Communication

IndiGo (InterGlobe Aviation Ltd) CRISIS WASN’T IN THE SKIES. IT WAS IN THE LEADERSHIP CABIN. Three things stood out. One: Employees were left alone to face furious customers. No leader should ever let that happen. If you don’t stand by your people in a storm, don’t expect them to stand by your customers in the sun. Customer experience collapses the moment employees feel abandoned. Two: In any crisis, honesty is the only strategy that works. This time, the communication wasn’t transparent. When leaders hide the full picture, years of goodwill can disappear overnight. A crisis can earn trust, but only if you tell the truth. Three: The belief that “we are too big to be ignored” has ended more companies than competition ever has. Customers always have a choice. And if they don’t, they will create one. We shouldn’t watch the Indigo crisis like spectators. This is a reminder for every leader to build their own crisis blueprint. Because crises will come, when they do, your response becomes your reputation. There is more to business than profits. There are people, trust, and how you show up when it matters most.

🗣️“You must be more assertive.” Last year, those five words burned into Amy’s memory. She’d walked out of her 2023 review at XYZ Global determined to “step up.” Speak more in meetings. Push harder on decisions. Stop softening her tone so she wouldn’t intimidate anyone. She did exactly that. Fast forward 12 months. Same conference room. Same 2 VPs across the table. 🔇“You’ve become too intense, need to work on softening your approach.” 😑 Amy stared at them, speechless. Wasn’t that what you asked for last year? Which version of me do you actually want? She thought about the past year: 🤔 The time she challenged a flawed budget forecast in front of the CFO, saving the company $3 million, but earning whispers that she was “abrasive.” 🤔 The time she stepped in to rescue a failing project, praised for her “grit” publicly, yet privately told she “dominated the room.” 🤔 The time she finally got invited to an executive offsite, only to overhear a VP say, “She’s great, but can be… a lot.” This is the tightrope trap senior women walk daily: • Be assertive, but not too assertive. • Be collaborative, but don’t fade into the background. • Be visible, but not “hungry.”    The same behavior praised in men (decisive, strong leader) gets women penalized as abrasive or too much. Until you set the narrative yourself, you’re trapped performing for a moving target. If you’re exhausted from balancing on a wire men don’t even see, here’s how to step off it and still rise. 1. Audit the pattern, not just the feedback • Track every piece of feedback, especially contradiction. Patterns reveal bias. If the goal keeps moving, it's not you! • Phrase to use in review: “Last year I was encouraged to increase my presence; this year I’m told to soften it. Can we clarify what success really looks like?”    2. Control the frame before the room does • Pre‑set the narrative in 1:1s and emails leading up to reviews. I.e., “This year I focused on driving results while bringing the team with me, you’ll see that reflected in project X and Y.” • This primes leadership to view your assertiveness as an intentional strategy, not a personality flaw.    3. Build echo chambers, not just results • Secure 2–3 allies who reinforce your strengths in rooms you’re not in. • Promotions happen in the absence, you need people echoing your narrative, not someone else’s. • Phrase to brief an ally: “If my leadership style comes up in review, can you speak to how I challenge decisions but still align the team?”    Women aren’t just asked to deliver results. They’re asked to perform, decode, and reframe, all while walking a wire men don’t even see. If you’re exhausted from balancing between “too soft” and “too aggressive,” stop walking the wire and start controlling the narrative. Join the waitlist of our next cohort of ⭐ From Hidden Talent to Visible Leaders ⭐ https://lnkd.in/gx7CpGGR 👊 Because leadership shouldn’t feel like an impossible balancing act.

