Leadership Archive - This Moment Counts

Why is communication at the top so vague?

Here is something most leadership communication advice completely ignores: The higher you rise as a leader, the harder it becomes to say things plainly.

Which has nothing to do with skill. The reason is much simpler. And it hurts a little:

Clarity creates consequences.

Plain and simple words force a choice. If a CEO says:

“We will exit this business within two years.”

Everyone knows what that means.

If they say:

“We are exploring strategic alternatives to sharpen our portfolio.”

Everyone can keep pretending nothing has changed. And in two years, everyone, including the CEO, can say we did nothing wrong.

So, no. The big words in the second version are not there to make it sound impressive and important.

They are a shield against consequences.

They keep options open.
They delay conflict.
They prevent accountability.

Once you see this, a lot of leadership communication suddenly makes sense.

The endless strategy slogans.
The vague transformations.
The beautiful words that leave everyone asking: “So what exactly should we do differently from now on?”

Those messages are not unclear by accident. They are unclear because clarity would make the consequences unavoidable.

That’s why to me, action is a much more useful lens on leadership communication and the one I focus on in my coaching.

If you look at communication through this lens, it becomes utterly unimportant how impressive your words sound. The only thing that matters is whether you are willing to say something that actually commits the organization to a path.

It makes the usual communication advice sound naive:

“Craft the narrative.”
“Control the message.”
“Tell stories.”

Because that isn’t the issue.
It’s the courage to say what leads to action.

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

You don’t have a communication problem

You have an altitude problem.

The moment I said this, my client burst out with a loud “Hah!”

She smiled: “That makes so much sense. I’m still thinking like old me.”

And that old “me” was the best operator in the room. Careful, detailed, complete.

But today, her team didn’t need more detail.
They needed a clear call.

When you keep answering questions your team didn’t ask, give context, exceptions, edge cases, and background, because you’re terrified of being misunderstood …

What they hear is: “This is complicated, so I’ll wait for more direction.”

And then you wonder why nothing moves.

An executive does three important things:

Highlight the few things that truly matter.
Make the tradeoff visible (what we’re not doing).
Show people a simple rule they can use when you’re not in the room (how we make choices along the way).

If you don’t do this, two things can happen: Either your team fills the gap with their best guess and you end up correcting everything. Or they stall and you end up pushing the whole thing.

The worst trap is that this can feel heroic. But is it really?

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

The Lighthouse Keeper

Every evening at dusk, the lighthouse keeper climbed the same narrow steps and lit the lamp.

Visitors sometimes asked why the light didn’t adjust its beam as conditions changed.

Would it not help, they asked, if more water were lit?

The keeper would listen, nod, and say very little. Just this:

If the light changed, how would a sailor know whether the shore had moved or the beam had?

On stormy nights, the keeper noticed something else.

No one ever asked for a wider beam then.
No one suggested adjustments or improvements.

They only asked one thing.
That the light stayed on.

And that was enough.

How precise does your message make the direction of your organization?

And how consistently do you send it out?

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

Do you crush the competition?

Only one of those columns builds a culture that consistently finds innovation:

When you look at the columns, resist the philosophical rabbit hole.
Think about your last three big conversations.

The board update.
The leadership offsite.
The all hands.

Did you talk more about “beating X, defending Y, crushing Z”

or about “what we are learning, what surprised us, where customers show us we’re still missing the mark”?

What’s the kind of conversation that follows each?

The first keeps everyone focused on the scorecard. In other words: execution.

The second keeps everyone focused on the problem you exist to solve. In other words: innovation.

Both matter. But only one reliably produces new ideas instead of faster or bigger versions of the old ones.

The biggest problem is that the left aligns the whole company on a path defined by what your competitors do.

Instead of what’s most useful for your customer.

So, back to your conversations.
Do your words signal that you’re trying to build …

… a company that wins races others define?

… or a company that discovers paths others never see?

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

PS: If you want to see the impact of this shift in practice, the current issue of What the Best Leaders Say takes a deep and nuanced look.

Are you a ‘real’ leader?

Most of us learned early what a ‘real’ leader is supposed to look like. And most of us believed it.

We think of the person who takes control of the room. The one with the plan. The one who speaks with a strong voice and gives rallying speeches.

