Former PE Investor & CEO // Current PE Advisor // Author // 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘗𝘌-𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯
Interviewing hundreds of PE CEOs/execs over the last 15 yrs has taught me a lot about effective executive communication. The most effective communicators I've seen: 🔹Use short sentences and small words 🔹Adapt the message to fit the audience 🔹Lead w/ headline & support w/ details 🔹Answer closed-ended Q'swith a Y / N / # 🔹Use story strategically but don't overuse 🔹Recognize the power of metaphor (but don't overuse) 🔹Are comfortable being repetitive to drive home key ideas 🔹Check in with the receiver to see if the message is landing 🔹Understand how you say something is as important as what you say. 🔹Read the room, and know when they're selling past the close I'm working on making better use of a few of these learnings right now.
Excellent list. Simple to understand, yet hard to put into application frequentlly OR without lots of practice. 🙏
Great list - definitely all items I can / should work to continuously improve on.
Dan, great list. I would suggest that effective executive communicators also understand the "weight" of their communications. The WHO matters, including when it's a CXO who's communicating, due to their roles and responsibilities.
This is excellent. Resonates with many of the best leaders and coaches that I’ve seen too.
Great list Dan. "Check in with the receiver to see if the message is landing" - resonated with me. In our experience the high performing CEO's in PE Portfolios support their teams by checking in an build those relationship with their teams through that change.
Love this list, Dan! Short and sweet always wins. And yes to adapting messages - it's like knowing exactly what song to play for your crowd! I've been trying to mix in metaphors without going overboard - it's a fine line between clever and cliché, right? What's your go-to strategy for checking if your message landed?
I often get caught between wanting to respond quickly and wanting to respond with a Y / N / #. Great list and reminder that being concise is a skill that requires practice.
As others have said, great list! I think the key here is to know your own business while also understanding what your audience knows (or doesn't), and finding the most efficient way to bridge that gap. Less is more.
Excellent distillation of a lot of possible items, much of it superfluous
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1moThere is a view of high-gravitas speakers that are more about • more jargon • more force • little checking with the audience • little adapting to the audience - "they are supposd to get it". This particular type of high-gravitas speakers would do poorly on your list and, over time, would have their weaknesses seen. Thanks for your list. What are you thining of when you talk about "how you say something"?