We analyzed 4 million recruiting emails sent through Gem. Most get opened. But only 22.6% get replies. Half those replies are "thanks, but no thanks." We dug into what actually works. Here are 8 factors that drive REAL responses: 1. Strategic timing beats everything else - 8am gets 68% open rates. 4pm hits 67.3%. 10am lands at 67% - Most recruiters blast at 9am when inboxes are flooded - Avoiding peak times alone can boost your opens by 7-10% 2. Weekend outreach is criminally underused - Saturday/Sunday emails get ≥66% open rates consistently - Why? Empty inboxes. Zero competition. Candidates actually have time - Yet few recruiters send on weekends. Their loss is your gain 3. Keep messages between 101-150 words - Shorter feels spammy. Longer gets skimmed - You need exactly 10 sentences to nail the essentials - Every word beyond 150 drops performance 4. Generic templates kill response rates - Generic templates: 22% reply rate - Personalized outreach: 47% increased response rate - Even adding name + company to subject lines boosts opens by 5% 5. Subject lines need 3-9 words - Include company name + job title for highest opens - "Senior Engineer Role at [Company]" beats clever wordplay - 11+ words can work if genuinely intriguing, but why risk it? 6. The 4-stage sequence is optimal - One-off emails are dead. Send exactly 4 follow-up messages - You'll see 68% higher "interested" rates with proper sequencing - After stage 4, engagement completely flatlines. Stop there 7. Get the hiring manager involved - Having the hiring manager send ONE follow-up boosts reply rates by 50%+ - Yet most recruiters don't use this tactic - Weekend advantage: Minimal competition for attention 8. Leadership involvement is a cheat code - Role-specific timing (tech vs non-tech) matters - Technical roles: 3 of 4 best send times are weekends - Engineers check email differently than salespeople. Adjust accordingly TAKEAWAY: These aren't opinions. This is what 4 million emails tell us. Most recruiting teams are stuck in 2019 playbooks wondering why their reply rates won't budge. Meanwhile, recruiters who implement these 8 factors see dramatically better results. The data is right there. The patterns are clear. The only question is: will you actually change how you operate? Or will you keep sending the same tired emails at 9am on Tuesday? Your call.

🐑 Business Language vs. UX Language. How to present design work, explain design decisions and get stakeholders on your side ↓ 🤔 Businesses rarely understand the impact of UX work. 🤔 UX language is overloaded with ambiguous terms/labels. 🤔 Business can’t support initiatives it doesn’t understand. ✅ Leave UX language and UX abbreviations at the door. ✅ Explain design work through the lens of business goals. 🚫 Avoid “consistency”, “empathy”, “simplicity”, “affordance”. 🚫 Avoid “design thinking”, “cognitive load”, “universal design”. 🚫 Avoid “lean UX”, “agile”, “archetypes”, “Jobs-To-Be-Done”. 🚫 Avoid “stakeholder management” and “design validation”. 🚫 Avoid abbreviations: WIP, POC, HMW, IxD, PDP, PLP, WCAG. ✅ Explain how you’ll measure success of your design work. ✅ Speak of business value, loyalty, abandonment, churn. ✅ Show risk management, compliance, governance, evidence. ✅ Refer to cost reduction, efficiency, growth, success, Design KPIs. ✅ Present inclusive design as an industry-wide way of working. As designers, we often use design terms, such as consistency, friction and empathy. Yet to many managers, these attributes don’t map to any business objectives at all, often leaving them baffled and utterly confused about the actual real-life impact of our UX work. One way out that changed everything for me is to leave UX vocabulary at the door when entering a business meeting. Instead, I try to explain design work through the lens of the business, often rehearsing and testing the script ahead of time. When presenting design work in a big meeting, I try to be very deliberate and strategic in the choice of words. I won’t be speaking about attracting “eye-balls” or getting users “hooked”. It’s just not me. But I won’t be speaking about reducing “friction” or improving “consistency” either. Instead, I tell a story. A story that visualizes how our work helps the business. How design team has translated business goals into specific design initiatives. How UX can reduce costs. Increase revenue. Grow business. Open new opportunities. New markets. Increase efficiency. Extend reach. Mitigate risk. Amplify word of mouth. And how we’ll measure all that huge impact of our work. Typically, it’s broken down into 8 sections: 🎯 Goals ← Business targets, KRs we aim to achieve. 💥 Translation ← Design initiatives, iterations, tests. 🕵️ Evidence ← Data from UX research, pain points. 🧠 Ideas ← Prioritized by an impact/effort-matrix. 🕹 Design work ← Flows, features, user journeys. 📈 Design KPIs ← How we’ll measure/report success. 🐑 Shepherding ← Risk management, governance. 🔮 Future ← What we believe are good next steps. Next time you walk in a meeting, pay attention to your words. Translate UX terms in a language that other departments understand. It might not take long until you’ll see support coming from everywhere — just because everyone can now clearly see how your work helps them do their work better. [continues in the comments]

