The Executive Voice

Why Being Clear is More Important than Being Empathetic

Often, people in authority who show empathy come off as performative, especially when using lines like “I hear you”,  “I understand”, “I get it”, “I get this isn’t easy to hear” or, worst of all, “I know how you feel.”

From an employee's perspective, “How could you possibly know how I feel when you earn 10 times more than me and your salary comes with a massive year-end bonus?”

Your tone of voice may be caring and gentle, but most employees feel it's fake. They sense, consciously or subconsciously, the disconnect between your words and the reality of your position and all it entails.

Empathy has its place, but for leaders it’s not what most assume: to act caring.  It’s the ability to communicate with extraordinary clarity and simplicity.

This means avoiding:

All of the above, especially when used together, leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths. They sense you can’t be trusted and that you don’t care about them.

Your audience wants honest communication. People want to know what’s going on because it helps them prepare for what’s next. Honest communication builds trust and shores up trust you already have.

Honest communication is:

Even if you’re unsure about the future or can’t give definite answers about a situation, be clear that you don't have all the information or answers right now, rather than being opaque.

Leadership communication is about simplicity. Not overstating or understating. Like pristine glass, it should remove distortion and let people see clearly what lies ahead, even if it’s just two feet in front of them.

However, getting to clarity – shedding obfuscation or conflation so your message reveals its truthful essence – takes effort.

To help you, scroll down to the Something Extra section for a prompt that works to strip out muddy messaging and make your communication clearer.

Communication That Earns Influence

The Changing Role of Sellers: Offer Buyers Clarity and Confidence

A recent Gartner survey caught my eye because it shows that “the role of sellers is shifting from acting as the primary source of information to becoming a source of validation and confidence at key points in the buying process.”

It’s not so much about communicating features and benefits to buyers; your buyer has done all the research and is armed to the teeth with information about your solution or service. Much of that research is done using AI.

And according to Gartner, “fifty-one per cent of buyers say they are more likely to encounter misleading information from GenAI.” So what they want from the sales executive they’re encountering is both checking that the research is true or accurate and also helping them make sense of their research.

This demands that sellers are highly knowledgeable and well versed in the solution's capabilities and, more importantly, can clearly communicate the context of their solution to the buyer's industry or environment.

It also requires sellers to spend more time getting to know the buyer, such as who the important stakeholders are, the financial state of the business, its strategy, challenges, etc. I’m still seeing a gap here from the tech vendors I’m speaking with. B2B tech sales teams and presales are still only superficially working to understand the tech buyer.

Knowledge and insight into your offerings and the buyer then need to be married with the ability to communicate eloquently, both in writing and verbally, at a sophisticated level. AI can help here, but use it with caution, as it often gets in the way of authentic, human communication that enables human connection.

Today, sellers need to better communicate contextually and uniquely – what I’m really saying is, sellers should stop relying on sales and marketing brochureware, generic and standard tender content, or templated sales PowerPoints.

The other ‘interesting’ survey result Gartner presents is that “49% say they [buyers] are more likely to encounter misleading information from a sales rep.”

Buyers are being presented with misleading information from AI and, at times, from the salespeople they encounter. This should concern you if you lead a sales team or you’re the Head of Sales/Commercial Director.

Key takeaway for B2B tech sellers:

Access the Gartner Survey article here.

The Fear of Losing Control Over AI Systems

Today is more of a news roundup because one theme is getting louder: AI systems behaving in unexpected ways and breaching boundaries.

An OpenAI agent breached an Australian government health portal.
The Australian Government wasn't notified until September. The incident has put both AI control and disclosure speed under scrutiny.
Read the Reuters article

Google's Gemini broke out of a cybersecurity test and hacked three companies.
During independent testing, Gemini accessed the internet and breached three real companies it mistakenly believed were part of the test. Similar incidents have now occurred with systems from several major AI companies.
Read the Reuters article

AI is finding software vulnerabilities faster than humans can fix them.
WIRED reports that more than 66,000 software vulnerabilities had been recorded by mid-September — almost double the number at the same point last year. Microsoft alone issued patches for 974 vulnerabilities in September. AI is accelerating discovery; overstretched human security teams still have to fix them.
Read the WIRED article

The broader conversation around AI has shifted sharply towards control and safety. The debate is no longer only about what AI can do, but whether humans can reliably control what it does.
Read the Reuters analysis

POV: AI has a growing trust problem. Corporate speak won’t fix it.
For years, businesses have been told how powerful AI is becoming. Now they're increasingly being told that the companies building it don't always know what their systems will do. That's a trust problem. This is where corporate speak needs to be avoided, such as “We take security extremely seriously” or “we continue to monitor the evolving risk landscape.” Instead when talking about AI risk, answer four basic questions:

That last question is probably the most important one. The Australian breach happened in June. The government wasn't notified until September. The communication after an incident can become as important to trust as the incident itself.

Phrase of the Week

Epistemic humility is about recognising the limits of what you know, and being willing to say so. Used in the medical field, it’s particularly relevant for tech leaders who need to communicate uncertainty. It doesn’t mean a lack of confidence or expertise. It means being precise about what is known, what isn’t, and what could still change. Recent research on human–AI collaboration describes it as acknowledging the limitations of your knowledge rather than projecting false certainty.

Use AI as Your Clarity Editor

Before you send an important message, use this prompt to challenge anything that sounds vague, evasive, overworked or unnecessarily corporate.

PROMPT

I’ve drafted an important message for my audience. Act as a tough but constructive editor. Don’t rewrite it for me.

Challenge anything that makes the message less clear, honest or direct.

Look specifically for:

Also test whether the message is clear, concise, correct, contextual and concrete.

For every problem you find:

Pay particular attention to anything my audience may read differently from the way I intend it.

Don’t make the message sound nicer. Help me make it more truthful, precise and understandable.

Here is my draft:

[PASTE MESSAGE]

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