How to Get Your Boss's Boss to Understand

Understanding the decision maker's personality is not enough. We need to understand the personality profiles of the decision maker's inner circle and how that group behaves under pressure. Before your next major recommendation, identify who the decision maker actually turns to when things get uncertain.

I use a double diamond for exactly this moment. Just as the group settles into what looks like consensus, reopen divergence deliberately. Ask a pointed question that reintroduces a dropped option. Or bring back an earlier dissenting voice and ask that person to restate their concern. Run the group through a second, smaller diamond before you close.

Lecturing is not generosity. It works against the board's process and against your standing as its trusted advisor. Answer the question, stop talking, and let the next question tell you what the board actually wants to hear.

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.

A problem written on a flip chart belongs to the group. Ideas added to the chart become shared contributions instead of personal claims. This stimulates collaboration and reduces the tendency for people to defend their positions.

Our goal is to remain credible, transparent, and professionally grounded.

You may intend your feedback to be constructive. Most people on the receiving end still hear negativity, whether it’s about their work, the facts, or their behavior.

Posture is the visible expression of your internal attitude. It shows up in your tone, structure, pacing, and your willingness to accept that the burden of meaning rests on you. Communicating to senior management is disciplined. It acknowledges hierarchy, respects time, and focuses on delivering decision ready content.

Your story begins with how you interpret the data through your training and experience. It includes clarifying what you mean by key terms such as reliability, risk, and resiliency. It continues with what the data shows when you graph it and what it does not show. It ends with what you conclude based on your understanding of the patterns, gaps, and limitations.

You lose influence (and value) when you treat the presentation as your moment to persuade. The PowerPoint slides are not your platform for control; they are your tool for support.

High‑risk choices involve emotion, uncertainty, and personal judgment. A slide deck cannot carry that weight. Technical professionals and business leaders often forget this and default to presentations because they feel safe. But safety is not the same as effectiveness.

Enhancing communication skills can help engineers improve collaboration, increase influence within organizations, and advance careers.

Certain patterns emerged that reflect the FINESSE Fishbone Diagram®: Frame, Illustrate, Noise Reduction, Empathy, Structure, Synergy, and Ethics.

The best communicators aren’t defined by how much they say, but by how well they listen.

Every major decision relies on an inner circle of trusted advisors.

A well-timed pause isn’t a break in your speech—it’s part of your message.

When you communicate evenly, you foster collaboration and show respect for the collective wisdom in the room.

It’s a subtle shift that makes a world of difference.

The Fins of FINESSE provide some helpful associations. The bottom fin of FINESSE, the audience, provides us with our balance.

Rare events can usually be identified within the seven categories of crisis.