LEAD DIFFERENT

Welcome to Lead Different - delivering strategic communication on the edge of AI and upheaval - helping you shift thinking and mobilise change.

This week in:

• Reputation and Trust - Measure quarterly how well you’re trusted

• Narrative Power - The 2-minute story framework you can use today

• Influence and Framing - Compliance is easy but there’s a better way

• Crucial Conversations - How to diffuse a tension-filled situation

• Internal Comms - Is it possible to listen at scale?

• Getting Clear - Eight ways to improve clarity and a Prompt to help you

• Ask Edith - How to discuss an embarrassing hygiene issue

• The Leadership Imprint - Oracle’s co-founder and chairman, Larry Ellison communicates bold, brash visions.

Already subscribed? Great to have you. If not, subscribe to shape bold moves.

Reputation & Trust – how to earn trust or get it back

The Trust Heat Map

Trust in tech rests on three pillars:

1. Transparency: Do stakeholders understand your roadmaps, pricing, and use of AI?

2. Consistency: Do you deliver reliably on promises to customers and employees?

3. Responsibility: Do you own mistakes, act fast in crises, and walk back hype?

Trust builds over time. The Trust Heat Map 👇 gives you a clear view of where you’re strong and where there’s opportunity to lift your scores. Download it now.

Narrative Power – The leadership story playbook

The 2-Minute Story Framework

If you had 2 minutes to make a story land, could you do it?

This simple 5-step arc makes sure you can: 

1. Character – Who is at the centre?

2. Challenge – What obstacle stood in the way?

3. Crisis – The turning point, tension at its peak.

4. Change – How was it resolved?

5. Clarity – What lesson should others take away?

Stories are a vital tool in every leader’s communication toolkit. This simple framework can help you tell a riveting and memorable story - whether in advance or on the spot - without overthinking it.

👉 Download the 2-minute story framework and keep the 5-step arc close for your next meeting, sales presentation or speech.

Influence & Framing – Small moves, big impact

Authority Isn’t The Same As Influence

Being in charge doesn’t guarantee influence. Titles give authority; influence is earned when people are willing to follow your lead, even when they don’t have to. 

Real influence shows up when teams go the extra mile because they believe in you, not because they’re obliged.

Compliance might feel faster in today’s climate of cost-cutting and job insecurity. But commitment to your goals has far greater impact - including on profitability and share price.

Here are small moves that deliver outsized influence: 

• In meetings or Town Halls, ask questions to spark dialogue and signal respect

• Use names - recognition builds connection

• Pause before speaking; it conveys calm authority

• Frame decisions with why; purpose inspires commitment

• Keep small promises; trust compounds.

• Publicly acknowledge contributions, naming people and specifics.

Next week: why real influence in a buying group often sits with the trusted advisor, not the CEO, and how to spot it fast.

Crucial Conversations – Navigating high-stakes comms

A Simple Tension-breaker Tool

In high-stakes, conflict-charged conversations, what you say next can smooth the way or derail an outcome.

One method with staying power is Nonviolent Communication (NVC), from Marshall B. Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. 

It’s built on four steps you can use right now:

1. Observation – What facts do you see, without judgment

2. Feelings – What emotion does that trigger in you

3. Needs – What need sits behind the feeling

4. Request – What specific, doable action could help

How not to phrase it:
“You’re being unprofessional. Stop storming out of meetings.”

How to phrase it with NVC:
“When you slammed the file shut and left the meeting yesterday (observation), I felt concerned and frustrated (feelings) because I need your input on these figures for the auditors by 5 pm tomorrow (need). Could you share your analysis in writing by lunchtime instead? (request).”

Of course there is more to it than this; use the same 4-step process to surface the other person’s ‘needs’ to help you transform conflict into shared understanding.

Internal Comms – How to connect, not just inform

How to Listen Better to All Employees

Can an organisation really listen well, not just to a few voices, but to everyone?

It’s possible if done well.

True listening isn’t about collecting comments at town halls, on surveys, or in Slack threads.

It’s about demonstrating follow-through in a timely manner: “Here’s what you told us, here’s what we’ll do, here’s what we can’t, and why.”

Consistently showing that you’re listening builds trust and respect. Poor listening, on the other hand, is asking employees to share workplace sentiment, then offering no response or feedback - or attending to it too far into the future.

Scroll down to the end, to read my latest long form article that delves deeper into listening to employees via Engagement tools.

Getting Clear – Communication that cuts through 

Eight Ways to Improve Clarity

Clarity makes the difference between being heard and being ignored.

Clear communication, whether written or verbal, ensures that ideas are understood and acted upon.

Here are 8 practical ways to deliver a clear message that sticks:

1. Get your thinking straight. Ask: What’s my purpose (intent)? Who’s my audience? What do they want? What do I want from them?

2. Stick to one theme. Too many ideas force people to think too hard and dilute your point.

3. Use the Rule Of Three. Support your main message with three clear arguments or examples.

4. Write it down. Even for talks or presentations, writing forces discipline and reveals gaps in the evolution of your ideas.

5. Check your structure. Intro, body, conclusion - the basics create flow.

6. Choose plain words. Short sentences and familiar language beat jargon every time.

7. Cut the clutter. If a word doesn’t add meaning, delete it.

8. Test for clarity. Ask a colleague: “What did you take away?” If it doesn’t match your intent, rewrite.

If people can’t repeat your message in their own words, you haven’t been clear enough.

Ask Edith - Your communication challenges, answered

How Do I Raise a Hygiene Issue Without Embarrassing Them?

Q: One of my team members has poor personal hygiene. Several colleagues have complained about the smell, and it’s starting to affect morale. I need to raise it with them, but I’m worried about offending or humiliating them. How can I have this conversation in a way that’s respectful yet clear?

A: Conversations about hygiene are uncomfortable, so acknowledge that up front: “This isn’t easy to raise, but it matters.” Then keep it factual and structured. Describe the situation (“In recent team meetings…”), the behaviour (“there’s been noticeable body odour”), and the impact (“colleagues have said it makes working closely together difficult”). Then pause and ask: “How does that land with you?” 

After they respond, pivot to support: “I need you to address this, so it doesn’t affect your work or the team, and I’m confident you’ll handle it. Is there anything you’d like to share or that I should be aware of?”

Keeping it private, respectful and brief should resolve the issue and have the team member make the necessary change.

Got a communication challenge you want answered in the next issue of this newsletter? Reply to this email with your question and I’ll give you my perspective.

THE LEADERSHIP IMPRINT

30-second read on what great, and not so great, leaders reveal about communication: what to emulate, what to avoid and what to apply today.