Peter Winick explains how experts accidentally intimidate audiences with jargon and assumed knowledge, making people disengage and stop asking questions. Watch for glazed-over looks and passive head nods instead of active engagement, which signal you've lost them.
Hi there, it's Peter Winick. I'm the founder and CEO at Thought Leadership Leverage, and today I've got an idea to share with you, and I wanted to get your thoughts and reactions as always. And that is this: are you an accidental intimidator? What do I mean by this? Well, lots of times authors, thought leaders, academics, experts, um, when engaged in conversations with folks, clients, prospects, etc., might wind up intimidating them by inadvertently using jargon or going too technical or assuming that the other person has a level of understanding of the subject matter that's equal to yours or on par with what you're typically used to. And the result of that interaction is they become intimidated. And when they're intimidated, they're not able to lean in. They're not able to actually take in what you're saying because there's, there's fear going on. So, how do you tell if you're doing this? Well, one way you can tell if you're doing this is, is, is just watching people's reactions. Are they leaning in? Are they asking questions? Are they engaged? Or are they pushing back and sort of taking in the conversation more in lecture mode, where they're just a little bit glazed over, taking it in, maybe a head nod, et cetera, et cetera? So, check yourself to see if you're doing this. It's, it's typically unintentional, and that's why I call it sort of the accidental intimidation. Love to hear your thoughts and reactions. Thanks.
