Global Atlantic Financial Group - Leaders Insights Winter 2019 | Page 8

TALK TO CEOS
How To COMMUNICATE
WITH CEOs
And Other TOP EXECUTIVES
BY DR. BRAD SMART
HAVING INTERVIEWED over 6,000
candidates for jobs reporting to CEOs,
and having coached the candidates who
were hired, I kinda know what ticks CEOs
off day in and day out – and one thing
is how people communicate with them.
This article spells out three of the most
irritating ways people communicate with
CEOs and, frankly, with all high-level
managers.
To make this article less wordy I’ll
refer to communicating with CEOs, but
the points pertain to everyone who
communicates with any high powered
executive.
Communications Irritant No.1: “It
depends.”
It drives CEOs nuts when they ask a
question and the response is “it depends.”
Of course it depends. Anyone can say “it
depends” as a response to just about any
question — what’s the weather going to
be like, who do you think will win the ball
game, what do you want to be doing in five
years, will the strategy work? “It depends”
is usually a stalling technique for people
who either don’t know the answer or don’t
want to tell the truth for fear the CEO will
criticize them.
CEO: “What do sales look like for the
second quarter?”
A: “It depends on how much confidence
there is in the pipeline.”
CEO: “Of course it does, I just want
to know what your best guess is for Q2
sales, given how we estimate pipeline
probability.”
The CEO is thinking: Quit avoiding my
question – just answer it! A better answer
would be, “My best guess is $35 million
for the second quarter, which of course
comes with some important assumptions.”
If the CEO wants more of an explanation
of the assumptions, wait to be asked.
Communications Irritant No.2: “Let me
explain how to build a watch.”
The metaphor is this: When a CEO asks
what time it is, don’t explain how to build
a watch. This is related to No.1, but a bit
different. The CEO asks a question and
the subordinate is fearful that a direct
answer will be rejected, so the temptation
might be to respond, “It depends.” An
alternative way to beat around the bush
is to build a case for the answer using a
wordy rationale first (explaining how to
build a watch), before finally answering
the question. But that will irritate most
CEOs, who don’t like waiting, waiting,
waiting for the answer.
CEO: “What do sales look like for the
second quarter?”
A: “Well, it looks like the economy will
grow at 3 percent, our top two competitors
have new products that will eat into our
sales, offsetting our 20 percent revenue
growth projection and I hear Pat, our top
sales rep, is looking for another job. Add to
that our faltering international strategy,
blah, blah.”
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The CEO is apt to say, “Stop with the long
answer – just answer my question.” If the
subordinate asks, “I’m sorry, what was your
question?” you know the CEO will be even
more irritated.
Here’s some advice for Human Resources
or any interviewers of candidates for jobs
reporting to the CEO: Watch out for these
irritants! As a professional interviewer I
ask, metaphorically, what time it is and when
interviewees respond by saying “It depends”
or by telling me how to “build a watch,” I
cut them off: “Joe, please just give me the
answer, and based on that answer if I want a
longer explanation, I’ll ask for it.”
A players get the hint, C players don’t; so
I’ll give them one more chance: “Joe, the CEO
insists that when she asks a question, people
answer directly and not build a wordy case for
the answer first. I’ve asked you to answer me
directly and sometimes you do, sometimes
you don’t, but so I can judge whether you
and the CEO would get along, please listen
carefully to my questions and answer more
directly for the rest of this interview.”
Communication Irritant No.3: “I wanted to
solve the problem before worrying you with
it.”
Why would anyone hide crucial information
from the CEO? Simple — they know the CEO
will blast them with questions: “Why didn’t
you anticipate this? Why didn’t you do A, B,
and C to prevent it? Why haven’t you done X,
Y, and Z to fix it?”