foreign words because they are often better at conveying meaning than a typical English word. Like many English writers, I often incorporate them into my writing and leadership practice.

The first word I encountered was from Byung-Chul Han and his book The Burnout Society, which was originally written in German and translated into English in 2015. He uses the German word "Innehalten" throughout the text. It means to pause, stop, or halt temporarily. Often in tense or difficult situations, we blurt out something or do something that is counterproductive. Innehalten is a word that helps you understand that the best way to respond to the pressure of chaos is to take a small pause and think about the next steps. Below is an example of that in practice.

Vice President: This project is three months behind, and I want to know what you are going to do about it.

Me: (says the word Innehalten silently to himself) You would like to understand the delay.

VP: Yes.

Me: (thinks for a beat) I get that, I can tell you where we stand and how we got here.

VP: Go on!

Me: (takes a breath) Testing is delayed, and I have an email chain saying it will be delayed because another project has been made a priority, and the QA team has been reassigned.

VP: What?!

Me: I sent you an email on Thursday about this because you were busy, so I'm sure it wasn't a priority.

VP: It is now. Let me look into this.

(End Scene)

Notice that instead of responding to the agitated VP with stress or panic, I used the Innehalten technique to center myself and calmly respond to their concerns. I also recognized the mental load the VP was carrying and used non-violent language to avoid agitating them further. The thrust of the situation was that they were not paying attention to the deadline slippage and did not consider it important until their boss made it important. I gave them an alibi, ego salve, and the tools to make a decision. Without the concept of Innehalten, the conversation could have gone off the rails.

The next word is one I recently discovered: the Latin word Tamen. It is a simple word meaning 'nevertheless' or 'still'. We cannot change the reality of our current moment, but we are responsible for our actions and how we move forward. When we are with the agitated executive in the previous situation, we cannot change the reality of the project being behind three months, but we can change how we can move forward or alter the scope. Tamen is a helpful survival mechanism when everything feels broken. The dumpster is on fire, but we can extinguish it and prevent the fire from spreading. Something bad did happen; nevertheless, you can take action to mitigate the harm created.

Fancy English words –

Along with words that the English language has appropriated from other languages, writers are great at inventing their own. I enjoy using them. These words grant me an air of authority and help me earn executive credibility.

The first word is Meliorism. It is the philosophical belief that humans can make the world a better place through their efforts. Every project meeting, status update, or sprint retrospective is the practice of meliorism. We see meliorism at places as diverse as Davos and the South by Southwest conference. People want to solve problems and make the world better. Often, this impulse is selfish, as they want a better world for their families and themselves, but the impulse to make the world better is what makes humans unique. The idea is the opposite of accelerationism, where people want to hurry up and make problems worse because, once they become intractable, they will solidify social, economic, or political power. I have always been a reformer and problem-solver, so I consider myself, along with the agile movement I belong to, in the meliorism camp.

When you work as a white-collar professional, you spend plenty of time in meetings. Often, these meetings and groups have boring names. We have status update meetings, design meetings, and meetings to prepare for other meetings. It is maddening and existentially draining. It is why I often give meetings colorful names to help remove the dreariness from the activity. I often call any discussion about the project portfolio "The Council of Elders" because it gives it gravitas, and many of the people making the decisions are the age of my elderly mother. It is also clever because when you say you are attending the Council of Elders meeting, people naturally wonder what the outcome will be. This quirk of mine guides my practice to make meetings more memorable and less monotonous.

It is why when I stumbled on the word cenacle, I discovered a different description of a meeting and a way to give it narrative color. The dictionary defines a cenacle as a group of people, such as a discussion group or literary clique. If you gather a collection of engineers and designers in a room, it often looks like writers arguing about their craft. The word seems fitting for those branding and design meetings that occupy too much time and energy on the calendar. Here is a sample of that word in the office.

Designer #1: When are we going to decide about the new branding?

Me: Well, the cenacle is at 2 PM after lunch, and the VP will approve the wireframes.

D1: I don’t think I was invited to that meeting.

Me: (says the word Innehalten mentally) You might want to check with your manager to see why you were not included.

(End Scene)

Often, we confuse what we learn in class with how to apply that knowledge at work. Fortunately, there is a word that explains the difference between what we know and how we apply it in our lives and its praxis. The word is often used in the academic field of philosophy, which can come across as snooty or smug. I remember being in an MBA seminar, and someone said without a hint of irony, "If we look at the ideas surrounding neoliberal business, though, and its praxis, we can see a disconnect." After my eyes stopped rolling, I realized this was a philosophy student who wanted to sound smart in a business ethics course. They could have said that businesspeople do not practice what they preach when it comes to free markets. Both sentences say the same thing, but one is more accessible to the people doing the work rather than to the economists studying it.

It does not mean that the word praxis cannot be used in a business context; you just need to be careful and read the room. I use it from time to time when there is a gap between training and field practice. One time, I explained that teams were not getting work done on time because we were not setting priorities properly. I then explained to an executive that the inability to set priorities is a shortcoming in our praxis, and being firm about what matters will make us more successful. The executive got the message and began asking important questions about what mattered and what could wait.

Wrapping up –

I did not realize a vocabulary lesson would make me a better leader, but it did. Being able to find your pause in stressful situations, looking at reality, and saying 'nevertheless' are positive soft skills. Meliorism reinforces the idea that people can work together to solve problems, even when those problems feel intractable. Finally, praxis and cenacle lend your language gravitas in the proper situation. The right word at the right time can make a difference, and I look forward to seeing how you use them in your agile practice.

Until next time.