In this episode, we welcome Djalma from Brazil - a teacher with nearly 20 years of experience whose LinkedIn headline is “Communicating in English with confidence.”
He says, “It’s More Than English - It’s About Authority. I help international professionals go beyond grammar to find their voice and communicate with the confidence that showcases their true expertise.“
Djalma argues that the speaker who makes mistakes but speaks with confidence wins.
He explains that for professionals, getting the job done matters most, and you can achieve that through strong communication strategies, while grammar is often negligible and can be fixed later.
Djalma shares crucial strategies for professionals. He illustrates how Confidence is a Skill, citing the story of a software architect who went from shattered confidence to feeling like “Superman” in less than 12 weeks merely by implementing communication strategies.
A core lesson is The Power of Explanation: if you develop the skill of explaining yourself in different ways (using analogies or examples), you can relax because you know that you don’t need that specific, perfect word.
Plus, Djalma emphasises the need to Structure Your Authority. You can learn to use frameworks, such as the “magic of three” (introduction, development, conclusion), to organise your ideas and prevent rambling, which helps people feel you have authority and can be trusted.
Ultimately, it boils down to Mindset: when presented with the choice of listening to someone who speaks error-free but without confidence, or someone who makes lots of mistakes but speaks with confidence, the confident speaker always wins.
Reflection:
What is your current level of confidence when communicating in English?
Do you focus more on linguistics (perfect language skills) or communication skills?
