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Communicate Well At Every Turn
A missed opportunity to advance your agenda is lost forever
by Luke Boggs
August 20, 2009
The best business leaders make the most of every communication opportunity. And it doesn't matter
if the communication is written or spoken, internal or external, brief or lengthy.
When you give a speech or send a mass email to your organization or beyond, you expect those
on the receiving end to pay attention. In return, you need to give them something worth reading or
hearing. You also want to make your points well, in a way that advances your agenda.
For many leaders, opportunities to speak or communicate by other means don't come along every
day. The most high-profile leaders, on the other hand, have no shortage of opportunities to
communicate, but they don't have the time to accept every invitation that comes across their desks.
Opportunities to communicate, then, are a limited commodity for business leaders at every
level, from entrepreneurs building new companies to star managers rising through the ranks in more
established firms to senior executives at America's largest, most successful organizations.
Resources, of course, are also limited in sales, research and development, marketing and
every other business function. Yet, executive communication is often neglected by leaders who may
otherwise try to wring every last bit of worth from resources devoted elsewhere.
For example, many corporations hold large-scale sales kickoff meetings one or more times per
year. A lot of resources - time, effort, attention and money - are spent putting the meeting
together. Monetary costs alone can add up in a hurry. Travel. Lodging. Meeting space. Production.
Food and beverage. Entertainment.
I've worked on many such meetings over the years, most of them very successful. And, yet,
there have been instances in which individual leaders have failed to make the most of their moment
on stage. Some had weak content. Others didn't put enough time or effort into rehearsals. Still
others just showed up and tried to "wing it." What a waste!
Consider, on the other hand, an executive I had the privilege of working with many times over
the course of my nine years at MCI. This leader understood the importance of communicating well
every time he stepped onto a stage, made a video or sent out an organization-wide email.
He knew that addressing groups of employees, customers and potential customers had a real
power to impact the bottom line. Inspire your people, and they may well achieve better results.
Inspire confidence in your customers and prospects, and you're one step closer to your next
sale.This particular executive took a keen interest in every word he ever said in front of an
audience. As a result, he wasn't always the easiest guy for me, as a speechwriter, to work with. He
would tell me what he wanted to say, I would write a speech, and he would often rewrite good chunks
of it.
I didn't take it personally. Well, at least not very often, anyway. Why? Because I knew this
leader cared deeply about making the most of every opportunity to communicate with groups of
employees and customers. He took time to think about his main points and overarching objective. He
cared about the precise language he used. And he rehearsed each speech carefully. Result: this guy
made an impact every time he hit the stage. Without fail. It was one of the things that made him a
highly effective leader.
Just as you never get a second chance to make a first impression, you also don't get any
"do-overs" in executive communication. Making the most of every communication opportunity will help
you achieve your key business goals-and avoid regretting what might have been.
Luke Boggs is an Atlanta-based executive speechwriter, ghostwriter and marketing writer whose
work has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. In 2008 and 2009, he was honored as
a winner in the national Cicero Speechwriting Awards. For more, visit
lukeboggs.com.
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