Your CEO Needs a Communications Strategy, Not More Talking Points

With so many channels and forums, it’s easy to feel like more is the answer when it comes to establishing your chief executive officer as a thought leader — more interviews, more speaking engagements, more LinkedIn posts, more visibility. The more people see your CEO, the more recognizable they become. Recognition builds trust and credibility, right?

While that can be true, successful thought leadership strategies don’t actually start with your executive. They start with your company’s business plan.

What is your organization trying to accomplish? Are you entering a new market? Undergoing a transformation? Looking to build investor confidence or reposition your brand? Do you need to recruit specialized talent to grow?

The platforms and opportunities you include in your executive communications strategy should directly support those efforts. Afterall, if you can't explain how an opportunity supports a business or reputation objective, why are you doing it?

Build Around the CEO You Actually Have
Once you establish what you’re trying to accomplish, think about how to build a strategy around the CEO you actually have.

There isn’t one right way to elevate a leader. Some CEOs are natural, charismatic keynote speakers. Others thrive in small-group settings or panel discussions. Some naturally connect with audiences through personal stories and experiences, while others command attention because of their deep technical or operational expertise.

Where most thought leadership strategies go wrong is in creating a plan based on what others think it is “supposed” to look like. Your CEO’s background should influence the subjects they own. Their personality and leadership style should influence how they communicate. Their strengths should influence the channels and opportunities you choose.

To do this, talk with your CEO. Look at previous keynotes, panels, articles and interviews and evaluate what truly sets them apart. What topics bring out their strongest points of view? What are they passionate about? What types of events and conversations do they enjoy participating in? Where are they most comfortable — and most compelling?

Those preferences will naturally come through in their delivery and help make their communications more authentic and compelling. They’ll also make your CEO much more willing to clear time on an undoubtedly packed schedule for opportunities that matter.

Saying Yes to Everything Isn’t a Strategy
Just because someone offers your CEO a “microphone” doesn’t mean they should take it. Before saying yes to an opportunity, be sure to ask yourself:

• Is there a meaningful reason to participate beyond simple visibility?

  • Does it reinforce the company’s business plan or major priorities?

  • Does it reach an audience that really matters to the business?

    • If so, what do you ultimately want that audience to think, understand or do afterward?

• Is the CEO the right person to deliver this message?

  • Would another senior leader, such as sales, operations or IT, bring greater expertise or credibility to the conversation?

• Does the format play to your CEO’s strengths?

Being selective doesn’t mean being less visible. It means being more intentional about where, when and how your CEO shows up.

Give Your CEO Something to Own
Real thought leadership lives where CEO credibility, business priorities and audience interests intersect. Thought leadership should, after all, lead somewhere.

Rather than commenting on everything, identify two or three areas where your CEO can establish genuine authority. If your CEO is focused on a different topic every other week simply because those topics are trending, you’re generating content for the sake of content — not building a leadership identity.

This doesn’t mean you should turn down a media request or speaking opportunity simply because it falls outside your planned editorial calendar. Market conditions change. Geopolitical events happen. Unexpected issues emerge that require leadership voices. It simply means you should never lose sight of your business objectives and how your communications efforts support them.

Over time, your audiences should begin to understand what your CEO stand for, how that connects to your organization and why their perspective is worth hearing. That kind of recognition isn’t built by showing up everywhere. It’s built by showing up consistently and with something meaningful to say.

Talking Points Come Last
Talking points do matter, but they’re a tactic within the strategy, not the strategy itself.

The best executive communications strategies don’t simply help CEOs know what to say. They determine where their voice can have the greatest impact, what they should be known for and how that platform can help move the business forward.

Your CEO doesn’t need to be everywhere. They need to be in the right places, talking about the right things, in a way that only they can.