The Ryan Leak Podcast - Reduce Misunderstandings

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

Ever been misunderstood? We all have. In this episode, Ryan shares how to be the kind of person who reduces misunderstandings... at work, at home, and in marriage. From switching up communication channels to leading with curiosity instead of assumptions, this episode will challenge you to slow down, seek clarity, and build stronger connections in every area of your life.

Hello, my friends. Welcome to the Ryan League podcast where we keep things short and sweet. And we just love to give you some nuggets of inspiration to help you win at work, winning your relationships. And today I've got an episode that I think is going to add value to the way that you communicate with almost anybody in your life. I think we've all had a moment where we were trying to communicate with someone we love, maybe somebody we don't. love maybe it's just somebody we tolerate but we're always communicating back and forth with all kinds of people and in the process of that communication you and i have the propensity to become misunderstood sometimes somebody misreads a text they got a tone from us that was absolutely not what we were trying to communicate perhaps we've all been there where we've been miscalculated you sent a short

text and someone thought you were mad. You didn't reply fast enough and someone thought you were being passive aggressive or you made a decision at work and someone thought you were being selfish or maybe you said something in a meeting that came out the wrong way and now it's like it's the only thing that people remember. It happens. Someone can easily jump to a conclusion about us. And if we're honest, We've done the exact same thing to other people. But the thesis of today's episode, if I can say that, is I wonder, what if we could be one of those rare people who make a decision to reduce misunderstandings instead of multiplying?

Imagine if you just decided to say, you know what, I want to reduce misunderstandings in all of my relationships. And sometimes that simply means choosing a better channel of communication. Instead of texting, we call. Instead of assuming we ask. Instead of defending, we listen. For example, a lot of people don't fully understand even what I do for a living. Even some of my best friends like, dude, we know you're like kind of successful or something. But like, what exactly do you do like all the time?

We know you speak, but that's like for an hour. Like, what do you like do all the time? So people don't fully understand how the business of a speaker, communicator, writer, and how all of that exactly works. And it's not one size fits all. But I will say I am represented by a speakers bureau that is connected to about 30 other speakers bureaus as well. So technically any speakers bureau can book me through.

my agency. Therefore, I have upwards of 20 to 30 different people who are quote unquote pitching me as a speaker to events all around the world. And so what that means is I also have quite a few people, some that I have very close relationship with and some that I've never even met who are speaking on my behalf to companies around the world. And sometimes, they'll send an email that includes something that I have technically said, but the client hears it in a tone that my heart never tended. So, for example, I had a client once who just a couple of weeks ago. They said, hey, we want to be able to share the recording of the keynote that you just gave.

and we want to be able to share that with 100,000 of their employees. So just so you know, like a lot of corporate keynote speakers, they don't even allow for the client to record their talk because it's proprietary and they don't want that out there and so on and so forth. And for me, a lot of that isn't that big of a deal because I put so much of my content on social media anyways. Nevertheless, it is a contractual question that needed to be answered. Now, they're asking if they can just play this recording for 100,000 of their employees.

I had already spoken to just 1,000 of their leaders. And if they play that video for 100,000 of their employees and make that available on all of their computers, well, then from a business standpoint, they would have no reason to bring me back for any of their other events. As you can imagine, if a company has 100,000 employees, they're going to have quite a few events that are for leadership development and training and so on and so forth that I would love to be able to speak at their events. But if they've all already heard me speak, well, then they have no incentive in doing that. And so I could have just replied, nah, you can't do that. But again, the channel of communication was going from my assistant to an agent to a client that would then

go to a VP. And so I just said, hey, give me the number of the person who's asking the question so I can call them and talk to them myself. And so I just picked up the phone and they said, hey, Ryan, it's great to hear from us. Hey, how's it going? It's good talk to you. Hey, hey, here's the deal. What is it that you're really trying to accomplish with the recording for the 100,000 employees and let's just figure this thing out together? And you know what they said? They said, Ryan, thank you so much for calling instead of emailing. It's just so much better to really hear each other. And sometimes even the way that an agent might communicate a message from a client to me,

I might feel some type of way about it. Be like, well, who are they to ask this? And so what we ended up doing was we said, hey, what if we were to just make this available for mid-level managers and above, and that way they can still experience what your other leaders, experience in the room, but it doesn't go to everybody. And hey, let's talk about some future events. And that way, everybody gets a win here. And it was such a pleasant conversation on the phone that over email, I think would have just had a ton of misunderstandings. And so I just think you

and I have an opportunity this week to look at our personal relationships and our professional relationships and goes, is there something that I can do? One small move to reduce misunderstandings. At work, reducing misunderstandings means we don't just fire off emails. We think about, well, how will this email actually be received? We don't let tone get lost in translation. If something feels off in a meeting, we circle back. We clarify what we meant and we double check on what we think we heard. I think great coworkers and great teammates, I don't think they just aim to be understood.

they also work hard to do some of the understanding. And that kind of effort is what builds trust, and it's what avoids drama, and it's what I believe makes collaboration a lot smoother. Even at home, it's even more important, because misunderstandings can multiply in marriage fast, because we assume our partner should already know what we meant, but love doesn't read minds.

It reads patience. It reads effort. Yeah, love can see those things. And reducing misunderstandings in your relationship means being brave enough to say, hey, that's not how I meant that. Or help me understand what you're feeling right now. It means choosing curiosity over criticism. And I think when we do that, we build connection instead of letting confusion drive a wedge.

here's the challenge I'll be one of those people in your personal life and your professional life who reduces misunderstandings how by choosing clarity over assumption

questions over accusations tone over text humility over ego sometimes it means slowing down just long enough to give someone the benefit of the doubt and sometimes it means going the extra mile

to make sure that you're not just being heard but going the extra mile to make sure that you are extending understanding to the person the other side. Thank you, my friend, for listening to the Ryan League podcast today. If today's episode added value to your life or your relationships, I ask you, don't keep it to yourself. Share it with a friend. And hey, it would mean the world to me if you would take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe. I also send out an encouraging text every single week to thousands of people if you like to subscribe to that text. you can text the word podcast to 469-809-1201,

and you'll start getting encouraging text messages for me at the beginning of the week. Thanks for being a part of the journey, and we'll catch you next time.