What is the importance of the first seven words you speak? - Education Matters Magazine

Opinion, The Last Word

What is the importance of the first seven words you speak?

Dr Stephen Brown says making leaders aware of a simple but powerful verbal communication technique – conveyed in seven words – can have a significant impact.

“We deny they are telling the truth”.

Image: Dr Stephen Brown

The newspaper article headline noted this seven-word statement provided by the defence team for former school Principal, Malka Leifer. These words are small but convey a clarity of message, the legal position to be adopted.

In 2017, I sat in my medical specialist’s consulting room, and he uttered seven words I will always remember: “You are certain to get pancreatic cancer.” These words are etched in my psyche – carved into my memory forever. I remember being incapable of speaking and then going into a state buffered by waves of various emotions.

Finally, a LinkedIn post from Bernard Salt, AM (November 2023), in which he shares a reflection from visiting his grandmother in country Victoria when he was 11-years-old. “A single comment was made that has stayed with me all these years. My grandmother said that her family had ‘come over early and worked on stations’. That was it. But it was significant enough to have me intrigued and to get me hooked”. Another seven words.

What is the importance of the first seven words stated? Are each of the above examples’ random coincidences? Let’s come back to that…

Effective leadership and effective communication are intertwined. Arguably, the best leaders are skilled communicators. When done well, leadership communication inspires trust, positive change, and productive professional relationships (Centre for Creative Leadership, 2023).

The Australian Institute of Management’s 2024 Whitepaper, Leadership Reimagined, notes that the number one ranked most valuable leadership capability at 60 per cent from respondents is communication.

In the same survey in 2021 communication was rated at 42 per cent, second only to the related capability of emotional intelligence. The report notes: “Ultimately, the common thread running through leadership skills is the ability to communicate effectively. And that means being able to communicate well to different ways of working using different mediums and technologies” (AIM, 2024, p6).

Communication between people always runs the risk of being misunderstood. This is in part because the intended recipient of the message, the listener or reader, races ahead to attach their interpretation of what is being communicated. 

Why does this happen and what are the implications for leaders in shaping and delivering their messages through verbal communication? Simply put, it’s all about ‘the first seven words’ according to a colleague, Andrew O’Keeffe.

The first clue relates to the working memory of the brain. O’Keeffe (2011), author of Hardwired Humans, notes that the brain of the listener, being human, works in two second chunks, the equivalent of seven words. The other insight from the research is that the listener makes sense by classifying the meaning attached to what they heard, or thought they heard.

These two insights form the communication technique of the first seven words. Making leaders aware of this simple but powerful technique has had a significant impact on their practices. 

This has helped leaders frame their approach to undertaking challenging conversations; articulating their personal vision in the form of an initial refrain; developing a common language as a basis for connecting people and building organisational culture and to make very conscious the power of the spoken word.

“As managers and leaders, we must be able to communicate in the moment in compelling ways. We’ll also need to start collaborating in new ways, as this is an area that is going to rapidly evolve” (AIM, 2024, p7).

Remember, the first seven words you speak. Suggestions from O’Keeffe (2011) to make these initial words count include the use of jargon-free language, focus on a single concept, be specific and truthful. A technique that will help leaders to refine arguably the core aspect of their work.

About the author

Dr Stephen Brown is the Managing Director of The Brown Collective, focused on the formation of educational leaders and partnering with schools, networks and system to enable sustainable impact. The organisation reflects both his collective experience over 40 years in policy, strategy and leadership development – and that of the remarkable global network he has developed during this career.

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