Being interpreted correctly in high ambiguity environments
The quiet truth about senior leadership that rarely gets acknowledged
Your impact is not determined by what you say. It’s determined by how others interpret what you say.
At the junior and mid-levels, clarity is mostly a function of communication. At the senior levels, clarity becomes a function of perception, context, timing, power dynamics, and organisational readiness.
That’s why two leaders can say the same thing and get two wildly different outcomes:
One creates alignment whilst the other creates confusion,
One accelerates momentum whilst the other unintentionally stalls it, or
One is seen as decisive whilst the other is seen as abrupt.
The difference isn’t in intelligence, intent, or capability. It’s in the interpretation. In product and transformation roles where ambiguity is constant and decisions ripple across functions like an expertly skipped stone across a lake, being interpreted correctly becomes one of the most critical leadership skills you can develop.
Let’s unpack why interpretation matters so much, why it becomes harder as you become more senior, and how high impact leaders ensure their message lands the way they intend.
Interpretation is the real currency of senior leadership
At senior levels, your words carry weight. Sometimes they carry more weight that you realise:
A passing comment becomes a strategic directive,
A question becomes a challenge,
A hesitation becomes a signal of doubt,
A suggestion becomes a mandate, or
A “not now” becomes a “never.”
Your team, peers, and executives are constantly interpreting you through the lens with which they see the world. It’s not just your words that they interpret. It’s also your tone, timing, body language, and even your silence.
This is not paranoia at play. It’s simply a reality of the organisational landscape.
People interpret leaders because:
They’re trying to reduce ambiguity,
They’re trying to anticipate change,
They’re trying to protect themselves,
They’re trying to align with perceived priorities, or
They’re trying to read the political landscape.
In environments where information is incomplete and stakes are high, interpretation fills the gaps. This means that if you’re not actively shaping how you’re interpreted, you’re leaving your leadership impact to chance.
Why product and transformation leaders feel this more than anyone else
Product and transformation roles sit at the intersection of strategy, delivery, technology, operations, finance, marketing, customer, executive expections, and more.
You’re constantly navigating competing priorities, shifting roadmaps, and cross-functional dependencies. You’re also often the one introducing change, challenging assumptions, or pushing for alignment.
In this context, your message is rarely received in a vacuum. It’s filtered through:
Functional biases,
Organisational fatigue,
Historical baggage,
Power dynamics,
Stakeholder agendas,
Emotional undercurrents, and
The politics of timing.
This is why a simple statement like “we need to revisit this” can be interpreted as:
“The strategy is changing,”
“The team isn’t performing,”
“Leadership is unhappy,”
“We’re behind schedule,”
“My project is at risk,” or
“We’re pivoting again.”
Even if none of that is true, it’s what is interpreted. Your words don’t just communicate your meaning, they get contextualised into the recipient’s world views.
The three layers of interpretation every senior must master
What you mean: your intent, logic, and reasoning,
What you say: the actual words you choose, and
What they hear: the meaning others assign based on their context, fears, incentives, and assumptions.
Most leaders focus on the first two. High impact leaders focus on the third. This is because leadership is not about transmitting information. It’s about shaping understanding.
Why being misinterpreted is so common at senior levels
Your role changes faster than your communication style: you’re still speaking like an operator, but you’re being interpreted like an executive,
People project their anxieties onto your words: especially during transformation, restructuring, or strategic shifts,
Your visibility amplifies everything: a small comment becomes a big signal,
Cross-functional environments multiply interpretations: engineering hears one thing, finance hears another, and design hears something else entirely, and
Silence is interpreted too: and often this is interpreted more dramatically than words.
Being misinterpreted isn’t a failure. It’s a signal that your leadership context has evolved and you need to adjust. It’s information for you.
How high impact leaders ensure they’re interpreted correctly
They lead with context, not content
Before giving direction, they answer the unspoken questions:
Why now?
Why this?
What’s at stake?
What’s not changing?
What does this mean for you?
Context reduces fear. Fear distorts interpretation.
They name the ambiguity upfront
Instead of pretending clarity exists, they say:
“Here’s what we know…”
“Here’s what we don’t know yet…”
“Here’s what we’re testing…”
“Here’s what this does not mean…”
This prevents people from catastrophising and filling gaps with worst case scenarios.
They check for alignment, not agreement
They ask:
“What are you taking away from this?”
“How are you interpreting this?”
“What concerns does this raise for you?”
This surfaces misinterpretations early before they spread.
They sequence communication intentionally
They know that when you say something is as important as what you say. They consider:
Stakeholder readiness,
Organisational fatigue,
Competing priorities,
Political timing, and
Emotional climate.
High impact leaders don’t just communicate. They orchestrate and are masters at selecting the right time to execute the right communications.
They manage their non-verbal leadership signals
People interpret your tone, pace, posture, facial expressions, level of certainty, and level of calm. Senior leaders send signals even when they don’t intend to. High impact leaders send signals on purpose.
The cost of being misinterpreted
When your message is interpreted incorrectly, you see symptoms like:
Teams spinning in different directions,
Stakeholders escalating unnecessarily,
Decisions being revisited repeatedly,
Misalignment that feels personal,
Resistance that feels irrational, and
A sense that “people just don’t get it.”
We often blame capability (or lack thereof) for this, but it’s more likely to be misinterpretation in the first instance.
And the higher up you go, the more expensive misinterpretation becomes politically, strategically, and emotionally if you aren’t aware of it and fix it early.
Being interpreted correctly is a leadership skill, not a personality trait
This is the part most leaders find liberating. You don’t need to be charismatic, extroverted, or naturally eloquent. But you do need to be intentional about:
How you frame information,
How you sequence communication,
How you manage ambiguity,
How you shape perception,
How you read the emotional climate, and
How you close interpretation gaps.
This is learnable, coachable, and is one of the highest leverage skills you can develop as a senior leader.
If you’re being misinterpreted, it’s not a failure
It’s a signal that:
Your role has expanded,
Your influence has grown,
Your leadership context has changed, or
You’re operating at a level where interpretation matters as much (if not more than) execution.
You’re not doing anything wrong. You’re simply being evaluated by a different standard. One that people forgot to tell you about. And now you have the opportunity to lead at a different level.
If you want to strengthen how you’re interpreted at senior levels, let’s work on this together. Here are three ways:
Influencing for Impact: This practical 2-day workshop is for you if you want to influence a decision maker, influence a change in customer or colleague behaviour, or influence someone to buy something from you,
Executive and Leadership Team Coaching: Work directly with Lai-Ling to problem solve for your specific situation in a confidential setting. This is for you if you want to develop and execute on a game plan that is 100% tailored to you, or
Leadership Development: Invest in the product and transformation leaders in your company with leadership development that is customised for their role. This is for you if you want your people to learn about people and politics.