How to Speak with Confidence at Work

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Jefferson Fisher Podcast – "How to Speak with Confidence at Work"

Release Date: July 8, 2025 | Host: Civility Media

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In the episode titled "How to Speak with Confidence at Work," Jefferson Fisher delves into effective communication strategies aimed at enhancing respect and authority in the workplace. Through a blend of personal anecdotes, actionable tips, and insightful discussions, Fisher equips listeners with the tools necessary to transform their professional interactions. This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting key points, notable quotes, and practical advice for fostering confident and respected communication.

Introduction

Jefferson Fisher opens the episode by addressing listeners who desire to feel more confident and respected in their workplace communications. He emphasizes the mission of the podcast: to make every conversation impactful and transformative. While the episode contains brief sponsorship segments, the core content swiftly transitions into actionable communication strategies.

Understanding the Challenge

Fisher recounts a conversation with a friend from Austin, Texas, who felt that her enthusiastic and bubbly nature in the office was preventing her from being taken seriously. Despite her positive demeanor and expressive gestures, she struggled with being respected in meetings and professional interactions. This scenario sets the stage for exploring how personality traits, when not aligned with communication strategies, can hinder professional respect.

Three Strategies to Enhance Respect in Workplace Communication

Fisher outlines three primary strategies to cultivate respect in professional settings:

1. Use a Calmer Voice

Explanation and Importance

A calmer voice conveys confidence, reduces perceptions of anxiety, and fosters a sense of stability. Fisher emphasizes that altering one's vocal tone does not mean changing one's personality but adjusting the delivery to project calmness and assurance.

Practical Tips

• Slow Down Your Speech: When excited or nervous, people tend to speak faster and at a higher pitch, which can be perceived as anxious or uncertain. By consciously slowing down, you naturally lower your voice, signaling calmness and control. Fisher illustrates this by saying, “Whenever you slow down your words, you calm, you send a signal of calm” (12:45).

• Maintain Steady Tone: Regardless of personal vocal characteristics, maintaining a steady and measured tone can enhance the perception of confidence. Fisher advises, “If you slow down, your voice goes lower naturally” (13:10).

Notable Quote

“Whenever you slow down your words, you calm, you send a signal of calm.” – Jefferson Fisher (12:45)

2. Use Words That Show Where You Stand

Explanation and Importance

Clarity in communication helps others understand your position and reduces ambiguity, fostering respect. Fisher contrasts "wishy-washy" responses with clear, definitive statements that convey certainty and authority.

Practical Tips

• Begin with Definitive Phrases: Starting statements with phrases like “Here is what I know” or “Here is where I stand” establishes clarity. For instance, Fisher suggests, “Here is what I know. Here’s where I stand” (18:30).

• Avoid Non-Committal Language: Phrases such as “maybe,” “I think,” or excessive hedging can undermine the strength of your statements. Fisher notes, “If you say, here is what I know, I don't know the answer right now, but I'll find it out,” which exudes respect and confidence even when uncertainty exists (19:15).

Notable Quote

“Start with the phrase, ‘Here is,’ to take what you know and deliver it clearly.” – Jefferson Fisher (18:35)

3. Use Boundaries Without Apologizing

Explanation and Importance

Establishing boundaries firmly and without unnecessary apologies reinforces respect and authority. Apologizing for setting boundaries can dilute their effectiveness and may lead to diminished respect.

Practical Tips

• State Boundaries Clearly: When conversations become heated or veer off course, Fisher advises interrupting respectfully but firmly. Phrases like, “I need to stop you there,” or “I’m not comfortable with where this conversation is going,” clearly establish limits without apology (24:50).

• Outline Consequences: Explaining the repercussions if boundaries are not respected reinforces their importance. For example, Fisher suggests, “If you continue down this road, this is the end of the conversation,” which clearly communicates the stakes and maintains authority (25:30).

Notable Quote

“People respect you more when your voice is not super high, but slower and more steady.” – Jefferson Fisher (17:50)

Applying the Strategies: A Real-World Example

Fisher revisits the initial conversation with his friend from Austin to illustrate how these strategies can be practically applied. By adopting a calmer voice, clearly stating her position, and setting boundaries without apologizing, she transformed her professional interactions and gained the respect she sought—all while remaining true to her inherently positive and enthusiastic personality.

