How to Get Your Boss's Boss to Understand

Communication posture is the visible expression of your internal attitude. Long before a single word is spoken, your attitude determines your communication posture. Your communication posture shapes how senior management receives, interprets, and acts on your information. It reflects the intentional communication approach you have chosen to strengthen your influence up the line. Attitude Shapes How You Show Up Attitude is the internal stance you bring into the room. It refl

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.

FINESSE is a model that helps you get the boss, and boss's boss, to understand.

Extra breadth especially matters when you do not know the audience well or suspect hidden agendas.

Human-centered images help to bridge the gap between complex information and real-world applications.

Typical Strategic Goals in a corporate strategic plan usually relate to five to eight focus areas.

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