6 Act Of Speech: Speaking As a Tool

Speaking As a Tool For Getting Things Done

We are builders, and we build the world together. We can build coffee tables, houses, palaces, and waterparks with really fun slides.

· · ·To build, we need hammers, nails, saws, and concrete mixers. But we also need another tool: language. Calls. Texts. Emails. Tweets. Shouting. Cursing (not too much cursing).· · ·

We usually think of language as passive, describing things. “The house is blue.” “The hammer is heavy.” “The water slide gave me a wedgie.” But language also does things. Think of a construction site.

“You’re hired”—declares that someone a job.

“Paint that wall red, please”—requests someone do something.

“If you drop another brick on my foot I will spit in your soda”—creates a promise, a contract about future events.

These are “speech acts.” We can think of them as tools that build shared understanding as surely as tools make houses. And they can either assist or hinder us in getting things done, depending on whether they’re done clearly, effectively and properly. That way if you’re building a house, the roof ends up on top and the basement on the bottom and we end up with a house, not a missile silo.

Language, not unlike building, is much easier to learn than to master – and the most critical skill any of us can continue to build through our lifetimes. I’ve worn many hats in my life – from taking dotcom-era startups public, to carrying multi-million dollar quotas, to negotiating billions in IT spend for Fortune 1000 buyers. At each of these steps, language has been the most critical toolset for success, and one I’ve honed with the help of dozens of mentors and resources (I’d love to attribute and thank each one but there have been too many to avoid inadvertent omissions). Today, I’m passing on that knowledge to young impact-focused CEOs while helping them assemble the same supportive relationships that took me decades to build on my own. And once again, language is at the core of our coaching and mentoring sessions. And proper speech turns into revenue and revenue builds value.

There are six basic types of speech acts. Understanding these six basic tools will help us understand how our words shape reality, and how we can shape our tongues, texts, and emails into powerful hammers and spikes that would make John Henry proud.

We are builders, and we build the world together. Coffee tables, houses, palaces, waterparks with really fun slides. To build, we need hammers, nails, saws, and concrete mixers. But we also need another tool: language.

The boardroom table is oak. Twelve chairs. A whiteboard with yesterday's strategy still half-erased. And the thing that will determine whether this meeting produces anything — the only thing — is whether the people around this table understand that every sentence they speak is an action, not a description.

Six acts. Six tools. A promise creates a future that didn't exist before the words were spoken. A request opens a door that was closed. A declaration changes reality by fiat — "you're hired," "we're done," "this is unacceptable." An assessment offers judgment that, if grounded, becomes the basis for decision. An assertion states a fact that can be verified. An offer extends a possibility that requires acceptance to become real.

Most people use language as if it were a camera — pointing at reality and capturing it. The speech acts framework reveals that language is a construction tool. Every sentence builds or demolishes. Every email is an act of architecture. The person who understands this has an asymmetric advantage in every room they enter.

The fear that makes this personal: knowing that language is a tool and still using it carelessly. Promises made without intention to keep them. Assessments offered without grounding. Requests disguised as complaints. The gap between knowing the framework and living it is where the real work happens.

Words are not descriptions of the world. They are the material from which the world is built.