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Principles of Leadership Communication

Module: Module 1 — Management FoundationsCode: PLC (DRO)Faculty: Mr. Daniel RasarioSessions: 1Status: ✅ Drafted

Big idea​

Leadership is communication. The work of a senior leader is rarely doing the task itself — it is choosing words, channels, timing and tone so other people are moved to act. Prof. Daniel's six-principle frame — be thorough, ensure clarity, be authentic with empathy, orchestrate the conversation, lead by example, listen-learn-lead — is the working playbook. Counter-examples like the Better.com mass-layoff Zoom call show how quickly a single careless message can destroy years of brand equity. The opposite is also true: Alan Mulally's weekly traffic-light status reviews turned Ford around because the CEO made it safe to put up a red.

Key concepts​

  • Six principles of leadership communication. Be thorough, ensure clarity, be authentic with empathy, orchestrate the conversation, lead by example, listen-learn-lead. The frame is sequential — you can't orchestrate without clarity, you can't lead by example without authenticity.
  • The trust equation. Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / Self-orientation. Self-orientation is the killer in the denominator — a single visibly self-serving moment can crater the whole score.
  • Communicating bad news (layoffs, restructures). Truth + empathy + dignity for the person leaving + a concrete support package + equal care for survivors. The Better.com mass-layoff Zoom call is the textbook anti-pattern.
  • Orchestrating the room. Like an orchestra conductor, the leader makes sure every voice — not just the loudest — is heard. Mulally's weekly traffic-light review at Ford only worked once he publicly applauded the first red.
  • Cross-cultural and non-verbal cues. ~90% of message lands non-verbally. Directness, hierarchy and silence read very differently across cultures — the same words can build or destroy trust depending on delivery.
  • Handling the unexpected. Stay composed, protect psychological safety, prioritise the human before the answer. Your first reaction in a crisis becomes your culture's default reaction.

Self-check​

Alan Mulally's weekly business review at Ford asked every leader to mark each project green, yellow, or red. For the first several meetings, every leader showed only green. What was the root cause?

  • A. The business was genuinely healthy
  • B. Fear of reprisal made it psychologically unsafe to admit a problem
  • C. The colour-coding system was unclear
  • D. Leaders did not understand their own projects
State the trust equation
Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / Self-orientation. The denominator is the killer — a leader who visibly puts themselves first collapses trust regardless of how credible or reliable they are.

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Continue learning​

📄HBR · ReadA Culture of CandorO'Toole & Bennis on why candid communication is the precondition for trust, learning and execution.🎥TED · WatchBuilding a Psychologically Safe WorkplaceAmy Edmondson's research-grounded talk on why teams that feel safe to speak up dramatically outperform.📄HBR · ReadConnect, Then LeadCuddy, Kohut & Neffinger on the warmth-vs-competence trade-off and why leaders earn influence by connecting first.🎧Podcast · ListenHBR IdeaCastWeekly conversations with leadership thinkers — search 'communication', 'trust' or 'difficult conversations' for ready playlists.
🪞 Apply it — reflection prompts
  1. Score yourself on the trust equation with your team — which of the four terms is dragging your score down, and what one behaviour would change it?
  2. Recall the last hard message you delivered (layoff, missed target, no promotion). Did you cover truth + empathy + dignity + support? Which one did you skip?
  3. In your next meeting, deliberately invite the quietest voice in first. Note what gets said that wouldn't have come out otherwise.

📝 Going deeper. Maister, Green & Galford, The Trusted Advisor is the canonical text for the trust equation. For communicating change and bad news, James O'Toole and Warren Bennis's HBR piece "A Culture of Candor" (June 2009) is the short companion read. For high-stakes conversations, see Patterson, Grenny, McMillan & Switzler, Crucial Conversations.