Azede Blog

How do you find out what’s going on within an organization? You ask people what’s on their minds. As a leadership communicator, you need to discover the climate for communications. Climate refers to how open people feel about voicing their opinions or making suggestions. In places where the culture is repressive, many people are afraid [...]

Communications does not occur in a vacuum; it is part of the culture of an organization. As such, communications absorbs the character of the organization’s culture. It is essential that those who actively create leadership messages be cognizant of those who passively receive those messages. Communications professionals need to be aware of what people are [...]

The truth is it is almost impossible to kill a great brand, and marketers and agencies have to remember that. . . . The compulsion to change is often the wrong route. What they should do is accept who they are, and then express that in a meaningful and relevant way.
Shelly Lazarus [...]

When you read Katherine Graham’s autobiography, you get the feeling that this is a woman who was not certain of her selfhood until very late in life. Make no mistake: Katherine Graham was a giant who took a not very good newspaper and built into one of the nation’s most respected, and at the same [...]

Credibility is the bond between leader and follower; it is almost sacred because it forms the bedrock of why people want to do what leaders ask them to do. Sometimes a loss of credibility occurs because the leader makes a mistake. Think of leaders who fail to fulfill their promises. Other times circumstances conspire against [...]

When we think about leadership communications, we often assume a downward flow of messages from the leader along with a bubbling up of messages from an engaged audience or individual. This communications loop from leader to followers and back again is not the whole story. Leaders also need to communicate upward. The recipient of such [...]

Leadership messages must communicate information as well as open the door for participation by the listener. As such, the leadership message must do these four things:
Inform people of what the issues are and what they need to do. Leaders owe their people an explanation of the situation, whether the news is good or bad. [...]

Now we’re getting to the filling. What do you want people to remember? Is it fluffy and light? Chewy and rich? Nutty and scrumptious? You as the presenter need to make certain that your message is clear and unambiguous.
Here are some examples of leadership messages.

Our company is going to be number one in [...]

The message is the most important part of the presentation or the one-to-one chat. It is the core upon which the entire presentation or conversation depends. Think of the message as the 30-second “take-away thought” that you want people to remember. The message is not the same as the content of the presentation or conversation; [...]

The purpose of leadership communications, as pointed out in What Is Leadership Communications, 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 legislation and the [...]

I consider it the role of the head of a newspaper to be bi-partisan and to bring journalists together with people from government. . . . I fear unspoken anger. Especially, people who may disagree on politics must still be able to communicate, and it’s crucial for all of us in the press to listen [...]

For a few hours on that terrible day, he was the de facto leader of the nation as the president and vice president were kept from public view by the Secret Service. His city had been brazenly attacked, and he was at ground zero coordinating with fire, police, and rescue personnel, all the while standing [...]

Knowing who you are as a leadership communicator and why you are speaking will make the next step—determining what you will say—that much easier. It is often tempting to skip these first steps, but that is a mistake that could lead you to overlook the needs of the audience as well as important attributes of [...]

Once you know who you are as a leader-presenter (visionary, expert, coach, or transformer), it is necessary for you to determine why you are speaking.
Is it to explain? The most common purpose of a presentation is to convey information as a means of explanation. We see examples of the explanation presentation at press conferences [...]

The role that you, as a leader-presenter, play in public is up to you. As a general rule, the closer you are on stage to what you are in private, the more meaningful and believable your presentation will be.
We offer four models of leadership presentation.
The Expert
The first type of leadership communicator is [...]

Creating a leadership message is about having a point of view. It is the perspective that you bring to the subject material as a leader within the organization. Your perspective on the issue emerges from your role within the organization as well as the content of your leadership character, i.e., what you stand for.
It [...]

So what ties us together? We’re tied together by our belief in political democracy. We’re tied together by our belief in religious freedom. We’re tied together by our belief in capitalism. . . . We’re tied together because we respect human life. We’re tied together because we respect the rule of law. Those are the [...]

One of the methods Churchill used to exert a measure of control, which also helped him to come to grips with issues, was interrogation. Military analyst Eliot Cohen writes that Churchill did not just ask a question and then forget it; he followed up with “a relentless querying of their assumptions and arguments, not just [...]

Winston Churchill wrote this about becoming prime minister in May 1940 during what some have called Britain’s darkest hour:
As I went to bed at about 3 a.m., I was conscious of a profound sense of relief. At last I had the authority to give directions over the whole scene. I felt as if I [...]

Communicating the leadership message over and over again in many different circumstances lets employees come to a better understanding of what the leader wants, what the organization needs, and how they fit into the picture. In time, leader and followers form a solidarity that is rooted in mutual respect. When that occurs, leader and followers [...]

Communications, as Peter Drucker has written, is less about information than it is about facilitating kinship within the culture. Employees must feel that they have a stake in the organization and its outcome. The ownership stake is initiated, nurtured, augmented, tested, and fulfilled through leadership communications. It is absolutely critical for the leader to facilitate [...]

The style of leadership messages varies according to their purpose. Here are some examples:
Vision
Our challenge is to complete this project by year’s end. When the project is complete, we will have the exciting new product our customers have been asking for. This product will enable them to work more efficiently, and it will [...]

There are many types of leadership communications. Each of them emerges from a leadership action that is communicated from the point of view of the leader—i.e., doing what is beneficial for the organization and the people in it. Leadership communications are designed to engage the listener, gain commitment, and ultimately create a bond of trust [...]

Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory.
Winston Churchill
Steven F. Hayward, Churchill on Leadership: Executive Success in the Face of Adversity [Rocklin, Calif.: Forum (Prima Publishing), 1997, 1998], p. 97.
The company is a bona fide success. Its stock price is climbing. Market analysts are praising the management [...]