Ideas, analysis and communication insight for strategic thinkers in B2B tech
LEADERSHIP COMMS
How to Strengthen Your Influence as a Leader
A senior title may win you attention, but it doesn’t guarantee influence. This is where communication skills matter. Leaders who rely on vague, overused terms sound bland instead of authoritative. Strong presence comes from showing context, being specific and clear, so people know what to do next.
Right now, there are a lot of business terms being thrown around with little explanation. Here are a few that need clearer communication.
Vision: Done well, vision gives people a reason to care. Done badly, it sounds inflated, vague or faintly ridiculous. If it’s full of lofty aspiration but disconnected from purpose, reality and practical direction, it won’t inspire people. It’ll invite scepticism. Do you need to refresh your vision statement?
Strategy: Don’t say, “Our strategy is to lead the market.” Explain the choices behind it, what will change, and what people now need to prioritise. When strategy is clear, it drives action. When it isn’t, people hear a slogan and keep doing what they were already doing. Check if your team is disconnected from your strategy.
Future-ready often appears when leaders are signalling change, restructuring or redundancies. “We’re setting a new strategy so we can be future-ready” sounds polished but says very little. Ready for what? A stronger leader shows what’s changing: “We’re simplifying product lines, investing in cloud capability, and cross-training teams so we can respond faster to customer demand.” Always get specific if using this term.
AI-powered is one of the most popular and vague labels in business language. It’s used with investors, media and employees as though it explains itself. It doesn’t. Don’t say something is AI-powered. Say how AI is being used and why it matters: “We’re using AI to reduce manual processing in customer support, speed up reporting, and help teams spot sales opportunities earlier.”
Executive presence isn’t built by sounding corporate. It’s built by being precise.
Leaders who explain what they mean and connect words to action are the ones people trust and remember.
Storytelling Improves Executive Presence
Storytelling makes leadership language more believable because it turns abstract claims into something people can see, feel and understand. Words like vision, strategy, future-ready and AI often sound distant on their own. A story gives them meaning. It helps people connect change to a real challenge, a real decision and a real outcome. In a world that today feels ever-more upended and frankly alarming, storytelling matters more. People aren’t just looking for direction. They’re looking for meaning in the chaos. Leaders who harness storytelling make their message clearer, more human and easier to follow.
For example:
We watched another key customer walk after a botched rollout. Support was swamped, sales were panicking, and everyone could feel the business slipping. If we didn’t change, we’d likely go bust. Our vision was simple: make customers trust us again. Our strategy was targeted: fix the biggest pain points first. To become more future-ready, we cut handovers and helped teams work faster and smarter. We did this by using AI in practical ways: identifying rollout risks earlier, flagging urgent issues immediately, cutting repetitive support work, and giving teams faster access to accurate answers so customers got help sooner and with less frustration.
REVENUE COMMS
Communication That Earns Influence
Stop Leading with ‘About Us’
I still see tech companies putting the ‘About Us’ slide near the front of a sales pitch or oral presentation in high-stakes deals. Big mistake. Buyers don’t care about your staff numbers, office locations or capability list, at least not yet. They care about their problems and whether you can solve them.
After the title slide, your next slide should look something like this: lead with two columns: ‘Your Challenges’ on the left and ‘How We Solve Them’ on the right. That gets attention fast because it makes the pitch immediately relevant.
Move ‘About Us’ or ‘Why Us' further down as supporting proof. Use it to show why you’re credible, trusted and worth partnering with.
And when you get there, don’t just list credentials, case studies or experience. Connect each one directly to the customer’s goals, risks and priorities for this opportunity. Never assume they’ll join the dots. Spell it out, briefly and clearly.
Sales Communication That Wins
Language Tweaks That Win High-Value Tech Sales
Below are two subtle language shifts that close a deal faster:
When attempting a closer, use a statement like “when you acquire/obtain xyz,” not “when you buy/purchase xyz,” as the words ‘acquire’ or ‘obtain’ suggest the client has earned it. They’ll feel the purchase is valuable, not transactional.
Don’t ever say or write “Addressing your objections,” as it makes people defensive; instead, use “Addressing your areas of concern.” This reframing creates a more open, respectful conversation. The client feels heard, not pushed, and that’s where trust is built.
Words and inspiration from this video. While it focusses on luxury goods for consumers, the same principles apply to selling B2B tech products and services, which, even at the low end, are considered a meaningful spend to tech buyers, especially in the current environment.
MARKET PULSE
In The News
Grammarly is facing a class action lawsuit over its now-disabled Expert Review feature, which generated feedback in the style of real writers, journalists and academics who had not agreed to be part of the product. The suit reportedly argues that the feature commercially used people’s names, identities and reputations without consent. Superhuman, Grammarly’s parent company, has since pulled the feature after backlash.
In a market already running low on trust, borrowing someone’s authority without permission looks less like innovation and more like entitlement.
They Said
“Over the past week, we received valid critical feedback from experts who are concerned that the agent misrepresented their voices. This kind of scrutiny improves our products, and we take it seriously.” — Shishir Mehrotra, CEO, Superhuman
Reading Between The Lines
📝 This is a polished way of describing something far more serious. It sidesteps the bigger accusation: that real identities were illegally obtained or stolen to give synthetic output unearned authority. The careful language sounds less like accountability and more like weak Reputation Management.
Phrase of the Week
“Misrepresented their voices”: A masterclass in corporate understatement and use of weasel words.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
”Trust in AI systems is essential as advanced technology takes on more autonomous actions in high-stakes settings and industries.”
SOMETHING EXTRA
The Prompt That Exposes Weak AI Thinking
Try this today:
After your next AI output, ask: “Explain why you made those specific choices and what assumptions you’re making.”
It forces the model to show its reasoning, reveal hidden leaps, and expose where it may be overreaching or filling gaps too confidently.
You’ll learn more in 60 seconds than most people learn in weeks of prompting.
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