Case Studies
Messaging "Bible" for a Founder
Read More ↓For many executives, I recommend — and have built — what I call a "messaging bible." It's a tool that helps us determine, strategically, when and where to engage: which opportunities to seek out, and which incoming requests to say yes or no to, and which audiences to cultivate.
One example: I worked with a founder in Silicon Valley who had countless areas of focus, and was thereby saying yes to every media interview and speaking opportunity — regardless of audience, topic, or strategic impact on their start-up's success. As a result, this founder's identity was diluted, as was the impact of their communications on their business.
I helped hone their many interests into a handful of topic areas and messages. We identified the five (or seven) topics that were important to them and that also mapped back to their start-up's strategic goals. And we built guardrails — helping us identify audiences and opportunities that supported their business objectives, but also helping us confidently decline interviews and occasions that fell outside our "bible."
After only a short time, this founder: 1) better understood why to agree to a particular interview or speaking occasion, 2) was therefore more confident and disciplined in delivering the messages that could make a strategic impact, and 3) began building a thought leadership platform that the outside world could understood more simply.
University Commencement SNAFU
Read More ↓I've helped many leaders secure college graduation speaking slots and prepare for them — sometimes working start-to-finish from ideation, theme development, drafting, editing, and delivery coaching. Soup to nuts. Sometimes, I've helped polish a draft. Other times I've coached on delivery and managed logistics.
Commencement addresses are, honestly, my favorite.
One occasion I remember well: a start-up CEO came to me with a draft to deliver at their alma mater. They were not confident — neither about their content nor about their ability to deliver it.
I'm not a "yes man;" I consider it my job to give, based on my experience, my best counsel about how I think a speech will land with an audience and be received by other audiences listening — the media, investors, shareholders, etc. In this case, my counsel to the CEO was direct: "Don't do this." The draft felt, to me, corporate, and I predicted it would fall flat.
We spent the next months taking a new tack, finding an authentic voice and storyline, revising drafts, running the drafts past other trusted advisors, and practicing delivery.
The CEO went into commencement day much more confident, with a speech that focused on their unique perspective but also reflected well on their start-up.
Awhile back I offered some free advice over on LinkedIn for crafting commencement addresses.
Layoffs and Restructuring
Read More ↓I've helped many executives announce and manage layoffs and reorganizations — among the most difficult communications challenges any leader will face.
A significant one was at Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company, which experienced a reputation crisis that ultimately led to its absorption into General Motors. During that period, I partnered with the President and CTO to retain critical machine learning and artificial intelligence talent. We designed an internal communications program to engage those employees and prevent them from leaving at a critical time. Our efforts contributed to lower-than-expected attrition.
COVID and the Third Place
Read More ↓When the pandemic fundamentally altered the business proposition of Starbucks — no in-store experience, no "third place" — I helped CEO Kevin Johnson redefine Starbucks' role in its communities and for its customers.
The company was no longer the third place: that physical space outside of work and home where people felt welcomed and at ease. It had become something else — a place of service, stability, and normalcy in an unstable world. We essentially rewrote the mission of the company — to "show up for communities" — for as long as the pandemic required. And we built a communications plan around this messaging, from quarterly earnings and shareholder meetings to internal cadences.