you have to tell people that the work speaks for itself

Leaders sometimes shrink their on-stage time and mute their own takes out of a good-faith desire to put The Work or The Mission front and center. Especially when things are going well, these leaders want the work to speak for itself. We’re working on the right things and getting good results! I’ll just get in the way and self-promote if I impose my interpretation on this. 

This is a mistake. It’s a leader acting more like a poet than a preacher, relying on implication instead of invocation. The leader hopes people take away the right message instead of directly offering it, with reference to the shared values and mission beneath it.

Paradoxically, if you want the work to speak for itself, you have to tell your people that’s what is happening. “I am not going to make a speech about this. These results should speak for themselves. You know what went into creating these results. You know what these results mean for our customers/community. These results, without much commentary from me, should inspire you, and inspire you to [insert useful next action].”

-eric