This week in the world’s #1 newsletter on leadership communication:
- Quick Life Update & What’s Next
- Recording: Speak at Your Dream Conference
- From McDonald’s to McKinsey Killer
- Influence at Work
Quick Life Update & What’s Next
Before I go on my summer break, I thought I would give you a quick life update.
To be honest, I can use a little time out. The last few months have been intense. From a loss in the family to changes in my team – life has a habit of throwing challenges at us.
I have no fancy travels planned, just a couple of weeks in our cabin at a lake an hour from Berlin, swimming, hiking, SUPing, reading and – most importantly – enjoying family time.
I hope you get to do what you love this summer, too.
Yet I am already excited about what’s coming after the summer.
In two words: AI and video. Here’s why:
Leadership has to evolve for us humans to stay relevant in the age of intelligence, and it is my strong belief that the two leadership skills that matter most now are AI fluency and communications.
As I put it in my TEDxTalk, supercomputers need supercommunicators.
Whether we like it or not, leaders who don’t evolve and master these skills will become obsolete. So you want to double down on tech, and you want to double down on the human aspects of leadership. If you do that, you will be unstoppable.
This may seem harsh – obsolete or unstoppable – but I believe that’s the reality in the age of AI. We are entering a completely new era where leaders become orchestrators of teams of humans and agentic AI.
That’s why I’m working on “AI for Leaders” with my friend JD Meier, Satya Nadella’s Former Head Innovation Coach. Between us, we master these two skills at the highest level, and can provide much-needed clarity.
For that reason, I will travel to Seattle in early September: If you happen to be in that area, let’s grab coffee! (I heard it’s a thing there:)
So what about video?
We are making a serious push for two reasons: Video is the future of podcasting. That’s why the Speak Like a CEO podcast now includes video on Spotify, and we launched a YouTube channel a few weeks ago.
YouTube is now the biggest podcast platform. We are still learning the ropes but have big plans.
The other reason is AI. As AI-generated content floods social media, trust drops further and further.
But if people can see you and you show up as a human being, you can build trust. Because we all crave authenticity and connection, and video is excellent at building both.
Whatever the channel, I will keep doing my best to share with you everything I learn along the way so that you can become a top 1% communicator.
WEBINAR
If you want to speak at TEDx or an industry conference, you need to learn how to pitch your talk.
Most professionals dream of that stage moment. The credibility. The career doors it opens. The way it positions you as THE expert in your field.
Fresh off my own TEDx talk going live last month, I just shared for the first time how I've helped hundreds of leaders get booked at leading conferences like TED, SXSW, and Web Summit.
ICYMI, watch the recording here.
PODCAST
From McDonald’s to McKinsey Killer
I do a podcast to help you become a 10 out of 10 communicator. Please subscribe.
Meet the man who scaled Kindle and turned McDonald’s, Volvo, and MGM into truly digital businesses.
Atif Rafiq has helped reshape some of the world’s biggest brands by challenging how organizations make decisions and execute bold ideas.
As the first Chief Digital Officer in the Fortune 500 and author of the WSJ bestseller Decision Sprint, Atif believes the true competitive edge lies not in execution alone, but in mastering the messy process of decision-making.
Now as founder of Ritual – an AI-native workspace designed for strategy, product, and cross-functional collaboration – Atif is building what some have called a “McKinsey Killer.”
He also shares his most important piece of communication advice for leaders: seek clarity before you provide it.
Listen to the full episode here:
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
Influence at Work
This is not your typical “do this, do that at work” kind of book but a truly insightful guide on how to be influential, based on behavioral science.
Steve Martin is the business partner of Robert Cialdini (author of mega-bestseller Influence) and one of the leading thinkers in the field of influence and persuasion science. (Luckily for us, he is also a future podcast guest.)
His argument: In today's competitive, fast-moving, and attention-scarce world, having a good case to make is simply not good enough. To be successful at work, you have to be influential at work.
Two key insights I gained from the book:
1 - You don't have to change people's beliefs to change their behavior.
Changing people's minds is hard, but when it comes to influencing their decisions and behaviors, it's often unnecessary. Focus on winning the outcome, not the argument.
Because while it's hard to change someone's mind, people's decisions and behaviors are more flexible.
2 - What people say is an impactful message, and what messages actually move them to action can be diametrically opposed.
When people were asked in a study what would persuade them to save energy, they said the environment, their kid’s future and cost savings. What actually led to energy savings was informing them “your neighbors already do it”.
We are a social species after all.
The lesson: When it comes to your messaging, watch what people do, not what they say.
On that note, have an inspired summer and see you in a few weeks!
Oliver
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