Quick Take | Tips to Help Executives and Leaders Grow
The Quick Take podcast provides concise and actionable tips to help executives and leaders, like you, tackle the thorny and complex challenges that affect us daily. By leveraging their experience and relationship with other global leaders, our hosts provide suggestions that are based on their deep experience as leaders and coaches but also pressure tested in boardrooms everywhere because they asked their friends….(almost). Hosted by James Capps and Susie Tomenchok. Episodes release weekly on Thursdays.
Quick Take | Tips to Help Executives and Leaders Grow
Mastering Executive Communication with Amy Bell
Can you imagine transforming your communication style to significantly boost your influence and effectiveness as a leader? Today we promise a masterclass in executive communication strategies with our guest, Amy Bell, a veteran executive from the media industry. Amy sheds light on the importance of being concise and clear, teaching us that saying less can indeed mean more. Together, we uncover how executives can refine their messaging by cutting through the noise and focusing on what truly matters to their audience.
In this episode, we discuss the following:
1. The importance of brevity and clarity in executive communication.
2. Adapting communication style to different audiences and situations.
3. Balancing formality and casual approaches in different settings
CONNECT WITH AMY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amybell2/
CONNECT WITH SUSIE:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susietomenchok/
CONNECT WITH JAMES:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/capps/
Welcome to the Quick Take podcast, the show where you get targeted advice and coaching for executives by executives. I'm Suzy Tominchuk.
Speaker 2:And I'm James Capps. Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to address the complex topic of issues that are challenging executives like you today.
Speaker 1:Hey, welcome to Quick Take. I'm your co-host, susie, along with my co-host James.
Speaker 2:I also am a co-host, but I'm the co-co-host.
Speaker 1:Co-co.
Speaker 2:We'll just call you co-co today. That's fine.
Speaker 1:And we have a third person with us today, amy Bell. Amy, welcome, hi everybody. Amy and I have worked together for a long time, james and Amy, I am so proud to say has I say proud, but she has had a really extensive career as an executive in the media, on the operator side, on the programmer side, and she has kind of seen it all. What would you add to that, amy?
Speaker 3:I think that's good. I yeah, it's an industry that I just can't seem to leave, nor do I really want to, so it's great.
Speaker 1:So we want to talk today about leadership and specifically like communication, and how you have to adjust that as you go up in ranks and through your journey as an executive in ranks and through your journey as an executive.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I, um, you know I was reflecting on this the other day, um, when we were talking about just some kind of how you, how you show up with with these different audiences and, and I remember early in my career, it was like everything you could do and show how smart you were to write these lengthy memos, and then they turned into lengthy emails and words mattered and and words still matter. But brevity, I think, has become really something that if you can hone and and distill your point, that still shows that you know your stuff. But you can be be quick about it and you can get to the point about it. There's great appreciation for that.
Speaker 3:We're all really busy. Nobody has time to read it. I mean, when you guys get those emails that are super long and you're like, oh, this feels like a chore. You don't want your communications to feel like a chore, and so that is certainly a big shift that I've made, um, over the years, that you go from more words mean smarter, better. I must know my stuff to get to the point. Keep it simple and, you know, get to the close, in other words.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's a great observation and I find that when I'm coaching folks, so often I remind them that this particular communication moment, this opportunity having to speak with this individual or the audience, is not necessarily the time for you to prove your knowledge right. And so often especially technology people that I work with mostly when they get nervous, they tend to kind of go to their comfort zone, which is the technical details, which is to get into the weeds, and I have to remind them now is not the time for that. If this is an interrogation and yes, you are proving your knowledge or an interview, that's one thing, but typically you're trying to get a point across or trying to give somebody some sort of a call to action. Brevity, succinctness and staying on topic is so critical to getting people's mind sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, brevity equals clarity in my mind people's mind sure?
Speaker 1:yeah, brevity equals clarity in my mind. How do you know you're being at the level at the appropriate? At the level you're at, or in which communications like, what tips would you give to people to kind of zoom themselves out to say do I need to adjust this? What would you both say?
Speaker 3:for me, I think it's remember your audience and kind of flip the script. It's like what do you need them to know? What do you want really? To be the strongest point and put yourself in their shoes. Again. I think, james, you said it they don't need a full education, nor do they want it, and so they really just need to know either an answer to the question as succinctly as you can get it to them. But if they're coming at it with a view of really not knowing and I think you can take some cues, whether it's via email they'll ask you for more. If they need more, you know, and so you start. I think you start kind of with just the facts and then you know, offer to expand if necessary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that, you know. To build on that, I often remind people that we so often go into meetings and communication opportunities with a scarcity mindset where we believe we are going to get one shot to get every piece of information we have across the table, and that's rarely the case. You know, most of us don't work in environments where we're putting together a one, you know, 14 page, three ring binder of information, and so it's a dialogue and if you can be more succinct, you're going to be more influential, and I think that that's that's really important that you go into it with that scarcity mindset, a bias, front and center.