Last week, I described four design patterns for AI agentic workflows that I believe will drive significant progress: Reflection, Tool use, Planning and Multi-agent collaboration. Instead of having an LLM generate its final output directly, an agentic workflow prompts the LLM multiple times, giving it opportunities to build step by step to higher-quality output. Here, I'd like to discuss Reflection. It's relatively quick to implement, and I've seen it lead to surprising performance gains. You may have had the experience of prompting ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini, receiving unsatisfactory output, delivering critical feedback to help the LLM improve its response, and then getting a better response. What if you automate the step of delivering critical feedback, so the model automatically criticizes its own output and improves its response? This is the crux of Reflection. Take the task of asking an LLM to write code. We can prompt it to generate the desired code directly to carry out some task X. Then, we can prompt it to reflect on its own output, perhaps as follows: Here’s code intended for task X: [previously generated code] Check the code carefully for correctness, style, and efficiency, and give constructive criticism for how to improve it. Sometimes this causes the LLM to spot problems and come up with constructive suggestions. Next, we can prompt the LLM with context including (i) the previously generated code and (ii) the constructive feedback, and ask it to use the feedback to rewrite the code. This can lead to a better response. Repeating the criticism/rewrite process might yield further improvements. This self-reflection process allows the LLM to spot gaps and improve its output on a variety of tasks including producing code, writing text, and answering questions. And we can go beyond self-reflection by giving the LLM tools that help evaluate its output; for example, running its code through a few unit tests to check whether it generates correct results on test cases or searching the web to double-check text output. Then it can reflect on any errors it found and come up with ideas for improvement. Further, we can implement Reflection using a multi-agent framework. I've found it convenient to create two agents, one prompted to generate good outputs and the other prompted to give constructive criticism of the first agent's output. The resulting discussion between the two agents leads to improved responses. Reflection is a relatively basic type of agentic workflow, but I've been delighted by how much it improved my applications’ results. If you’re interested in learning more about reflection, I recommend: - Self-Refine: Iterative Refinement with Self-Feedback, by Madaan et al. (2023) - Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learning, by Shinn et al. (2023) - CRITIC: Large Language Models Can Self-Correct with Tool-Interactive Critiquing, by Gou et al. (2024) [Original text: https://lnkd.in/g4bTuWtU ]

Here's how to simplify your pitch and 10x your sales: 1. Talk less, sell more. Short sentences = more sales. Hemingway once bet he could write a story in 6 words that'd make you feel something: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Your pitch should pack the same punch. 2. Complexity is for people who want to feel smart, not be effective. The worst salespeople make simple things sound complicated. The best make the complex simple. 3. Complexity says, "I want to feel needed." Simplicity limits to only what is needed. 4. Read your pitch out loud. I remember when I'd asked my COO to read the manuscript of my book. He chose to do it aloud. All 258 pages. Ears catch what eyes miss. The final version reads like butter. 5. "Be good, be seen, be gone." This was the best sales advice I ever got. - Good: Deliver value - Seen: Make an impression - Gone: Don't overstay your welcome People buy from those they remember, not those who linger. 7. Speak like your customer, not a textbook. We like to sound sophisticated. "We create impactful bottom-line solutions." But we like to listen to simple. "We help small businesses explode their sales." Which one would you buy? 8. Every word earns its place. Your pitch should be lean and mean. - Be specific - Avoid cliches - Check for redundancy - If it doesn't add value, cut it out 9. Abstract concepts bore. Concrete examples excite. ❌ "We'll increase your efficiency." ✅ "We'll save you 10 hours a week." Paint a picture. 10. People buy on emotion & justify with logic So tap into their feelings: - Fear of missing out - Desire for success - Need for security Then back it up with facts. 11. The "Grandma Test" never fails. If your grandma wouldn't get your pitch, simplify it. No jargon. No buzzwords. Just plain English. 12. Benefits > features. Dreams > benefits. ❌ "Our group hosts 10+ events per year." ✅ "Our program helps you close deals." 🚀 "Let's take back Main Street through ownership." 13. Use power words: - You - Free - Because - Instantly - New These words grab attention and drive action. Two final things to keep in mind... Simplicity isn't just for sales. Apply these principles to: - your business operations - your thinking processes - your next investment - your relationships - your to do list Sales isn't just for car dealerships. You pitch when you: - Negotiate a raise - Interview for a job - Post on social media - Hire someone for a job - Talk to an owner about buying their biz If you found this useful, feel free to share for others ♻️