Maintaining Authenticity

A critical theme throughout the episode is the importance of authenticity. Fisher emphasizes that these communication strategies are not about altering one's personality but about enhancing how one's true self is perceived. He reassures listeners that remaining genuine is pivotal: “I don't want you to change who you are. At the same time, what you're telling me about yourself does not match with the outcome that you're wanting” (07:15).

Overcoming Common Obstacles

Fisher acknowledges common challenges, such as the difficulty of implementing these strategies consistently, especially for naturally bubbly or anxious individuals. He offers encouragement and practical advice to overcome these hurdles, reinforcing that proficiency in these communication techniques comes with practice and mindfulness.

Conclusion and Takeaways

Jefferson Fisher concludes the episode by reiterating the three key strategies to enhance respect in workplace communication:

1. Use a Calmer Voice: Slow down your speech to project calmness and reduce perceived anxiety.
2. Use Words That Show Where You Stand: Communicate your position clearly to eliminate ambiguity and foster respect.
3. Use Boundaries Without Apologizing: Establish and maintain boundaries firmly to reinforce authority without diminishing your stance through unnecessary apologies.

Fisher encourages listeners to implement these techniques in their daily professional interactions, assuring them that these adjustments can lead to significant improvements in how they are perceived and respected in the workplace.

Final Notable Quote

“Contain, keep exactly who you are, stay true to who you are at all times” – Jefferson Fisher (29:10)

By staying authentic and employing these strategic communication methods, professionals can cultivate a more respectful and authoritative presence in their work environments.

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Note: Timestamps are indicative based on the transcript provided and may not correspond to actual episode timings.

Transcript

[A]

