Not Just Semantics: How Language Shapes Your Leadership

What does it take to lead when you don’t have the title, the authority, or the last word? In this episode, Dr. Megan-Brette Hamilton—SLP, professor, qualitative researcher, and ASHA’s Chief Staff Officer for Multicultural Affairs—shares how real influence is built through trust, clarity, and connection. With experience spanning Brooklyn classrooms, university lecture halls, and national leadership circles, Megan-Brette shows us what it means to design culture from the inside out—through the words we choose, the relationships we build, and the systems we challenge. In this illuminating conversation, we explore: - Writing evaluations that allow families to see and understand their children, not just their test results - Building buy-in from students and staff—even when you don’t have direct authority - Aligning “thought bubbles” across multidisciplinary teams to create shared advocacy and action - Understanding the difference between purpose and goal—and how that distinction unlocks more strategic leadership - Using ethnographic interviewing with students, families, teachers, and your own team to uncover motivators, reduce assumptions, and foster trust - Conducting “desk visits” as a simple but powerful way to understand the complex humans on your team—so corrective feedback can be grounded in connection, not correction - Repairing dysfunctional teams by separating issues from individuals, zooming out to root causes, and re-centering shared values - Practicing interprofessional collaboration that ensures everyone—from SLPs to teachers to social workers—is delivering consistent messages, language, and expectations, making student generalization seamless and meaningful. Whether you're supporting students in therapy rooms, leading school-based teams, or shaping inclusive systems, Megan-Brette reminds us that culture isn’t handed down—it’s built. And it begins with how we listen, how we lead, and how we lift others along the way.