Speak Like a CEO by Oliver Aust: Become a Top 1% Communicator
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How to control the conversation & get what you want
Published about 6 hours ago • 2 min read
This week in the world’s #1 newsletter on leadership communication:
How to Get What You Want in Any Conversation
On the Show: Keep Your Audience Hooked With These 10 Moves
New Course: Improving Your Leadership Communications
How to Get What You Want in Any Conversation
Hi Reader,
*** Only a couple of places left in the Speak Like A CEO Academy live Fall Cohort, starting on 26 August. Our goal: You become a top 1% communicator in 9 weeks. ***
Here is one of the few iron laws of communication: In every conversation, you want to hold the frame.
Frames are concepts that shape how we see the world. Italian food. First class. Cat videos. Startups. A word or phrase activates a certain frame in your mind.
Framing is not a minor detail. The Framing Effect is one of the largest psychological biases in decision-making.
How you frame your message therefore influences the emotional response of your listeners. This is relevant for positioning, presentations, pitches, and the daily conversations you have with your team.
For instance, if you want your team to take on new responsibilities, you can tell them “take responsibility”. It probably won’t work.
But you can also frame it as an opportunity to learn new skills and emphasize the value this will bring to the company. The second option would be more effective.
If framing is the process of building and managing frames, then reframing is the process of intentionally shifting a conversation to grounds that are more favorable for you. For instance, you change the frame from prize to value in a sales conversation.
To persuade someone or change someone’s mind, you need to activate the right frame. I compiled the 9 most relevant frames for you:
Time Frame ❌ “Waiting for your reply.” ✅ “The deal closes on Friday.”
Status Frame ❌ “Do you want …?” ✅ “Do you qualify?”
Intrigue Frame ❌ “Here are the facts.” ✅ “Let me tell you about …”
Data Frame ❌ “10% failed.” ✅ “90% succeeded.”
Prize Frame ❌ “It costs X.” ✅ “The value is Y.”
Choice Frame ❌ “Please buy from me.” ✅ “I’m choosy about who I work with.”
Opportunity Frame ❌ “We need to cut costs.” ✅ “This is our opportunity to be lean.”
Future Frame ❌ “We may miss our targets.” ✅ “We’re on the verge of a breakthrough.”
Moral Authority Frame ❌ “This needs to get done.” ✅ “We are called to meet this challenge.”
The upshot: Words activate frames. The right framing ensures your message lands with the force you intend.
Here's the brutal truth: in business, you have ten seconds to get people interested. Then you have to re-earn their attention every two minutes. Most speakers never do.
It's not that attention spans got shorter. Standards went up. The days when a room listened because of your title are over.
The brain mostly drifts for three reasons: it tunes out anything boring, anything it already knows, and anything random or confusing. That's not a flaw in your audience. It's biology. And once you accept it, you stop taking it personally and start designing around it.
In my new video, I share the 10 moves I use with my CEO coaching clients to pull a room back, every couple of minutes, on demand, by breaking patterns. Like hijacking the brain with a question or a surprise.
The best part? They work even when the topic itself is dull. Especially then.
I went to California in June to record threecourses on leadership communications with LinkedIn Learning. The good news: they are free (as long as you have a paid LinkedIn subscription).
This one is designed for first-time managers and people managers. It’s only 24 minutes and covers the communication fundamentals needed to lead through everyday conversations, meetings, and decisions.
You learn how to structure messages clearly, stay on point, run more effective meetings, and influence decisions without relying on authority.
Along the way, you build communication habits that improve clarity, establish trust, and strengthen team performance.
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