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 - Speed for its sake can wreck havoc with trust

• Narrative Power - How to embody your Mission through story

• Influence and Framing - Distill strategy into words people can share

• Crucial Conversations - Handling a nasty negotiator with class

• Internal Comms - Give recognition in a way others can emulate

• Getting Clear about your audience and the right story to tell them

• Ask Edith - How do I steady my people through dizzying change?

• The Leadership Imprint - Communication lessons from Kate Crawford, a leading scholar on the ethical implications of AI

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

The Cost Of Speed

Move fast, break… trust?

In B2B tech, relentless speed erodes credibility when QA is skipped, security checks are bypassed, or AI features launch without explaining how they work or fit governance frameworks.

Stakeholders may admire speed until shortcuts expose fragility.

The distinction is velocity: purposeful progress with direction and communication.

Leaders who favour velocity over raw speed preserve trust by signalling what’s changing, why it matters, and how risks are managed.

Trust compounds over time but a single sprint without discipline can burn it overnight.

Velocity is speed with control. Without it, you’re just flooring the accelerator toward a wall where trust and respect shatter instantly.

Narrative Power – The leadership story playbook

Mission Statement - Daily North Star or Empty Slogan?

A true mission should steer everyday decisions. Too often, it’s left as website copy, while employees end up improvising their own direction.

Here’s a Mission Statement: We exist to help clients deliver services that matter - powered by technology, strengthened by reliability.

On paper it’s strong. But it only comes alive when leaders and teams turn it into stories.

When an engineer pulls an all-nighter to protect a client’s launch, or a delivery team reworks a process so customers aren’t left waiting, the mission becomes more than words, it becomes the organisation’s lived compass, revealed through story.

To help your teams get into the habit of creating Mission stories, download and share the worksheet below. 👎

Influence & Framing – Small moves, big impact

Say It So They Can Repeat It 

Influence only sticks when people can pass it on. 

Craft catchphrases and frames that travel easily: short, sharp, and memorable.

For example:

• “We build fast, but ship smart.” (Velocity is celebrated, but discipline protects trust).

• “Secure first, scale always.” (Keeps security front of mind without killing growth ambition).

• “Complex tech, simple experience.” (Captures the balance between engineering depth and easy to use for the customer). 

Great leaders embed strategy in language their teams can repeat without notes. So, if your key message needs a slide to explain it, it needs rewriting. 

Remember, it needs to be simple enough to echo in every room you’re not in.

Crucial Conversations – Navigating high-stakes comms

Handling the Toxic Disruptor in Sales Negotiations 

Every buyer group has one: the influential voice who’s combative, dismissive, or outright unreasonable. The instinct is to push back hard, but early aggression sets a toxic tone for a long-term relationship. 

The smarter move (even if through gritted teeth) is to acknowledge their view to show respect, then calmly restate your boundaries: “I hear your concern, but here’s where we can’t compromise.” 

This signals to the disruptor and decision maker (their boss) that you’re listening, but also protecting what matters. 

Here are some framing lines you can use to defuse tension while showing strength: 

• “Can we step back for a moment? What outcome do we both want to succeed here long-term?”

• “If we follow your approach, here’s the risk we’d both carry - are you comfortable with that?”

• “The principle we’re holding to is fairness on both sides - how do you see that applying here?” 

It’s not about aggressively negotiating with bullies. It’s about staying calm and respectful while having the courage to walk away if collaboration proves impossible.

Internal Comms – How to connect, not just inform

Recognition That Lifts Everyone

Recognition is powerful, but it can backfire if it feels like favouritism. Great leaders praise in a way that lifts one person and signals a standard others can emulate.

Instead of: “Sam’s the only one who gets things done on time.” Try:

• “Sam’s consistency shows what’s possible when deadlines are clear and priorities aligned.”

• “Jaya’s work this week reflects the quality we’re aiming for across the team.”

• “Lee’s approach here is a great example others can build on.”

This way, praise feels genuine, specific, and invites everyone to see how they can contribute.

Getting Clear – Communication that cuts through

When You Tell Everyone The Same Story, You Reach No One 

When it comes to clearly communicating a change or something new, you’ll confuse people if you tell one story. Instead, you have to adapt it depending on who you’re addressing.

Let’s say you’ve recently signed up a new partner. A clear message about this looks different across these three groups:

• BUYERS
  Idea: This partnership improves the value we deliver to you.
  Clear Message: “Our partnership means you’ll access integrated solutions faster, with less risk and greater support.”

• STAFF
  Idea: This partnership shapes how we work together.
  Clear Message: “Here’s what this partnership means for your team - new tools, joint projects, and the chance to build skills alongside industry leaders.”

• INVESTORS
  Idea: This partnership strengthens market position.
  Clear Message: “This partnership unlocks a new channel to scale revenue, expands our ecosystem, and cements us as a strategic player in the sector.”

One partnership, three clear, audience-specific stories.

Ask Edith - Your communication challenges, answered

We Keep Changing Direction & People Have Stopped Caring

Q: Our leadership team keeps shifting priorities. One month it’s a new market, the next it’s cutting costs, then suddenly it’s doubling down on innovation. People roll their eyes now when we announce, “the next big thing.” How do I stop strategy fatigue from killing credibility?

A: Constant pivots breed cynicism if they feel random. Anchor every change in a narrative of continuity: “Here’s what hasn’t changed, our mission, our values, our commitment to customers. Here’s what’s changing, and why.” For example:

• Innovation focus: “We’re still committed to leading in customer experience. What’s shifting is our focus from volume to quality, because that’s how we’ll sustain growth.”

• Cost-cutting: “We’re still committed to building market leadership. What’s changing is how we’ll get there, by simplifying and cutting waste so we can invest more in what matters to customers.”

Name the through-line so people see direction, not chaos. Without it, your message becomes noise, and noise drains belief.

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.