Conflict is inevitable. Emotional intelligence is the antidote. This “conversation guide” is a blueprint for emotional intelligence in action. ✅ Every step here reflects self-awareness, empathy, impulse control, and respect for others’ perspectives — the core pillars of EQ. ✅ Difficult conversations often go wrong not because of what we say, but how and when we say it. ✅ Mastering these skills turns conflict into collaboration. ✅ You create safety, preserve dignity, and move toward solutions — not stand-offs. Bottom line: 🧠 The emotionally intelligent leader doesn’t avoid hard conversations because they know how to have them well. That’s where trust is built, relationships deepen, and real progress happens. Give it another read, and tell me what you think... HOW TO MASTER DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS 1️⃣ Timing Matters ❌ Don’t ambush someone when they’re stressed or busy. ✅ “Can we find a time that works for both of us?” 2️⃣ Starting With Empathy, Not Ego ❌ Don’t jump in with blame or judgment. ✅ Begin by acknowledging their perspective and emotions. 3️⃣ Staying Steady, Not Reactive ❌ Don’t snap back or shut down. ✅ “Okay, I hear you. Can you help me understand what happened?” 4️⃣ Tackling It Early ❌ Don’t let negative feelings fester. ✅ Bring up issues when they’re still small. 5️⃣ Creating The Right Setting ❌ Don’t have tough talks in public or around peers. ✅ “Mind if we step aside and talk in private for a minute?” 6️⃣ Focusing On The Issue ❌ Don’t bring up past grudges or performance issues. ✅ Stay on topic and address one concern at a time. 7️⃣ Finding Common Ground ❌ Don’t frame the conversation as “winning” vs. “losing.” ✅ “We both want [X] by [date and time], right?” 8️⃣ Accepting Responsibility ❌ Don’t deflect or minimize your role in the situation. ✅ “I could’ve handled that better — my bad.” 9️⃣ Avoiding Absolutes ❌ Don’t use words like “always,” “never,” or “impossible.” ✅ Recognize nuance and exceptions to patterns. 🔟 Offering Solutions ❌ Don’t just present problems without plans for moving forward. ✅ “Here’s what I think could help... what do you think?” --- ♻️ Repost if this resonates. ➕ Follow Travis Bradberry for more and sign up for my weekly LinkedIn newsletter. Do you want more like this? 👇 📖 My new book, "The New Emotional Intelligence" is now 10% off on Amazon and it's already a bestseller.

🌍 Ten Years After Paris: is the Climate Crisis a Disinformation Crisis? In 2015, the world made a historic promise: to keep global warming well below 2°C, and ideally below 1.5°C. We committed to major emission cuts by 2030, and net-zero by 2050. The Paris Agreement marked a new era of global climate cooperation. But ten years on, we're still struggling with cooperation while the World Meteorological Organization tells us that the Earth’s average temperature exceeded 1.5°C over a 12-month period (Feb 2023–Jan 2024) for the first time. Why? 🔍 A groundbreaking new study, led by 14 researchers for the International Panel on the Information Environment, reviewed 300 studies from 2015–2025. The findings are alarming: powerful interests – fossil fuel companies, populist parties, even some governments – are systematically spreading misleading narratives to delay climate action. 🧠 Misinformation isn't just about denying climate change. It’s now about strategic skepticism – minimizing the threat, casting doubt on science-based solutions, and greenwashing unsustainable practices. 📺 This disinformation flows through social media, news outlets, corporate reports, and even policy briefings. It targets all of us – but especially policymakers, where it can shape laws and delay critical decisions. 💡 So what can we do? 1️⃣ Legislate for transparency and integrity in climate communication. 2️⃣ Hold greenwashers accountable through legal action. 3️⃣ Build global coalitions of civil society, science, and public institutions. 4️⃣ Invest in climate and media literacy for both citizens and leaders. 5️⃣ Amplify voices from underrepresented regions – like Africa – where more research is urgently needed. We must protect not only the planet’s climate, but the integrity of climate information. 🔗 Read more on how disinformation is undermining climate progress – and what we can do about it: https://lnkd.in/eDN9hKAJ 🕰️ The window is small. But with truth, science, and collective action, we can still turn the tide.

