Executive Communication w/ Harrison Metal

On Communication:

• Answer the question


• Answer first , then explain


• Be concrete


• When questions should be answered by a date


• Who questions should be answered by a name


• How much/many questions should be answered by a number. Dates, dollars, percentages. Define your units.


• Avoid weasel words ( should, could, might, etc.)


• Own your problems. Don’t be def

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Always frame an executive discussion so that you structure and present information in a way that effectively engages and aligns with the needs and interests of your executive audience. And we talked about eight elements of framing to accomplish this.

Number one, clearly define the objective.

Number two, start with the big picture.

Number three, identi

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Figure 3.8 The expected and actual experience of presenting to executives. My general approach to presenting to senior leaders is: Tie topic to business value. One or two sentences to answer the question “Why should anyone care?” Establish historical narrative. Two to four sentences to help folks understand how things are going, how we got here, an

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Generally, you want to be clear, concise, and project a confident and action-oriented aura. For example, rather than saying, “I wonder if…” say “I see it this way, based on X, Y, Z.” When communicating with more senior audiences, ask yourself: If they leave after two minutes, what do I want to make sure they understand? Structure your communication

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