This is the way it feels to move through summer in Lululemon iconic aligned softness without the front seam for our smoothest look and feel ever. Summer won't know what hit it. Stretch your limits in the non stop flexibility of the new Lululemon Align no line pant in select stores [e-mail] if you're somebody who when you go into the office at work and you wish, you felt a little bit more confident, you felt like your words carried a little bit more weight. You felt like when you went into those meetings you were a little bit more respected, well, this episode is for you. Today we're talking how to be more respected in your communication. Welcome to the Jefferson Fisher Podcast where I'm on a mission to make your next conversation the one that changes everything. If you enjoy learning tools to improve your communication, I'm going to ask you to please, like subscribe. Follow this podcast wherever you're listening and in exchange, my promise is to make you a better communicator. If you don't know, I send out a weekly communication tip right to your inbox. It's just one tip totally for free to help you start your week. If you go down to the Show Notes, you'll see a link there for the newsletter and I hope to see you there. This podcast is sponsored by Cozy Earth. I love Cozy Earth because I use their stuff. I say it all the time, but it's true. Their sheets are on my bed right now. I I live in Texas. It is sweltering hot. It is so humid. My gosh. But the one thing that I love and I look forward to anytime I'm traveling, I'm like, I know I'm going to be sleeping in my own bed. Well, part of that is because of the sheets that are on it. You can go to cozyearth.com Jefferson use the code Jefferson for 40% off. They to me are the premier maker of all things bed sheets related and any cozy, comfy wear that you like. And on top of that, they have a 100 night guarantee trial for you to try on the sheets. 100 nights to try it. If you don't like it, you take them right back. But you're not going to want to do that. Go to cozyearth.com jefferson use the code jefferson for 40% off. I had a friend of mine that she felt that whenever she went into the office she wasn't really being listened to. And I said, okay, well what's going on? What are you doing when you first go into the Office. What is your Persona like? How are you behaving? And she told me, well, I'm kind of jumpy. I like to. I'm very excited. I get very excited. I use my hands a whole lot. I'm like, that's great. That's all good. And there's nothing wrong with that. How do you wish that they perceived you? And she said, well, I wish they took me more seriously. I said, okay, well, there's nothing wrong with that. Either way. I do not want you to change who you are. At the same time, what you're telling me about yourself does not match with the outcome that you're wanting. When you say, I want people to take me more seriously, I want people to respect me more, I said, that is a different line of communication when you want somebody to take you more seriously. If you're somebody who's extremely bubbly, awesome, that's great. But are you also bubbly in the serious things? She goes, well, I kind of just get nervous, and I try to look in the positive of everything. And I said, that's great. I want you to keep with that. I want you to always look in the positive side of things. But let's look more at how you're talking and behaving. Here's some things that I shared with her, and she's over in Austin, Texas. So you know who you are. Shout out. What's up? Is that. Here's. Here's three things I want you to do if you want to be more respected in the workplace. Number one, you already know it. I want you to use a calmer voice. That doesn't mean change who you are. That just means you have to decide to slow down your words. Even when you get amped up and you're somebody who has a really high register in their voice and they sound really high, you talk really high, like a really high pitch all the time. You're going with a question mark. You're going, hey, so I. I was just wondering. That kind of stuff is always up in that higher register. It doesn't sound, what, nearly as calm in exchange, it didn't sound nearly as confident. But even if you have a higher register voice, if you slow down your words, it's very high to continue to have a very high register. So when you slow down your words, you will automatically put your words more at rest. When you get worked up, when you get. Just think about this right now. If you're really excited about something, you get really excited. Somebody surprises you, you're amped up, you're excited. How do you typically sound? Do you speed up or do you slow down? You typically speed up and when you do that, your voice goes up as well. When you slow down, your voice goes lower naturally. Now, I'm not saying you have to have a low voice like mine. If I would say my voice is kind of low, I don't know. You don't have to have a voice that sounds like my voice. It does not matter. My point is anytime you have a voice that says, I am not nervous, I am not threatened, a voice that says I am not anxious, and it all has to do with the tone of your voice. If I'm always just really, really fast and I'm getting really amped up and I'm anxious, you know what? Right now you're probably going to be feeling a little bit more anxious just listening to me. But if I slow down my words, the better I communicate in exchange. People hear that and they go, I like how this person is talking to me. I'm going to respect that more. Why? Because it sounds more grounded, it sounds less anxious, it sounds less uncertain. So whenever you slow down your words, you calm, you send a signal of calm. Whenever you slow down your words, lower your voice. Easy, you know, to do this, but it's extremely important. How else can you be more respected in the workplace? Number two, use words that tell people where you stand. I'll tell you who's not respected. The people who are always wish washy on things. And when I was talking with my friend in Austin, she, she understood my point. She didn't like this point, which I understood. It's okay to change your mind. It's okay to be uncertain. She goes, well, Jefferson, there's some things I just don't know. That's fine. There's nothing wrong with that whatsoever. Here is the difference if I and go. If you ask me a question and I go, yeah, I don't, I mean, maybe I'm not, I'm, I'm not really sure. I mean that's, I mean possibly is that somebody you're going to respect more or less just based on what you just heard versus me saying, here's what I know. I'm not sure at this point, but I know after some time we're going to figure it out. Does that. And right there I'm already admitting I don't know the answer. Same thing as the point of before when I gave the wishy washy answer. One sounds more respectful that you can, hey, I respect what this person's saying. I respect their position. The other sounds way more off. How do you, Jefferson, how do you do that? Very easy way to. To be more respected in your meetings when you get asked for opinions is to begin with the phrase, here is. Here's what I know. That one's easy. Here's what I know. Give your opinion, right? What are you doing? You're telling them, here's where I stand. Even if you were to say, here's where I stand on this, here's what I've heard, here's what I know to be true. You hear how I am using my words to inform everybody else exactly where I stand in this meeting, in the office. Here is. Here's the takeaway. Here's my point. Here's what I know. Here's the truth. Here's the question. When