Here’s a question from an “early in career” 22-year-old after working 6 months in a major corporation: “Don’t the senior executives know that when they’re making their speeches to us that they’re not actually saying anything?”

The answer is: They know something’s not right, but they don’t know how to fix it.

This question was asked in innocence and genuine confusion. You could say “through the eyes of a child”, but at 22 years old, this was hardly a child. But it was through the eyes of someone who had not yet been indoctrinated into “corporate culture” where you get used to these kinds of speeches.

Why do senior execs do this? Why do they give speeches full of big but empty corporate words, strung together without real meaning?

I’ve coached many senior level executives, and I know why.

They see other senior executives doing it as they progress upward in their careers. Executives not just in their own company, but in all the others too. So, they think that’s what they’re supposed to do too, to be seen as a leader. The execs they’re emulating are obviously successful, aren’t they? It’s imitation without understanding.

And it doesn’t just affect individuals at senior levels. It happens even at the level of individual contributors, like engineers, finance analysts and salespeople.

I’ve coached many wonderful, dynamic, lovable and even charismatic people who go stiff and unnatural when they have to “give a presentation”.

I ask why they’re doing it, and I get the same answer: “I want to sound professional.”

They think this is what “professional” looks and sounds like.

They mistakenly crush their own spirit.

It’s a misleading notion of what “professional” means. Professional doesn’t mean stiff, formal or unnatural. It doesn’t mean big words.

Professional simply means achieving a professional standard and the ability to produce a high-quality product or result in your work. It means people can count on you. It means that what you produce is valuable and of good enough quality to pay you for it.

Being a professional means that whatever you’re asked to do, you do a high-caliber job of it.

It has nothing to do with “being serious”, or grim and unsmiling, or “being corporate”, or trying to impress people with your choice of words.

Everyone I coach is always relieved to discover they don’t have to be stiff and unnatural while giving important presentations, that they can communicate very directly to their audiences, and say what they mean in a way that’s easy to understand. After coaching, I very often hear, “I feel like myself!”

The last group of execs I coached, one of them said, “We don’t sound like corporate robots anymore.”

Their eyes were full of life. Their body motions were smooth and elegant. Their communication was flawless. Their messages were full of meaning. They were each very individual, unique, and authentic – very different from each other (unlike the “corporate robots” that all look and sound alike).

They are genuinely captivating now and their audiences will be leaning in. The applause at the end will be long and sincere.

If you want to sound professional, the secret is to understand what that really means and how to achieve that outcome. You’ll know you’re doing it right when the people you’re speaking to come alive.

We all have the power to do this. Activate that power and your presentations will never be the same.

Be the cause!