Innovation engineering…empowerment…entrepreneurialism…employee engagement…

These are big themes. Powerful ingredients. And when they come together, they can help you accomplish great things. But it won’t happen without great leadership and a high-powered, multi-faceted, never-ending communication campaign.

Nitin Nohria, Dean of the Harvard Business School, once said that “communication is the real work of leadership.” I’d like to expand on that thought.

Communication is the vehicle of leadership. It’s the means to the end. It’s the engine of employee engagement. It’s how you motivate people when you can’t look them in the eye every day. And when you take all of that into consideration, it’s clear that you can’t accomplish all of the things that you want unless you make communication a top priority.

Like Dean Nohria said, communication is inseparable from the act of leadership itself. OK. Let’s assume you’re sold on that concept.

• So how do you get people to listen?
• What do you say?
• How do you say it?
• What medium should you use?
• Is it a dialogue, a monologue or a group discussion?
• And should you stick to a robotic, utterly predictable corporate voice or shake things up a little?

I would love to hear your thoughts on leadership and the role communication plays. Also, what are the best examples of great communications from great leaders?

Related articles

• Good Leadership = Good Communications (huttlinassociates.wordpress.com)
• Unleashing the Power of Inspiration (knoxbusinessreview.wordpress.com)