Speaker 3:Scarcity mindset, but being prepared if you need to. Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Right, but realize that so often our knee jerk is just to get it all on one memo. Well, they might ask this question, so I'm going to add three more paragraphs.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Right, that's not, that, doesn't that dilutes, dilutes and dilutes your message.
Speaker 1:It made me think about in negotiation, and what Amy said was anticipate the mindset of the person that you're writing it to. What do they need to know? And considering the interests of the other party before negotiation increases, measurably, increases your outcome because you've thought about it from their side. And then what you said, james, to me was be aware in the moment of what's going on around you Don't get so locked into your presentation or what you want to say that you're not adapting to the room.
Speaker 3:I think a good tip too is walking in, especially if you're doing some sort of a presentation.
Speaker 3:You know it's different, it's a different feel too.
Speaker 3:Like I'm big on like reading the room, as you say, like you walk in, what's the vibe, how, how are things kind of set up and what's their appetite for banter versus just the facts and and diving in. And so I think, as much as you can read, whether it's a virtual room or a room that you're walking into, I think that's important. And if you're presenting and this is a bit more of a formal kind of you know, whether it's a PowerPoint or whatever tool you're using to present from, I think, just setting the stage to say, hey, this is what I think you want to hear from me today. This is what I'm going to talk about. Am I missing anything? Because I want to make sure I'm using the best use of your time and setting it up that way, I think, really helps, you know. And then you're not as caught off guard because you feel like you're in the driver's seat more than them, which I think is a cool place to be when you might feel like you're a bit intimidated by the room itself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that so much in that so often people would come in to present to me or a leadership team and they are nervous and they go into the presentation as if it is a high school dissertation and they go slide one Welcome. Thank you for coming. My name is James and I'm here to tell you about X today and that sets a pallor over the room and rarely is that the kind of meeting you're in and to create more of a conversation to break the ice. If you will Just saying before I begin what are you guys hoping to get out of this? So I can make sure I get to that. You know, the best presentations I've ever given is where you start on slide 12, right, because you go right to the meat.
Speaker 1:So, true, very true, very true. Jump around if you need to and also be really mindful. Like they say that if you do, don't walk in with. This is what I want you to know. Like that's what you I'm reiterating what you said Don't go in with a laminated version and then we're going to have this is the plan. But when you get people's buy-in, even asking that question, people are five times more likely to be all in at the end. So if you can think about that being really important, how do you get that adjustment to whatever the dialogue is? When you go in with that expectation of yourself, you're more likely to be really open to that.
Speaker 3:I love that laminated version. I'm going to use it, susie, and I'll try and give you credit when I do.
Speaker 1:I think it actually came from James, but you know James the co-host the perfect co-host.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I. I also think that that again gives you a sense of relief and not feeling you're. You're less likely to be thrown off if you're not so rigid about what you need to do. If you can start from anywhere and if you're not comfortable with that, practice it, just practice it. There's no shame in like preparing and standing in front of a mirror if you need to, or jumping in here or there and and anticipating that. In fact, I think that's really good if you can do that. But the non-laminated version is what I think the majority of us spend our time working on every day. There's no exact way to do something you know generally speaking. So I think that if you can remain flexible and be a bit quick on your feet and being quick on your feet doesn't mean you always have to have the answer, but it's being able to kind of roll with the questions. So I love the laminated version. I love it.
Speaker 2:You know, if I could take it up a level, one of the things I think you know our listeners would love to hear about is not so much in the particular presentation, but how do you learn about your style and how do you look about watch others and how they present and how they communicate to identify what is the best way to do so in your organization, what is the best practice? What are the cultural norms around communication? Because certainly, you know, one meeting can be very casual and one meeting can be another, but as an individual trying to grow their skill set and become a better communicator skill set and become a better communicator, maybe we could talk a little bit about the things you can do over time to observe and learn about how you can get better.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's such a cliche. The whole idea of you got to listen and communicating is as much about talking as it is listening. I think that's probably one of the things that has helped me become successful is being a chameleon and going in and as much as you can, even when you're not there, to contribute in a super meaningful way, like sitting back reading the room, being that fly on the wall kind of, and and just picking up on little little things in the room. I think are really really key and and so as much as you can do that or understand kind of a personal style thing about people, I think there are cues there that are nonverbal all over the place, um, especially when you're walking into a boardroom or a an executive room no question.
