Lisa and Elizabeth McLeod: Words always matter

(upbeat music) - When I was a little kid, I was a big believer in the tooth fairy, a big believer. I used to write the tooth fairy letters all the time. - And the tooth fairy, to her credit, gave fabulous answers. I started something really simple, I think you were like four or five, writing you a note on your first tooth or second tooth, I'm so proud of what you're doing in school. And then you got that note and then you wrote one back. - This is where it all began. I took that letter and I decided we were pen pals. It got to the point where I wasn't even losing teeth, I was still writing letters to the tooth fairy. Where do you live? How do you become the tooth fairy? - What do you wear? - Uh, my mom and I got in a fight today. She wouldn't let me go next door and play with Stephen Messler. She's so mean. - The tooth fairy was so understanding, "Oh, sweetie." I think it made you feel like someone was 100% on your side. - Right, I had pen pal who really understood the perils of being six. So, at the Christmas party in second grade, all the kids were in the playroom, and the big topic of the night in the kid room was is Santa real or not. - You looked at me and you said, "I need you to tell me the truth." I can't lie. - It's now or never. It's going to be 15 and believe in Santa Claus. - You said, "Are you Santa?" - That wasn't the hugest deal in the world to me. I went upstairs, thought, "You know, Santa's not real. Easter Bunny's odds are looking so hot either. And then it hit me." - She's going to know. It was so different because Santa and the Easter Bunny come once a year, but the tooth fairy was like every week. - The tooth fairy was every week. - Letters. And you cam back downstairs and you looked at me. You looked me straight in the eye and you said, "The tooth fairy?" I could barely make eye contact. I was like, "Yes, that's me too." It was terrible. - But there is a lesson to be learned from all of this and I look at what we do now and how we're partnered in a business that's focused on igniting emotional engagement. I think back to how those letters really did that for me and they did it all through language. - Yeah and I think about that situation and I hadn't thought about it in awhile, but this point that we often find ourselves talking with leaders about, which is the words of the leader matter. - Right, and you wrote that letter to me at 11:30 at night and it was such a small piece of your day. - But it was everything to you. - It was everything to me and the same thing happens at work that a leader fires off a slightly nasty email that was one little blip on their entire day. It means the world to everyone who received it. - The things we talk about, emotional engagement, competitive differentiation, noble purpose. - Right, they all center around the words. - I feel like we started a really important conversation twenty some odd years ago with those letters. - With the tooth fairy. - With the tooth fairy letters. I thank you for forgiving me for that. But, I feel like we started a really important emotional conversation and we are continuing it in our work and with our clients now. - Completely true. I'm only mildly scarred. - That's the best any parent can hope for, only mildly scarred. (record scratching)