Insights on leadership communication

No leadership team can avoid thinking about AI right now. Some are dashing into the fray with gusto, others are following more cautiously, and others still are hoping they can carry on as they are without it. All of these are understandable responses. But for the first time in history, employees don’t have to wait for their leadership team to decide if and how to use new technology. They can use it themselves, for anything from asking their favoured AI tool how to respond to

One of the biggest misconceptions in organisational change is the belief that agreement equals alignment. The leadership team leaves a strategy meeting brimming with enthusiasm and energy. People nod in meetings. The launch lands well. Employees say they understand the strategy and support the direction of travel. And yet, a few weeks later, execution starts drifting in different directions. Priorities clash. Teams interpret decisions differently. Leaders communicate inconsis

There’s a particular kind of leader who can talk people into almost anything. I once worked with someone like this. He was intelligent, persuasive, articulate and absolutely convinced of the rightness of his ideas. In meetings, people would listen, suggest alternative views, and have them warmly appreciated but never adopted. Eventually, everyone learned to nod along because resistance was futile against this likeable, benevolent dictator. By the end of our management meeting

There’s a particular kind of message that takes far longer to write than it should. You open a blank document and write version one. You read it back and think, ooh no, that’s way too stark. So you tinker. You take the edge off it, maybe add a little context, soften a word or a sentence here and there, then read it back and think, yes, this feels better. Then you hit send and, with a certain amount of relief, get on with your day. Trouble is, it only feels better to the pers

Transformation is, by design, an iterative process. At the start of most change programmes, the organisation knows what it wants to achieve (if it doesn’t, that’s an entirely different article!). The broad outcomes are generally clear enough: perhaps the organisation wants to improve performance, change culture, reduce cost, modernise systems, introduce AI, or shift the operating model. At that stage, the whole thing is a kaleidoscope of unknown unknowns. What’s rarely clear

“We need to change the narrative.” It’s one of those catch-all phrases used about everything from national political strategy to a toddler’s bedtime. It sounds decisive, as though we know exactly what we’re talking about. The trouble is, most of the time, it isn’t clear what changing the narrative actually means. In organisations, it’s sometimes about managing reputation. Sometimes it’s about tweaking messaging. Sometimes it’s shorthand for ‘we need to approach this different

There’s a moment in most strategy processes that no one really notices. We've done all the brainstorming and workshopping and deciding. We're ready for the Big Reveal and the slide deck is ready to go. Then someone says (maybe with a sigh of relief): 'We just need to communicate this.' And everyone nods, because at that point, it really feels like the hard work has been done. The direction is crystal clear. Now, all we need to do is communicate it so everyone else understand

I work on corporate narrative for a living, which means I spend a lot of time in the gap between what organisations think they’ve said, and what people actually understand. Organisations don’t just tell stories; they operate through them. In this context, narrative isn’t a layer on top of the business. Neither is it branding or messaging. It’s the underlying structure that shapes how people understand what’s going on, how decisions get made, and how work moves through the or

You hear it in meetings all the time. “We’re focusing on alignment.” “We need to drive engagement.” “This is about embedding a strategic shift.” Everyone nods. It all sounds entirely reasonable and super professional. Sophisticated and grown up. But if you stop and ask yourself, ‘what does that actually mean? ’, it’s often surprisingly hard to answer. It’s not because the thinking is poor; it’s because the Thing hasn’t been fully named. When leaders have been living inside a

I watched Dirty Business on Channel 4 this weekend. It’s a docudrama in the same vein as Mr Bates vs The Post Office , charting the efforts of two men to hold the water industry to account for the devastation caused by its cavalier approach to dumping raw human sewage into Britain’s waterways and coastline. Then I read some of the online reactions and commentary defending the water industry, explaining why the documentary doesn’t tell the full story, why it’s misleading, why

Many organisations develop thoughtful strategies but struggle to explain them clearly. In many cases, the problem isn’t the strategy itself. It’s more likely that the narrative behind it hasn’t been fully articulated. You’ve invested weeks, maybe months, of leadership time and energy developing your strategy. The leadership team can recite the market analysis backwards, you’ve collectively defined strategic priorities, and you’ve all agreed on the right direction for the busi