Words Start Wars and End Wars: "Try"

Twenty five years ago Deidre Diamond went through three years of transformational mind dynamics training and came out with five words she was taught to eliminate from her vocabulary. In this five part series the Founder and CEO of CyberSN opens that training up, joined by cyberpsychology researcher Dr. Erik Huffman to explain what is happening in the brain while it plays out. Episode two is the word try. Deidre calls it out for what it is: the total absence of a measurable agreement. Erik goes further and calls it a cry for help, a sign that someone doubts their own ability to deliver and does not yet feel safe saying so out loud. Deidre demonstrates it live by dropping a pen in front of someone and asking them to try to pick it up. Erik offers his own version, the airport test: if someone says they will try to pick you up from the airport, you are already finding another ride. The rest of the conversation covers why leaders should manage process instead of outcome, what happens to a team when done is never clearly defined, why try creeps back into a project the moment a deadline starts slipping, and why responsibility for clarity sits with whoever holds the power in the conversation rather than the person doing the work.