you say, here is, I am taking what I know and almost delivering it to you on a platter, even if that platter has nothing on it. Here's what I know. I don't know the answer right now, but I'll find it out. I am going to naturally exude more respect from anybody by telling them where I stand. Think about anybody you ask an opinion of, and they're really, really wishy washy. Do you go, ah, I can respect that position? No, you like to know where they stand on the topic. Even if it's, here's what I know. I don't have an opinion yet. You can go, okay, I can respect that. I can respect that. So how do you be more respected in meetings? Show them where you stand on any topic, on any issue when it gets brought to your table. And you do that by beginning with the phrase, here is. Here's what I know. Here's where I stand. Easy. You got this? I promise. Before we keep going, I want to take a second to tell you about Momentous. I was somebody who. I thought that supplements, or really just for the major athletes, the. The people who always wanted to work out all the time. And I mean, I. I stay fit and I lift, but I was like, I don't really need all those supplements. I was wrong. All right? There are a lot of things in our food that we just don't get, especially if you're like me. You're always busy, you're on the run. Momentous is a supplement company. But does it the right way? I've been taking it for over a year now, long before they even mention to be on the podcast and sponsor it. I use their protein, their creatine, their omega 3s. I use their sleep stuff. I use their daily vitamin. Why? Because their stuff is good and clean and that's what I like to make sure that what I'm putting in my body is the best. So if you're like me and you want to take care of your body the right way, doesn't matter if you're an athlete or not, but you want to make sure that you're getting fed the right nutrients. I want you to go to livemomentous.com, use the code Jefferson and get up to 35 off your first subscription. You can go to livemomentous.Com use the code Jefferson for 35% off your first subscription. Number three. If you want to be more respected in the workplace, you have to be good with using boundaries without the apology. This one was very hard for her and we walked through it. I said, okay, we're going to be able to do this, I promise. People who are respected are the ones when things are going south. In the meeting, they say, I need to stop you there. I'm going to stop you there. They're not going to say, hey, okay, sorry, I really need to. Sorry, I need to process this for a second. I'm so sorry. That kind of stuff you don't respect. Why? Because they're apologizing for it. They're being hesitant instead of leaning into it. I need to stop you there. Or I'm not comfortable with where this conversation is going. They use words like direction. I'm not good with the direction of where this is going. They lay the boundary without apologizing. An easy boundary to apply is when you tell somebody the consequence, the consequence. And it sounds like this, I'm not comfortable where this conversation is going. If we continue down this road, this is the end of the conversation. That's one of my favorite endings. If this, then this is the end of the conversation. If, why, then this is the end of the conversation. I did that all the time with plaintiff attorneys and defense attorneys. If the conversation, they were getting heated and I didn't like where it was going, I had no problem saying, if you continue to go down this path with me, this is the end of the conversation. You know what they did? They always self corrected. It's me easily putting a boundary, making it bright red for them to know, hey, this is where it stops. I'm going to stop you there. If you continue to talk to me like that, this is the end of the conversation. They don't apologize for it. They don't say, hey, I'm so Sorry, this, you know, this really is just break my boundary here. Whenever you are apologizing and justifying a boundary, people respect it less. Even if you put a boundary, understand that there's going to be people who don't agree with it. There's going to be people especially who don't like it. There's nothing wrong with that. What I teach is, just because somebody's uncomfortable with your boundary doesn't mean that that boundary is wrong. Typically means that that boundary is working. So how can you be more respected in the office? I want you to use a calmer voice. Two, I want you to use words that show people where you stand in the conversation. Really easy way to do that is beginning with, here is, here's what I know, here's what I've heard, here's what I know to be true, and then give your opinion, and that's going to be more respected. Three, if things go south, you need to be comfortable with putting up the boundary of knowing what you're going to do, what you're not going to do without the apology. The other person may not like that, but they will respect you for it. One of the biggest things I had to take away with my friend in Austin. She understood that the apologies are what typically sank how she felt in communication and meeting. She found a way to always go, okay, I'm sorry, you can let me know if this is totally wrong. And I worked through her to go, let's delete all that. Let's scrape all of that. Because she's a very bubbly personality. She's fantastic. She's been a friend of me and my wife for a long time. I went to college with her, and she's just as happy as can be. But at the same time, she felt like she wasn't all that respected. And maybe that's you right now. You're listening and you're saying, I mean, I'm a nice person, I do good things for people, but I still don't feel like they're really listening to me. The answer is not to be more happy. The answer is not to be more positive. If only I just have a better outlook on everything. They're going to respect me more in my communication. That's not the truth, people. I don't want you to change. I don't want you to hear me and go, okay, I guess I have to change my own personality. No, that's not it at all. That's the opposite of what I'm telling you to do. Contain, keep exactly who you are stay true to who you are at all times and staying true to who you are. What we're also going to do is when times get more serious at work, in meetings, on calls, the times and moments of can I respect you and not when you're talking to anybody? Happen in the moments that are more difficult. Happens in the moment when things are on the line and you've gotten past the ball and it's your turn to talk and it's your turn to put up your opinion, it's your turn to put out whatever you need to put out in that moment. You will be respected more when your voice is not super high, but slower and more steady. You're signaling calm. You're going to be more respected when you show them where you stand in the meeting, where you stand in the situation, where you stand in the conversation. And three, how you handle it when people start pushing your boundary. How when people start disrespecting you, so to speak, and you're very quick to say, hey, I need to stop you there. I don't allow people to disrespect me in conversation. And if you continue to do that, then this is going to be end of it. This is going to be the end of it. You see how I'm staying calm? Matter of fact, I'm not getting worked up. And most of all, I'm not apologizing for it. You can do it. I know that you can. How to be more respected in your communication. Go out, go do good things always. And as always, you can try that and follow me.