Being a leader requires being vocal, but having a public voice doesn’t come naturally to all CEOs and Founders. The days of silent CEOs relying solely on corporate comms statements are long gone. Today’s CEOs must use the many platforms and tools available to become vocal leaders, develop their voices, and use them to promote and defend their businesses.
While this isn’t a natural talent for all, leaders with effective communication skills share these five crucial habits.
1. They’re deliberate and consistent
Unlocking the incredible value of being a vocal CEO requires being deliberate with your strategy. The best of the best all start by crafting a strategy and following a plan to achieve their communication objectives. Being a successful communicator doesn’t happen by accident – a plan is required for success!
With being deliberate comes consistency, which is a key factor in most forms of success, so it’s no surprise that it’s also required to be a successful communicator.
The most effective CEOs are consistent across these areas:
- Their presence: they post, share, and comment regularly, not sporadically or only when there’s a crisis
- Their style: they are authentic in their language, tone, and style, and this authenticity means they stay consistent with their voice
- Their topics: they keep their communication focused on selected areas with high relevance. They niche their communications and deliver high-value content within a set range of categories.
Successful CEOs develop a strategy, work from a plan, and show up consistently.
2. They’re not afraid to be vocal
The moment you stand for something, you’re going to take fire. The most successful CEOs are comfortable with the fact that they cannot please everyone and are okay with that. Even though they will not be able to answer every question, they still have to stand up and have a voice. There are countless examples of businesses being left defenseless by silent CEOs who didn’t have the courage or platforms to communicate, answer questions, and provide explanations when needed. When the CEO isn’t there and the ‘corporate line’ doesn’t hold, it’s the team members who have to answer. As the leader of a business, your voice has to be available to protect your employees and stakeholders.
Putting the fear element aside, the biggest benefit of being vocal is the CEO’s ability to share positive news, celebrate the company, teams, and products, inspire excitement, and reach new audiences. Vocal CEOs are their company’s biggest fans, and this leads to a higher valuation of their companies!
3. They establish and deliver on a promise
When building an audience around their communication, they establish a clear and understandable ‘promise’ of what people get when they join or follow. This promise will be made up of the following:
- The topics they talk about
- The quality and value of their content
- The consistency of their content
- The behavior they will and won’t accept (rules of engagement)
These won’t necessarily be communicated publicly, but the CEO knows exactly what they are. Over time, everyone they communicate with will learn them through their consistent adherence to these.
4. They listen intently and deliberately
The value of listening should never be underestimated. There are so many advantages to listening intently to customers, stakeholders, and the market at large, and there are a host of online tools that can sift through all the noise and distill powerful insights.
The most effective vocal CEOs listen intently and use the insights gained to create content and respond timeously and empathetically. They never get accused of being tone deaf or not reading the room because they are actively using tools and people to listen, interpret, and inform them on everything that is relevant to their business and industry.
5. They leverage their team
One thing every successful CEO knows is that their success is largely dependent on the people they surround themselves with. This holds true for every successful vocal CEO – they work with the best strategists, writers and content team to make being communicative easy and effective. These CEOs know how difficult and time consuming it is to create impactful content that delivers on a promise, so they use strong teams of talented people to make it look easy. Being a highly effective vocal CEO is not easy, but hiring a team to achieve success is easy.