This week in the world’s #1 newsletter on leadership communication:
- Save 100 Hours in 2026 With this 1 Simple Move
- On the Show: The New Rules of Women at Work
- Book Recommendation: Why the Best Leaders Are the Most Coachable
*** The next Speak Like a CEO cohort begins January 21st. Nine weeks. Ten participants. The communication skills that distinguish top executives from everyone else. Details here. ***
Are you wasting hours each week clarifying the same things to your team or colleagues?
January is the perfect time to fix this. Here’s the simple move that saves you 100+ hours in 2026 (I have seen many leaders win back 2-3 hours per week after they followed this piece of advice):
Give your team a “How to Work With Me” guide.
Yes, every leader should share their personal communication guidelines with their team.
I recommend this power move to all my CEO coaching clients. If you don’t do it, you leave your team guessing.
The result: mutual frustration, wasted time, mediocrity.
Don’t be that leader. Your team can’t read your mind. Just tell them what you need from them once and for all.
This is my 1-page blueprint. Adapt it as necessary.
“How to Work With Me"
We all want more impact in less time. This document helps us achieve it.
1/ Keep it short, simple, and put the audience first.
Keep memos, messages and briefings for me and other team members short and simple. Don’t aim for completeness, aim for clarity.
2/ Start with the key message
Every document or message must begin with a clear, one-sentence headline. Give it to me straight: What’s the ask or next step?
3/ Contact me on these channels
For our day-to-day communication, I prefer to use (channels). Contact me at (times).
4/ Use spoken English
Write in spoken, not written, English. Use short, direct sentences. Active voice. No bureaucratic phrasing or jargon.
5/ Follow clear communication structures
Speeches and presentations should follow proven structures like “Vision - Commitment - Execution”. Do not produce lists of disconnected points.
6/ Provide bullet points for delivery
Don’t prepare scripts or fully written-out speeches. Provide bullet points only, written for spoken delivery.
7/ Make slides message-led
For presentations, the title slide must lead with the key message, not the topic. Each slide should hold a single point, visually clean. 10 words max.
8/ Send 1 week in advance
Share all speeches, presentations and briefings 1 week in advance. This gives me time to revise and prepare.
9/ Be proactive
Flag upcoming opportunities or challenges early. Involve me as needed to align messaging before drafting.
10/ If unsure, ask
When in doubt about messages, structure, or tone, consult me before producing any materials. “
Grab my one-page “How to Work with Me” cheat sheet, adapt, share with your team and save 100 hours this year!
ON THE SHOW
The New Rules of Women at Work
I do a weekly show to help you become a top 1% communicator. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Youtube.
What if your most powerful voice is the one that feels the most like you? Most women are taught to be nice and agreeable, but that comes at a cost in the workplace.
In this episode, Kate Mason, a former world-champion debater and author of “Powerfully Likeable: A Woman's Guide to Effective Communication”, challenges the idea that women have to choose between being likeable and powerful at work.
You'll learn how to define your authentic communication style, bring warmth without losing authority, and find calm confidence even in high-stakes rooms.
She also shares how to say “no” and set boundaries without guilt, what to do when you’re afraid to speak up, how to manage perfectionism and over-preparation, and the one mindset shift that helps women "steal space" in powerful rooms.
Watch and listen to the full episode here:
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
Why the Best Leaders Are the Most Coachable
Marshall Goldsmith It's widely considered to be the #1 executive coach in the world. He's probably coached more CEOs than anyone alive.
Together with Scott Osman and Jacquelyn Lane, he’s spent decades observing a simple but uncomfortable truth: leadership success often stalls because a leader isn’t coachable (something I've observed as well in my coaching practice).
That insight sits at the heart of Becoming Coachable. This isn’t a book about becoming a better coach. It’s about becoming a better recipient of coaching as a leader.
Three ideas that stuck with me:
1/ Feedback rarely fails because it’s wrong – it fails because it threatens identity
Most leaders reject feedback subconsciously, not logically. The book shows how our need to protect our self-image quietly overrides our desire to improve (and what to do about it).
2/ Listening is the real skill, not agreeing
Being coachable doesn’t mean saying yes to everything. It means staying curious long enough to fully understand the signal before deciding what to do with it.
3/ Coachability is a set of behaviors
The authors define it through four elements: openness to change, the ability to receive feedback, taking visible action, and accountability.
Communication is where coachability is particularly visible. In my work with founders and executives, I see this every day: the leaders who progress fastest aren’t the most articulate or confident. They’re the ones who can hear hard messages without shutting down the conversation.
On that note, have an inspired weekend,
Oliver
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