Actions Speak Louder Than Words

This the fourth of several postings this week regarding my new, just-released book: The Transparent Leader: Clear and Effective Leadership Communication.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

One of the most compelling statistics I know to support this tip was offered by Dr. Albert Mehrabian, now professor emeritus at UCLA and leading researcher in nonverbal communications. Merhrabian discovered through experimentation something we all know innately, if subconsciously: Actions do tell the story. In fact, one of his principal discoveries is the following:

--Only 7% of communication comes from the actual words themselves, 38% is from the tone of the voice, and 55% comes from body language.

--If you consider tone as a form of nonverbal embellishment, Mehrabaian’s work is really saying that when we talk, only 7% comes from the words we speak BUT a whopping 93% comes from the way we say it—our nonverbals!