Speaker 3:So you know, shut the mouth, open the ears, watch people, and that's going to give you, that's going to be really, really telling if you can read people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of the things that I like to think about is who are the people that I'm around or listening to that make it are very good communicators are influencing and and connecting with the audience, whoever it is, and it's typically not one meeting. You know, like gosh, that she is amazing at that and how is she doing that? And you know she's doing X, y and Z, and I like to, as you described, look at the tips, look at the read the room, read those skills that that individual is showing and learn from them, because the odds are pretty good that they don't know what they're doing either. And if you were to have asked them, well, how do you do that? They were like I don't know, I just do it. But you can learn that. Hey, you know what.
Speaker 2:They stop a lot. They listen differently, they pause. There was a really great engineer that I worked with at Comcast that he was one of the most well-respected guys and every time he spoke he would start off by saying well, you know when I think about it, and there was a pause and you could hear a pin drop, because when he spoke, people wanted to hear what he had to say, but he had curated this style, to create that sense of listening, and those are the kind of things that I really love to observe and try to incorporate in my day-to-day.
Speaker 1:So do you guys think, then? So, taking what you're saying about being an observer of what's going on, of the culture, really being mindful of who is the audience that I'm communicating to, whether whatever forum it is a meeting, an email, and what do they need to know, and then being really brief about how you communicate, like, are those the things that are? Are those the takeaways?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I for me, I think so and I think just just really trying to use your intuition as you walk in and your, your gut's going to tell you something for a reason you know and and sometimes I mean I've I've had this happen where I've made the mistake and come out of it a bit too casually you know, and some, some people feel like casual can mean not, not formal or not serious enough, and I'm I'm one of those people who uses comedy to break, you know, or humor to kind of break uncomfortable situations, and that always hasn't served me well.
Speaker 3:So I I think that you might have to tiptoe in a little bit and then test the waters, and sometimes you're going to swim and sometimes you're going to sink, and that's okay because you're going to learn from it. You know, and and and be able to navigate that differently, and and, that the group of people is going to be different at it too. I mean, there's certainly a tone that you can feel, but, um, you know, maybe it's when you're answering a question to somebody that you're getting that. Hey, I need to be a bit more formal, a bit more business-like, a bit more structured in this answer, versus the answer that I'm giving somebody who might be a little bit more laid back about it and just want, you know, a little bit more color in the response.
Speaker 2:Boy, you know what you were talking about with humor is something that I pretend that I'm funny. I don't know that I actually am but I have also done the same thing, which has gone in with a too casual of approach, and I think the advice that I've given people on that it's funny. I saw JW Marriott speak once many, many years ago I think he was 250 years old and I was 19. But his advice was always overdress, one layer up, level up from where you're going. I remember that.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure if I 100% agree. I think wearing a tuxedo to a semi-formal event is a little weird, but what I did take away from that is you never know what level things are going to be at and always aim higher. And I think, when it comes to speaking and communications, what I have found is, if I think I can be funny, I'm not going to be funny up front. I'm going to take a more measured tone, and so I can always land where it needs to be, based on what the feel of the room is. If you go in and you drop a funny joke or you say something quirky and and that isn't the feed or the mood or the spirit of the conversation, it can really undermine your ability to influence and get your message across. So, while I respect that and I love it, and it's my style too my advice is always just start high and work your way down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really funny. I, I way into my career. Um, I was talking to this guy. He was a VP level and we were just having a one-on-one conversation and I was listening to him and he, he, I was uh, I was showing him a lot of nonverbals. I was going uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah, yeah, yeah, because to me that is like I'm showing you, I'm really engaged. And at one point he paused and he stopped and he goes what is this? He put his hands down. He goes what is this? Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, what are you doing? Are you agreeing with me? Are you trying to distract me? He was so frustrated with me.
Speaker 2:And was so frustrated with me and I was like that was the first time in my career more than you know that he said to me and I thought that was super interesting.
Speaker 1:I was so grateful to him for doing that, because it made me realize that my approach is not always the right approach for the person on the other side, whether it's humor or whether it's non-verbals, whether it's how you're going too fast, you're going too slow, and what you guys keep saying that's really keeps coming back to me is, as you go up, like as you're moving into executive row, you need to like be thoughtful about all these things and be thinking and preparing, and then you always need to adjust in the situation and be open to that and prepare enough. I guess one question I want to ask you guys is how do you prepare for the worst case scenario, like what about those tough questions or if it goes somewhere, so that you do have the mindset in the moment to make that adjustment?
