The Awesome & The Awful Power of WORDS
When I was a teenager growing up, one day my dad asked me — What do you think is the most powerful invention by humans on earth? My answer was an obvious one — what I believed to be a universal truth — MONEY! That’s what runs our world. It buys comfort, luxury, independence, influence, even friendship. What on earth could be more powerful than money? Surprisingly, he begged to differ. His view was that WORDS were the most powerful thing that humans had ever invented.
At that young age I really didn’t see it. Words are just sounds that we humans use to communicate our thoughts and feelings in our everyday lives. Ok, maybe some leaders are able to inspire many people with their rousing rhetoric but how many such leaders are there in the world? Yes, there are great writers and imaginative poets whose insightful works have endured through the ages. But THE most powerful? That’s not what I thought words to be. Inspiring, uplifting, moving, beautiful, engrossing, motivating, memorable — yes, sure. Electrifying sometimes. But not the most powerful.
Power is defined by Merriam-Webster as “possession of control, authority, or influence over others”. Could words really exert more control over people than money? Nah.
Today, after many more years of living life, I’m in total awe of the power of words — both the awesome and the awful power of words. And I know now that my dad was absolutely right!
Recently, we witnessed the amazing power and magic of words in the poem read by young Andrea Gorman at the inauguration ceremony. We also experienced its awful strength in the misinformation spread over social media then reinforced by endless repeats, and how this can “control” literally thousands of people. Get them to attack viciously, even seek to kill. Definitely those words have more control, and therefore greater power, than just money.
With great power comes great responsibility. As we know, any power can be used or abused. Words are no different. Truthful words have great power, and lies do too. Both can influence people much more than money can.
As a startup founder in my own small sphere I’ve learnt first-hand about the power of story-telling. First and foremost, customers and investors have to believe in our story, in what we say to them. Words not only express our vision and intention, they transform hearts and minds. There’s nothing more powerful than that.
Words. Yes, that’s what runs this world.
