Behavioral scientists have conducted hundreds of studies about the differences between powerful and powerless words and phrases. We are especially smitten with research led by Jonah Berger at the University of Pennsylvania and by our Stanford colleague Jennifer Aaker. We draw mostly on their work to generate five tips about the kind of talk that provokes people to act, persist, and develop imaginative solutions.

She didn’t ask the more generic question, “What practices work best for writing history?” She discovered what practices worked specifically for her.

More generally, we see the following basic pattern:

Encoding —> Awareness of encoding (implicit or explicit) —> Translation into operating modes tailored specifically (and often uniquely) to the person —> Effect

Woodward later described this moment as like a shot of Adrenalin, showing her full support and resolve, but also making clear her standards: “Never” was unacceptable. “At that moment she achieved the perfect managerial pitch,” recalled Woodward. “She wasn’t going to meddle, try to edit or second guess, but she did, after all, want a better performance. Her skill was to raise the bar, gently but relentlessly.” Raising the bar, gently but relentlessly—now that is a powerful leadership encoding.

Yet he remains far less well known than Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Adam’s, Jefferson, and Madison. Sherman sought impact, not fame, responsibility, not credit. He chose the responsibility to protect the Constitution, deploying his leadership encodings into the work right in front of him. Sherman might not have gained the famous legacy of his fellow founders, but he is one of the primary reasons the Constitution itself endured.

SUB-CAPABILITY NO.3: CREDIBILITY EQUITY

Sherman and Franklin made a huge impact late in life partly by drawing upon storehouses of credibility they’d built over decades. It wasn’t just Franklin’s words at the end of the Constitutional Convention that held sway, but also that these words came from Franklin. It wasn’t just that Sherman articulated a strong argument to preserve the actual text of the Constitution and use the amendment mechanism to include the Bill of Rights, but also that the argument came from Sherman.