Speaker 3:That's a good question. I think some of that is also kind of learned is, in some cases, if you don't have the data, don't make it up.
Speaker 3:If you don't know for sure, you can say let me get back to you. I want to make sure I'm giving you the exact information or the correct. You know information or the correct and and and asking for that is certainly something that I think shows respect, because you're you're respecting them enough not to just kind of try and, you know, throw them something that just gets them to move on or gets you in more trouble, because now you're like oh, I've, I've given them a data point that I'm not really sure about or I've given them a fact that maybe I don't know it's the right fact for this particular situation. So I think that that can get us into trouble, like trying to answer a hard question that we don't really fully have the answer to. You know, if you need to phone a friend, you know, outside of the meeting or get back to them, I think that's acceptable. I really do.
Speaker 2:I agree and I always suggest that to my staff. But I have also said, because let me I've also said don't get defensive. And let me tell you why. Because I have been in meetings where I have been asked a question and I have politely and admitted I don't have that information and said let me get back to you, and the response was you are the CTO, you should have that answer. Why don't you have that answer? That is something you should have.
Speaker 2:And in that particular story, it was true I should have had that information and there was no way around it. But avoiding being defensive, acknowledging it was a shortcoming, diffuse the situation rather than arguing whether I should have that data or saying, well, that's actually an accounting thing, and blah, blah, blah, and then the banjos are playing and the wheels are coming off the wagon and it's all over. But you know, I think at the end of the day, in those situations, yeah, never make something up. Always, you know, hope or acknowledge that you don't have the information, you can get it, but you know, also be prepared for the worst, which is, you know, that answer is not good enough.
Speaker 3:Well, and, I think, accountability is huge. Like, accountability equals credibility, you know. And so I think, that is like I don't know it. I should know it, but let me get back to you, and if you need any more info on this, I can. I can either put you in contact with the right person or I let let me just chase that down for you I, I, I just think, if you can, if you can be accountable good and bad it's and not throwing others under the bus, even though it might be their shortcoming or it might really be that.
Speaker 3:So you know what I don't have, that we can get it for you We'll. We'll rally the team and, or, you know, yeah, we, we, we missed the mark as a team and and and collect collectively. We'll do better and and try and guide this a different way next time you know, yeah, all right.
Speaker 1:So, james, I'm going to give you, uh, the task of pulling out three takeaways from today, and so I'm giving you like a couple seconds.
Speaker 2:Sure I can do it. Uh, you know I'm always got part of my brain keeping tally here, so you know I'm going to go in reverse order. You know I love that accountability builds trust. So when you're communicating, make sure that you're clear and concise and having honesty in what information you have and what you don't. Second, do the best you can to read and communicate at the level that the room or the audience is prepared to hear. Avoid too much detail. Brevity is clarity and ensure that your audience is aware or is on board with the communication. And then I think one of my favorite ones that came up was really, you know, check in with your audience before you begin, really evaluate the situation, ask them what they're hoping to get out of the conversation, and many times you can focus on something that perhaps wasn't, you didn't appreciate being the key. So creating that upfront rapport, that having that initial dialogue, can really juice your presentation and help you make a difference.
Speaker 1:How'd he do, amy?
Speaker 3:He did great he's a keeper, he's a keeper.
Speaker 1:Amy, thank you so much for joining us today. It was a really great conversation.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much.
Speaker 1:My pleasure yeah.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Hey, Susie, here's a question what was the last museum you went to without children?
Speaker 1:What was the last museum? Oh, it was in. I went to the Louvre in Paris, yeah.
Speaker 2:A name dropper.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was cool, just the experience of it. Yeah, it was. It's funny because I remember when, when I first went in, went into every pause, at every piece and would really be thoughtful. And then, as you go through it, you your cadence kind of changed.
Speaker 2:There's just so much yeah, it slows down.
Speaker 1:So it was really just the whole experience of it was really cool I also did that thing where we were standing outside and you have the, the building, you know the, you go far away and you stand up on a thing and you put your finger, which I could never do.
Speaker 2:I want to be one of those, those people that could pull that off At the leaning tower kind of action. Yeah, I get you.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to add a little color to the whole story. Even better insights into Susie so very much on brand for me, right.
Speaker 2:Very much. That was on land You're welcome.
Speaker 1:That's right. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Quick Take, where we talk about the questions that are on the mind of executives everywhere. Connect with us and share what's on your mind.
Speaker 2:You can find us on LinkedIn, youtube or whatever nerdy place on the internet. You find your podcasts. Our links to the show are in the show notes. We appreciate you.
