• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Trak Search

Committed to the recruitment of Leaders in education and faith-based organisations since 1995

  • Home
  • Jobs
  • Register
  • Blog
  • Contact

Avoid the deadly sins of speaking

May 12, 2020 by TrakSearch

Avoid the deadly sins of speaking

In this short TED talk, Julian Treasure gets straight into sharing the 7 deadly speaking sins. We’ve all experienced these from a listeners perspective, but also no doubt have fallen into these traps ourselves. Have you committed any of these ‘sins’?

Gossip

We all know that the person gossiping now will likely be doing the same about us in 5 minutes times.

Judging

How do you feel when listening to someone who you believe is judging you? Do you engage? Listen intently? Most likely not.

Negativity

All this does is drain the life and energy out of people. This is a sure-fire way to have people turn off and most likely looking for a way to exit the conversation and avoid future ones.

Complaining

This is quite like the negativity and all it does is spread misery rather than brightness into the world.

Excuses

We all know ‘the blame thrower’. That person who takes no responsibility for their actions. (There’s a leader overseas who best demonstrates this one!) People turn off very quickly to this as they wonder who’s going to get the blame next.

Exaggeration/lying

The more people exaggerate the bigger the stories get. Sometimes this can be fun and entertaining. But much of the time it is the path to lying and people start to question what is fact, and what is fiction.

Dogmatism

The confusion of fact with opinion can be hard to distinguish. Especially if it is being rammed down your throat by someone.

What to do?

To counter these, Julian shares an acronym (HAIL) that he suggests we should remember in our engagement with others:

  • Honesty – be clear and straight
  • Authenticity – be yourself and stand in your presence
  • Integrity – be your word
  • Love – wish them well

If in our heart we are wishing people well and following these pillars, it would be quite difficult to fall into the speaking sins trap.

Here is the 9-minute TED talk where Julian shares these deadly sins of speaking, his speaking pillars, your voice toolkit and some practical warm-ups for your voice. Quite a lot of knowledge in such a short talk.

Want to watch even more TED Talks we have shared. Check them all out here.

Browse Our Blog

  • Learning and Growth
  • Management & Leadership
  • People in the News
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Recruitment Insights

Hiring a Senior Executive?

FREE guide on the common pitfalls and the ‘One Thing’ to focus upon. We will also register you for our Weekly Alerts so you never miss a featured job.

  • Hiring a senior executive

Register For Weekly Alerts

Connect With Us!

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Telephone:
1300 TO TRAK (1300 868 725)

Copyright © 2025 Trak Search | Privacy | Collection Statement| Site map