Vocabulary—A Treasure Chest for Success

Ken Olan

1 In my years of studying success I’ve learned some fascinating facts about the relationship
between the size of one’s vocabulary and how successful a person is in life. I think these
insights may provide you with some new perspective on just how important it is to develop
your personal vocabulary. At least I hope they will.

2Reader’s Digest published an article by Blake Clark some years ago entitled, “Words Can Do
Wonders for You.” In the article he wrote, “Tests of more than 350,000 persons from all walks
of life show that, more often than any other measurable characteristic, knowledge of the exact
meanings of a large number of words accompanies outstanding success.”

3 The same dynamic can also be seen at the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Several
years ago there was a study done on penitentiary prisoners to see what impact their vocabulary
had on their actions. The study found that the more limited the person’s vocabulary, the more
limited their behavior was likely to be. In other words, they had fewer choices they could
understand and therefore fewer ideas about what their potential actions could be. Vocabulary
is a way of seeing things, of making distinctions, of understanding the world we live in. We use
vocabulary to interpret and express ourselves. The prisoners, who had a limited vocabulary,
were unable to make the distinctions needed to acquire personal success. They just didn’t
understand. In fact, some of these prisoners may have even resorted to violence because it was
their only effective way of expressing their feelings.

4 Legendary success expert Earl Nightingale wrote of a 20-year study of college graduates. The
study concluded, “Without a single exception, those who had scored highest on the vocabulary
test given in college were in the top income group, while those who had scored the lowest
were in the bottom income group.”

5Work done by scientist Johnson O’Connor involved tests that were given to executive and
supervisory personnel in 39 large manufacturing companies. Every person who was tested
scored high in basic aptitudes that go along with leadership. The differences in their vocabulary
ratings, however, were dramatic and distinct. Here’s how it turned out:

▶▶ Presidents and vice presidents averaged 236 out of a possible 272 points.
▶▶ Managers averaged 168 points.
▶▶ Superintendents, 140 points.
▶▶ Foremen, 86 points.

In virtually every case, the size of each person’s vocabulary correlated with the career level they
had achieved. Could it be a coincidence? Absolutely not.
6 When I was in high school I remember taking weekly vocabulary tests. Although I enjoyed
learning new words I didn’t think I’d ever use a lot of the words very often. You know what? I
was right. I don’t speak a lot of those words on a daily basis. But when I hear someone else
using them I know what they mean. I don’t have to sit there and wonder what in the world the
other person is talking about. So developing a great vocabulary isn’t really all about how
important or how intelligent you sound when you speak. The biggest benefit of having an
understanding of what different words mean is how intelligently you can listen to and
understand what others are saying. A large vocabulary is a common characteristic among all
successful individuals, regardless of their occupation. That’s because it enhances your ability to
think and understand things more clearly. With the ability to make greater distinctions comes
the capacity for greater understanding and knowledge.

7 Many people don’t appreciate the phenomenal importance of understanding the meaning of
a lot of different words until they start running into other people using words they don’t
comprehend. Here’s an extreme example I often use to drive this point across. Imagine you had
to move to a different country with a different language you didn’t know. Would you be at a
disadvantage to the people who did speak the language? Of course you would. Would you be
able to understand everything that was going on around you? Definitely not. But what if you
knew just some of the language? Would you be better off? Absolutely, and the more of that
language you learned the better off you’d be. So then, I hope we can agree that if you went
somewhere and didn’t understand the language, you’d quickly realize the importance of
knowing the meaning of different words…as many words as you could learn. For the exact same
reason we can agree that it is just as important to understand as many words as possible in
your native language. Without that advantage you can become almost as ignorant as if you
didn’t understand it at all.

8 Certainly those who have a better grasp on the language will have an advantage over you. By
having a smaller vocabulary, you become handicapped, meaning that you can’t do, or won’t
understand, things that others with a larger vocabulary can. You are at a competitive
disadvantage, and the Americans with Disabilities Act does nothing to help people who are
handicapped with a poor vocabulary. So grab yourself a dictionary or thesaurus and commit to
learning just one new word a week, or more, and watch how your ability to operate in
this place we call the “real world” gets easier and more rewarding for you.

—From “Vocabulary—A Treasure Chest for Success” by Ken Olin, from American Chronicle,
Sept. 20, 2006. Reprinted by permission of the author