Page 50 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

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GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
Whoa!
Unfortunately, this little back-row interrogatory happens all too often. We
like the speaker. We like the words. We even like the response from the audi-
ence, but when we step back metaphorically, as the speaker does physically,
we are left with an empty feeling.
Why is this? How can this be? Everyone liked the presentation.
There’s a simple reason: There was no message to the speech. The speaker
certainly had his style and his purpose for being clear, but there was a discon-
nect between the speaker and the audience. Why? The purpose of the leader-
ship message was unclear. Unfortunately, this situation occurs all too often,
both on the public stage and on the corporate stage—or, frankly, even in the
church basement during a fundraising planning session.
The same thing occurs in one-on-one meetings. For example, the boss
calls you into his office. He starts talking about the business. He asks you how
you are doing, but before you can respond, he’s off talking about other people
in the department. He eventually focuses on you and asks how things are
going for you. As you begin to speak, the phone rings. He answers it, then
holds up his hand and says, “Hey, nice of you to drop by. Could we continue
this conversation next week?” You mumble something as you walk out of the
office shaking your head. What was that little talk all about?
Just as the speaker in the introductory vignette was unclear about his mes-
sage, the boss was unclear about his. Leaders cannot afford to be unclear; clar-
ity of purpose extends to communications. If the leader cannot express a
coherent point of view, the department, the team, and individuals are left adrift
in a sea of uncertainty. As hard as we work on who we are and why we are
there, we sometimes forget the “What is my message?” part.

ESTABLISHING CREDIBILITY
The purpose of leadership communications, as pointed out in Chapter 1, is to
build (or establish) trust between leader and follower. This trust is essential to
a leader’s credibility. Lyndon Johnson lost the trust of the American people
over his conduct of the Vietnam War. His accomplishments in civil rights leg-
islation and the war on poverty were overshadowed by his refusal to be straight
with the American people, or even with himself, over the issues involved in
Vietnam. The accounting firm Arthur Andersen suffered an enormous lack of
credibility in the wake of its faulty auditing. Its lack of accountability (no pun
intended) destroyed the company and cast a harsh light on other major
accounting firms that were beset with their own scandals. The financial mar-
kets, too, reverberated as investors wondered if they could trust the financial
statements of any company.