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 - It’s not your solution that’s the problem

• Narrative Power - Six ways to grow your storytelling muscles

• Influence and Framing - Flip the script about your weaknesses

• Crucial Conversations - Dealing with power struggles

• Internal Comms - Facing layoff anxiety with honesty

• Getting Clear - Explaining bad numbers without losing trust

• Ask Edith - How to encourage quieter team members to speak up

• The Leadership Imprint - Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff

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

Clients Don’t Lose Trust In Your Solution

When a client walks away, it’s rarely because your solution is worse. The gap between you and the competition is usually narrow.

What really kills trust is the breakdown in communication, i.e., cross-team contradictions between sales, delivery, and support.

Leaders often underestimate how much credibility evaporates and hostility rises when clients hear conflicting stories and experience inconsistent actions.

What keeps clients is the match between what you say and what you do. Undermine that, and suddenly your solution is the problem.

But is it?

Will you uncover the communication issues early and get your story straight, or wait for the RFP surprise?

Narrative Power – The leadership story playbook

Flex Your Storytelling Muscle

Stories shape how people see leaders. But telling a story that holds attention isn’t natural talent; it’s a skill you build, like attaining a stronger physique.

Here are 6 ways to develop your storytelling muscle:

1. Make it bold
   Start strong. Open with a striking statement, research-based assertion, a big number or a surprising insight. You’ll create instant attention and set the tone.

2. Ask a rhetorical question
   Guide your audience’s thinking. A well-placed question makes them pause and consider your point more deeply.

3. Step into the story
   Bring yourself into the narrative. Share a personal moment directly tied to your theme – even B2B audiences value a glimpse of the human behind the professional veneer.

4. Show, don’t swamp
   Support your message with images, diagrams, or minimal text. Avoid slide overload. Work to know your material well enough to talk it through naturally.

5. Pause with purpose
   After an important point, stop for 2–3 seconds. That silence signals weight, lets the idea land, and keeps your audience leaning in.

6. Invite the audience in
   Break the monologue. Ask, “You’ve seen this happen, right?” or “For your team, is this a pain point?” Wait for answers. The shift creates positive tension – they’ll listen more closely to see where it goes.

Takeaway: These 6 tips help you flex your story power. Use them consistently and you’ll own the room.

Influence & Framing – Small moves, big impact

Flip the Script: How To Present Strengths and Weaknesses

Never miss an opportunity to frame your weaknesses as strengths, and your competitor’s strengths as weaknesses. “We’re small” becomes “We move faster, with less red tape.” Their “global reach” becomes “layers of bureaucracy between you and a decision.”

And when two big players face off, the same principle applies. If they’re seen as the cool innovator and you as conservative or old-fashioned, flip it. Conservative becomes dependable. Old-fashioned becomes proven. You frame stability as certainty in volatile times, rigour as protection against costly mistakes, tradition as a guarantee you’ll still be here tomorrow.

Influence isn’t about trashing rivals or denying flaws. It’s about knowing every perceived weakness, yours and theirs, and having the frame ready that makes your audience see the story your way.

Crucial Conversations – Navigating high-stakes comms

Dealing With Power Struggles

As businesses grow, power struggles aren’t rare - they intensify. Two founders and co-CEOs want to take the company in opposite directions. Their clash seeps downwards, splitting teams into camps, draining morale, and fuelling dissent. If unchecked, the fight consumes the business. What prevents collapse is the right conversation before things go nuclear.

1. Call the struggle out
   Don’t skirt around it. Name the power struggle directly. The blunt truth can break the passive-aggressive spiral.

2. Expose the hidden fear
   Every entrenched stance hides a fear - of losing control, relevance, or vision. Put it on the table, because fear spoken is easier to negotiate than fear disguised.

3. Reframe the stakes, or face the exit
   Shift the lens from “my win vs your loss” to “what the company loses if this continues.” And if no one concedes? Sometimes the only way forward is for one leader to step aside - done with enough grace to keep the company intact.

A power struggle is never just about two leaders - it ripples through the whole organisation. Resolve it with courage and the company emerges stronger. Let it fester, and the scars remain long after one side has won.

Internal Comms – How to connect, not just inform

Facing Layoff Anxiety With Honesty

When rumours swirl about possible retrenchments, silence breeds fear. Yet empty reassurance like, “everything’s fine”, only breaks trust when cuts do come.

The better path: acknowledge uncertainty early, share what you do know, and commit to clarity as decisions unfold. Employees don’t expect guarantees, but they do expect candour.

Real connection doesn’t come from pretending the risk isn’t there. It comes from being upfront, showing respect, and talking straight when things are tough.

Employees can handle storm clouds, what they can’t handle is being told the sky is clear.

Getting Clear – Communication that cuts through 

Explaining Bad Numbers Without Losing Trust

Confidence in you is tested when results disappoint. Spin or sugar-coating only deepens suspicion. Employees and investors don’t expect every quarter to be flawless, they expect leaders to be honest, specific about what went wrong, and clear about the plan ahead.

When you admit the pain plainly but also show the path forward, you turn poor results into a story of resilience and recovery, not failure.

For example:

• To employees: “Revenue fell 8% this quarter. Two major deals we expected didn’t close in time, and customer churn rose in one product line. Here’s what we’re doing: tightening renewals, adjusting pricing, and focusing sales on our strongest segments. It’s a tough result, but we now have a sharper focus that will drive recovery.”

• To investors: “Earnings are down 6%. The shortfall came mainly from delayed enterprise contracts and higher operating costs. We’ve already reduced non-essential spend, streamlined hiring, and doubled investment in our fastest-growing service lines. While this quarter reflects real challenges, these steps set us up for stronger margins in the next two.”

Plain language - no prevarication, no waffle - is how leaders steady the ship and keep confidence in their performance, even when results fall short.

Ask Edith - Your communication challenges, answered

Making Space For The Quiet Contributors

Q: In team meetings, a few people never speak up, even though I know they have valuable insights. When I call on them directly, they look uncomfortable. How do I draw them in without putting them on the spot?

A: Not everyone contributes best by speaking in the moment. Create channels where ideas can be shared in advance via a shared doc, or a Slack thread so quieter voices enter the room with confidence. During the meeting, make space without pressure. Phrases like, “We’ve heard a few views, I’d love to add other perspectives,” invite input without singling anyone out. Pair this with genuine pauses; silence can be an ally if you hold it long enough.

Privately, reassure quieter team members that their input is valued, and offer low-stakes ways for them to practise speaking in public like summarising a point, sharing a brief update, or co-presenting. Over time, this scaffolding helps them find their voice without forcing it.

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.