Lately, I was attending a general assembly and found myself listening to the way the speakers were describing their own work.

What I came to realize is the impact of the words we use on the work we do.

Reporting on one’s work is never easy. It puts us and our work at risk of being judged and being misunderstood.

A lot of the speakers shared that the work they are doing is exciting, that the actions are important and that the encounters have been interesting. To talk about the intent of their work they explained how they plan to connect with other entities or that the projects will create impact.

They didn’t go into more details than that.

Something interesting appeared when one of the speakers started to explain two projects he has been leading. He shared specific actions they have been working on in their team and why they had chosen these actions. He also explained what he is aiming to achieve with them.

He didn’t need to add that what these teams are doing is exciting.

He had described his position and made achievements visible.

Most speakers had taken the risk to be judged for themselves. Only one had taken the risk to be judged for his work.