Inclusive Leadership Language: Why Word Choice Matters
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Prioritize Collective Language: Replacing self-centered terms (I, my) with collaborative terminology (we, our) strengthens team morale and builds shared accountability.
Highlight Functional Value: Describing team members by their actual role (e.g., Matt, who manages scheduling) rather than possessive ownership labels (my assistant) respects individual contribution.
Adopt Asset-Based Storytelling: Framing wins around collective effort reinforces an inclusive leadership culture and builds long-term trust across the organization.
My first job after college was at a PR agency.
I was working with – and I’m not sure how else to phrase this – men’s men. Think: veterans starting their own government contracting businesses, construction CEOs, cybersecurity leaders and more. There was plenty of little lady-ing.
But there were also many, many lessons that I’m still using in my career today, 15 years later. I’m including one of my favorites below.
What does true people first leadership look like?
I met some truly incredible leaders those first few years.
However, the lesson that truly stuck with me came from Kevin, who was CEO of an electrical contracting firm. (He did not little lady me – shoutout Kevin.)
At the time, I was just starting to ghostwrite for leaders. I submitted one of my first LinkedIn posts and waited for feedback. I thought the feedback for sure would be about the “tricky” content – edits about electrical contracting that I was just learning about.
But it wasn’t.
Kevin’s feedback was about how words matter, because they impact people. They impact morale. They impact who he is as a leader.
For example, he shared that when he writes, he doesn’t use “I” or “my” terms. He also doesn’t describe team members based on who they are to him.
So for example, that meant:
❌ He never wanted to say something like “my assistant” – because that made that person’s role about him, Kevin, not about the value that they brought to the team.
✅ Instead, he would say “Matt, who manages our scheduling.”
❌ He would never say “I got this contract done on schedule and under budget.”
✅ It was all about the team: “Thanks to our team’s hard work, we finished this project on schedule and under budget.”
The difference between I and we is just one letter – but they are worlds apart in how they make people feel. I’ve never forgotten the lesson or the leadership behind it.
Since then, I’ve spent years writing asset-based language and ensuring storytelling feels empowering. But I’ve never stopped (and hope never to stop!) learning from the incredible leaders, community members and peers around me.
I feel lucky to get to do it alongside all of you.
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Niki Juhasz
With 15 years of experience in strategic PR and high-stakes content creation, Niki specializes in executive ghostwriting, leadership messaging and impact-driven campaign strategy. Drawing on a background managing multi-million-dollar C-suite accounts and award-winning advocacy campaigns, she now partners with Forthright Advising clients to master their authentic brand voice.
