How to Get Your Boss's Boss to Understand

The lesson is that an early-user edge was never going to last, but the judgment about when AI helps and when it quietly misleads is a better asset for the long run. Tools commoditize. Judgment compounds.

Resist the pull to respond immediately. Ask a clarifying question instead: "What's driving that concern?" or "What would resolve this for you?"

Sitting across from someone signals opposition. It reinforces the idea that each person must defend a position. That posture works against you when the stakes are high and the issues are complex.

FINESSE is rooted in systems thinking. Effective communication is a system of interrelated parts, not just the sum of individual skills. None of the “bones” needs to be perfect; they just need to work together to produce clarity and confidence. This reduces the pressure on any single person to be flawless and focuses on building a dependable communication system.

Communicating “to” someone is based upon the foundational communication model, linear communication. Linear models take the form of “source-message-receiver” and consider communication as one-way. The burden of effective communication is on the sender. The approach is most appropriate for technical specialists who are reporting up the line.

Listening to a group of executives is an active process of interpretation, observation, and synthesis. The most respected professionals in the room are usually the ones who speak less and listen more actively.

Guest contributors came from various market sectors, geographies, and experiences. All had the freedom to choose any topic of experience that reflected their perspectives on effective communication.

Remember to use a guiding graphic on your next big project and with every big presentation!

Playing the "not readable" card should be the exception, not the rule. Sometimes you need to know how to bend a rule but not break it....

Tolerating failure only works when you confirm that the redundancy works.

Embrace the practice of intentional inquiry to empower both yourself and those around you.

The Trump assassination attempt provides several good examples related to the FINESSE fishbone diagram and the I in FINESSE.

The most important aspect is understanding your ethical framework as you make decisions and communicate to others as a trusted advisor.

Communicating water policy takes on many shapes and forms depending on the lens used to digest the information and then in communicating...

The I in FINESSE stands for Illustrate. Illustrate includes all the visuals, graphics, videos, and other media used in technical reports...

Young professionals (under 40) make up nearly half of the workforce. That means communication between young professionals and experienced...

Even though there is no particular section on communication in the ISO 55000 suite, when you read it, you quickly see that without...

This article lays the foundation for communicating the challenges of asset management. We discuss what asset management is and the top...

The time to develop a default ethical framework is before the action occurs. Spend some time studying ethics. More importantly, watch the...

Does your senior manager wish you to bring them the facts to make a good decision? To do so, you must learn to be a good fact-checker....