YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE IS DISAPPEARING

I analysed 25 start-ups, 25 mid-sized tech firms, 25 enterprise software companies and 25 IT services firms to see how tech companies explain who they are, what they do and why they matter? What I found was that tech companies suffer from ‘sameness’. Is this a problem? And if so, should you do something about it in an era where AI slop is turning ‘sameness’ into commercial risk. I invite you to read my analysis and download the research report, access below.

The Executive Voice

Motivating Employees When Times are Tough

Tech layoffs continue unabated; the industry is experiencing massive disruption. And because of this, there’s an underlying tension tech leaders have to contend with when communicating with employees.

Leaders are dealing with people who are left holding the bag after colleagues are laid off, and worn out from being loaded up with extra responsibilities. At the same time, these same employees are under pressure to learn and use AI while wondering whether artificial intelligence will eventually take their jobs. The mood is fraught.

Motivating employees in today’s environment takes more than soothing words or dictatorial decrees about new ways of working. Either of these approaches is doomed to failure; silent or loud resistance will play out, and any tech company that needs to ‘turn the ship around’ or transform into an AI-first company will keep flailing about, rudderless, either sinking slowly or collapsing spectacularly.

The past teaches us lessons we can apply today. Below are three examples of how leaders communicated in ways that motivated employees to participate in a company’s turnaround or reach for emboldened change.  

Best Buy – Hubert Joly and Listening to the Frontline

Unlike tech companies today, Joly rejected the usual ‘slash-and-burn’ script. Instead, he focussed on frontline listening because they had all the answers, not his leadership team. He also reframed profit as an outcome, not the purpose. And he positioned Best Buy around ‘enriching lives through technology’. The lesson here is to treat frontline people as strategic assets, not as mere cogs in the wheel. It didn’t turn the business into a hypergrowth company, but it helped create a retailer resilient enough to survive Amazon, pandemic disruption, weak consumer electronics’ cycles, and now the AI-hardware shift. Read Joly’s story here.

Ford – Alan Mulally and employing Brutal Simplicity

Ford was heading for one of the biggest losses in its history when Alan Mulally became CEO in 2006. What Mulally communicated was brutally simple: One Team. And this meant, one plan, one goal that everyone was aligned to. Not mere words but a way “to model certain behaviours.” He also said that as one team, “the plan is clear, and no one gets punished for telling the truth”. It was honest communication that led the charge to doing things differently and thus turning Ford around. Psychological safety is key when you need people to help you effect real transformation. See also this McKinsey article.

Microsoft - Satya Nadella and Changing the Culture

When Nadella became CEO in 2014, Microsoft was widely viewed as internally combative, slow-moving and losing relevance in mobile and cloud. Microsoft suffered from a ‘culture’ problem that was obvious to Nadella, who nevertheless was a ‘proud insider.’ What he did was “inspire the company’s 124,000 employees to embrace what he called, ‘learn-it-all’ curiosity (as opposed to what he described as Microsoft’s historical ‘know-it-all’ bent”). Again, not mere words from Nadella but clear direction for internal people to behave differently. This resulted in “generating more than US$250 billion in market value in just three and a half years.” If you’re curious you ask questions, not arrive with assumptions. Curiosity is also about exploring, essential to problem-solving, being innovative and delivering successful results.

How to Sell to the CIO

The IT team at your buyer is under constant pressure to become a business-value engine while still carrying the risk, integration, security and governance burden. And the CIO is the individual that shoulders this responsibility.

Recent research gives us some insight into how to sell to the CIO. In Foundry’s 25th State of the CIO Survey, (2025) “46% of CIOs identify as business leaders proactively shaping technology decisions to drive business outcomes.”

It’s also important to keep in mind how other CIOs view themselves: “as consultants (28%), risk assessors (14%), supporting players (8%), or voices of reason (4%).

McKinsey’s 2026 CIO agenda takes a more ambitious view of the role of the CIO in 2026, saying “these leaders are … shaping their companies’ futures… or “rewiring their companies for competitive advantage”, signalling that AI is affording CIOs even more influence and power in tech buyer decisions. McKinsey’s report goes on to say that CIOs at top companies know that “technology velocity, not just efficiency, is what it will take to fuel growth.” As McKinsey states, because CIOs “are increasingly responsible for creating bottom-line growth … technology expertise has become strategy expertise.”

Key Message Framework for CIOs

Don’t start a discussion with a CIO about how your tech solution is innovative or state-of-the-art, instead, first and foremost, clearly explain how your technology will help them (the CIO), create business value, better manage risk and lead organisational change with confidence.

Even if they don’t see how much influence they have, position the CIO as integral to their company’s success.

Sam Altman: Changes His Mind Again

According to Reuters, May 26, Sam Altman is now saying that “the rapid development ‌and adoption of AI would not lead to a global ‘jobs apocalypse’ and the technology had not claimed as many white-collar jobs as he had feared.”

What’s really being communicated? While Altman claims to be “delighted to be wrong” about his previous concerns about the AI job apocalypse, some tech pundits believe both OpenAI and Anthropic are spinning a positive story now that their companies are preparing for blockbuster IPOs.

Sam Altman: Master of Narrative Spin

You may have noticed that the tagline under this newsletter’s logo, LeadDifferent is ‘Master the Narrative’. As the author of that tagline, it’s not lost on me that you can apply masterful storytelling for good or for evil. In any case, Sam Altman is very, very good at taking charge of a narrative. Energised it seems from his win against Musk’s lawsuit, Altman is out and about extolling the virtues of AI. During an interview with CNBC in the US, Musk, challenged the idea “that AI adoption is translating neatly into job cuts.” He went on to make the bold claim that “The companies that I know that have adopted AI the most are also the ones hiring the most.”

What’s really being communicated? Again, an IPO is coming up.

Word of the Week

Spinmeisters or spin doctors, are people that develop misleading or deceptive messages to reframe or modify a perception of an issue or an event to reduce any negative impact it might have on public opinion.

From HBR’s Favourite Management Tips on Organisational Change. Supporting employees during tough times comes down to one core idea: you can’t remove uncertainty, but you can reduce drift, fear and disconnection by communicating honestly and staying close to your people.

Plus:

Source: HBR

YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE IS DISAPPEARING

I analysed 25 start-ups, 25 mid-sized tech firms, 25 enterprise software companies and 25 IT services firms to see how tech companies explain who they are, what they do and why they matter? What I found was that tech companies suffer from ‘sameness’. Is this a problem? And if so, should you do something about it in an era where AI slop is turning ‘sameness’ into commercial risk. I invite you to read my analysis and download the research report, access below.

If this helped you think differently about communication, forward this newsletter to someone who leads, sells or explains complex ideas in tech.