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CEOs are the people that we look up to in an organization. Granted, not all of them have excellent communication skills, however, many of them do. Marcus Buckingham in The One Thing You Need to Know says this about leaders: “The leader’s role is to be able to paint a vision of a future that is better than where we are today and inspire others to work toward creating it.” I believe that communication is the essential skill for good leadership. How is your “leadership” communication? Do you project confidence and credibility though your communications? Here are a few questions to ask yourself, to see if you have a solid foundation of communication skills to help you be seen as a leader in your organization. 1. Do you project optimism to those who work with and for you? 2. Do you acknowledge others' contributions out loud? 3. Do you paint the picture of a better future with a clear vision? 4. Do people feel excited and inspired after your meetings or presentations? 5. Do your employees know what you expect of them? 6. When making a request are you specific? 7. When communicating with senior executives, are you clear, concise, and direct? In our High Impact Presentations program the most powerful activity is called CEO for a Day. We promote each of our attendees to CEO of their companies. We then ask that they each develop their opening message to their senior team and deliver it. What is dramatic about this activity is that our participants rise to the challenge and present themselves more powerfully and persuasively, as if they are the CEO. I’ve learned from leading this activity numerous times that sometimes all people need, is to be given permission to project their best and most confident selves. Carmine Gallo, of Gallo Communications Group, is a presentations coach and writer for Business Week Online. Carmine has taken a look at CEOs and explored their communication and presentation styles. He has examined some of the most well-known CEOs of our time. From Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz; Intuit founder Scott Cook; personal finance expert Suze Orman; Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs; Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor; as well as many others. Business Week Online has put together an online slideshow that’s worth viewing at to see how these well known CEOs lead and motivate others through their communications. Click below to view. Best Communicators Slideshow - Top CEOs: images.businessweek.com/ss/06/01/best_communicators/index_01.htm If you are interested in learning more, Carmine’s information comes from his book 10 Simple Secrets of The World's Greatest Business Communicators. Here’s a link to Carmine Gallo's book at Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/gp/product/1402203489/sr=8-1/qid=1142037394/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1038966-0662304?%5Fencoding=UTF8 What I’d like you to learn and be able to apply from this article is that it’s up to you to be your best, most confident self when you are standing up at the front of the room or leading a meeting. Others look to you for your opinion, how you feel about a particular topic, and your leadership. Are you able to, as Marcus Buckingham says: “Paint the picture of the future that’s better than where we are today and inspire others to work toward creating it”? About the author Dana Bristol-Smith is the founder of Speak for Success: www.speakforsuccess.com, an organization that works with companies that want their people to communicate with confidence and credibility. You can email Dana at: DanasArticles@gmail.com