“Our messaging is not working” Enrique Ortiz, a veteran conservationist and founding member of the Andes Amazon Fund, has spent decades translating the complexities of ecosystems into action. But in his recent commentary for Mongabay, he issues a striking critique—not of science itself, but of how it’s conveyed. “Facts are not the most important part,” Ortiz writes. “The current narrative needs a re-thinking.” That rethinking, he argues, begins not with more data, but with deeper insight into how people process information, make decisions, and respond emotionally to the world around them. Ortiz’s concern is not that people are unaware of climate change. In fact, the majority of the global population acknowledges it. But many remain unmoved, caught in a web of abstract language, ideological filters, and emotional distance. Scientific accuracy, while essential, often falters in the face of cognitive and cultural barriers. Ortiz points to the findings of cognitive scientists and neuroscientists: facts rarely shift belief systems. Instead, people gravitate toward stories, experiences, and social cues. “When facing uncertainty,” he notes, “humans make decisions that are satisfactory, rather than optimal.” This disconnect, Ortiz argues, is especially clear in environmental communication. Words like “rewilding,” “green,” or “ecological” may have once inspired clarity, but have since become muddled through overuse or conflicting interpretations. Worse, they sometimes trigger skepticism or backlash. In this fog of abstraction, the human connection is lost. What’s needed, Ortiz suggests, is a new narrative strategy—one that harnesses the emotional power of stories and speaks to how people actually think and feel. He draws from his own experience as an educator: while his lectures on plant-animal interactions faded from memory, it was the stories that lingered. This phenomenon, known as “narrative transportation,” isn’t mere sentimentality. It’s a neurological reality that helps ideas stick—and decisions shift. Rather than continuing to warn of catastrophe, Ortiz believes we should share stories of adaptation and resilience. From Andean farmers modifying how they grow quinoa and potatoes, to everyday consumers making environmentally conscious choices, these narratives offer agency and hope. They bridge divides and foster shared values. “Our messaging is not working,” Ortiz writes bluntly. “We need a revolution in narratives—and in how we tell them.” That revolution may begin not in the lab or the newsroom, but in the quiet space where empathy meets understanding—and where change can finally take root. 📰 His piece: https://lnkd.in/gmrWBcc5 📸 Hoatzin. My photo.

There are always situations in which you need to communicate fast and clearly. Especially in a crisis, in new situations, or when there is time pressure. The STICC protocol helps you achieve this. The STICC Protocol was developed by psychologist Gary Klein as a tool for managing the unexpected. STICC stands for: Situation, Task, Intent, Concerns, Calibrate and is a technique for productive communication about what to do when you face a new, unexpected situation. This is what it means: S - Situation = Here’s what I think we face. The leader summarizes how they see the situation, problem, or crisis at hand. T - Task = Here’s what I think we should do. The leader explains their plan for addressing the situation, problem, or crisis at hand. I - Intent = Here’s why I think this is what we should do. The leader explains the reasons why they think this is the best way of addressing the situation, problem, or crisis at hand. C - Concerns = Here’s what we should keep our eyes on. The leader mentions possible downsides or future consequences of the solution suggested to be taken into account as well. C - Calibrate = Now talk to me and give me your views. The leader asks others in the team to give their feedback and viewpoints, and especially invites them to disagree and add. This technique helps you in managing pressured situations in three ways: First, once something unexpected happens, it helps to develop appropriate responses. The five steps are aimed at discussing with a team what to do in cases that are not familiar. Through its focus on concrete action, on gathering different viewpoints, and on speed, the STICC protocol is a quick way to take appropriate action in new situations. Second, in step 4 (Concerns), you open up the discussion for further uncertainties and other changes that may follow. In this way, you mentally prepare people that there will always remain uncertainties. This helps in developing a crisis-ready mindset that is not only helpful in the current crisis, but also in the next. Third, the fact that a constructive dialogue takes place also facilitates communication and mutual learning. Even though the leader brings the suggestions here, it is the team together that comes to a solution. And while doing that, they learn together and from each other in an open and adaptive way, which helps further prepare them for future crises. My advice: use STICC whenever you have to communicate fast and clearly. === Follow me or subscribe to my Soulful Strategy newsletter for more: https://lnkd.in/e_ytzAgU #communicationtips #agile #teamexercise