Individual Leadership: Communicate with Greater Power In 2025

Every leader can stand to improve their communication abilities. Even those who are effective communicators. For most, it will make a significant impact on your ability to get results.

Here are four big ideas for you to work with in the year ahead.

1. Think more. Get clear about the message you need to convey. How can you say it with crispness and precision? It takes an investment of time and focus to do this well.

2.       Say less. Communicating powerfully isn’t about volume; it’s about an economy of words. Make your point, then check with others for understanding or acceptance.

3.       Add flavor. Get more creative with your metaphors and examples. Use some provocative language to drive a point.

4.       Dialogue, not monologue. Few people will be influenced by just what you say. Invite others into the conversation about issues, strategies, and challenges.

Using even one of these four approaches consistently will make a significant difference in your ability to communicate powerfully. Combine them for an even greater impact.

And if you want more on how to combine leadership strengths for Improved performance, read my HBR article on this topic, The Leadership Resolutions That Work Best.

Organizational Leadership: Cascading Your Strategy

For your strategy to succeed, everyone in your organization must understand it—and their role in making it happen. That’s the essence of organizational alignment. But simply sharing the strategy, no matter how widely or frequently, isn’t enough. As an executive, you must establish both the structure and the opportunities at every level of the organization for teams to actively engage in understanding the strategy and planning how to execute it.

Give your leaders at all levels the chance to:

1.       Understand the rationale behind the strategy, how the business will change, and the results you expect.

2.       Discuss the actions each team and individual will need to take to support the strategy.

3.       Identify the challenges each team and individual will need to address to ensure successful execution.

I often share with clients that alignment is about the conversation, not the presentation. Put your focus on creating the forums for the right conversations throughout your organization and watch your strategy take hold.

Perspective: On New Years Resolutions

I’ve always appreciated the tabula rasa feeling of January—the sense of a fresh start to the year. As Rainer Maria Rilke beautifully wrote, “And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been.”

New Year’s resolutions often capture this optimism, reflecting our hope for a year that’s better or somehow different from the one we left behind just days ago. Over the years, I’ve experimented with various approaches to these resolutions: dividing them into categories like health, career, and family; crafting stop-doing, start-doing, and keep-doing lists; choosing an annual theme; or even centering on an inspiring question for the year ahead.

I’m not against resolutions or goals—in fact, I’ll likely set some myself. But this year, I’m also allowing myself a moment to pause and reflect. To think about the year that’s passed: what worked, what didn’t, and what I’d like to improve, simplify, or experience differently.

The year often begins at full speed for so many of us. Before diving headfirst into what’s next, take a moment to look back. Reflect on the past twelve months. There’s power in understanding where you’ve been before charting where you’re going.

LinkedIn Live: 5 Traits That Predict Leadership Success

To start 2025 off right, I’ll have a guest for the first LinkedIn Live of the new season. Elizabeth Lotardo, author of the new book Leading Yourself will join me to talk about 5 Traits That Predict Leadership Success. How do you identify the talent most likely to deliver as future leaders? Where should you focus your development and coaching efforts? And where should you be cultivating your own abilities?

All this and more on January 21^st at 10am EST. More information here. See you there!