But.

Some of the most effective leaders you will ever meet do not look like that at all.

They do not push hard. They do not shout urgency. They do not flood you with energy.

They do something quieter and far more dangerous to the status quo.

They make things make sense and feel right.

And that clarity beats the other guy’s strength. It’s not even close.

The first issue of “What the Best Leaders Say” dropped yesterday. It’s about a small, but important line that sounds almost ridiculously obvious when you write it down, but if we’re honest, it’s super rare and most people never really say it – or if they do, they hardly ever truly mean it.

But the ones who do mean it, change the conversation. The title of the first issue is “How You Know You’re One of Them” and it comes with an action guide that helps you apply the lessons to your leadership.

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

Once upon a time, leadership was simple

Once upon a time, leadership was simple.
You gave orders. People obeyed.

Factories ran. Ships sailed. Things got done.

Then, some of us wanted more.
And so, we invented incentives.

We built systems of carrots and sticks.

And it worked.

Factories ran faster.
Ships sailed more often.
Things got done more efficiently.

Until people got used to the incentives.
And stopped caring.

The bravest of us stepped up.
“We’re leading the way,” they said.

Be the example. Be the vision.

And it worked.
People followed.

But only while the leader was there.

Because when the message depends on the messenger,
it fades the moment they leave the room.

All three models have the same fundamental flaw.
The leader decides what’s right.
They’re the ones having the answers.
They’re the ones to go first.

But the moment they can’t, it breaks down. The moment things become too complex for one person to figure it all out, it stops working.

The next stage is different.
It’s called lighting the path.

Leaders stop becoming the source of wisdom.
And start becoming the director of wisdom.

It’s not about being the most brilliant person in the team.
It’s about tapping into the brilliance of everyone in the team.

The goal is not for the team to follow.
But to align the collective brilliance of the team.
So we can arrive at places, no one could ever reach alone.

Which means your most important job is now communication.
Lighting the path through your words so everyone sees:

→ This is where we’re going.
→ This is why it matters.
→ This is why it’s gotta be us.

Communication used to explain the work.
It now is the work.

To communicate so clearly that it creates an irresistible pull: “This is the way to go”.

Once people see it clearly, unmistakably,
they don’t need more motivation.
Or explanation.

They will start moving.
And achieve what no one could have imagined before.

That’s what modern leaders do.

They find the words that make this possible.

If this is how you see leadership, I think you‘ll absolutely love my new newsletter “What the Best Leaders Say,” which will launch soon.

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

4 leadership basics you might ignore

It’s strange how often we ignore the basics of good leadership.

We push initiatives with unclear direction, pile on meetings with no effect, and perhaps worst of all: approve things we don’t even fully believe in.

So, here’s a quick reminder of four of the basics:

1. Stop pretending alignment exists.
Too often, we chase the next big thing without checking whether it’s really aligned with our strategy.

So, build that check into the process. Before any big initiative, ask every leader to write down what success looks like. Put the answers on the wall. Then ask: Do we still believe we’re aligned?

Most won’t. That’s the conversation you need to have.

2. Stop approving messages you don’t believe.
Have you ever approved something that kind of made sense but your gut wasn’t so sure of?

Trust that feeling. If the corporate statement sounds fine but feels off, send it back. Add a note: “Make it sound like something we’d actually say.”

After all, your name is attached to it.

3. Admit what everyone already knows.
Everyone loves to announce the good news. Bad news? Not so much. So people sugarcoat it.

When a project is failing, say it out loud. People can handle bad news. What they can’t handle is pretending. That’s when they stop trusting you.

4. Cancel the next “update” meeting.
How many meetings did you have this week that felt redundant?

Skip them! Tell everyone to come back only when they can name one decision that needs to be made. Watch how many meetings suddenly disappear and how much sharper the remaining ones get.

And, of course …

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

The role of leadership

Every time I walk on a stage, I remind myself of something that’s easy to forget.

People don’t come here to be impressed.
They come here to feel seen.

They’re not looking for a hero.
But perhaps for someone who dares to say what they’ve been struggling to say themselves.

That’s what “lighting the path” means to me.

It’s not about being the brightest light in the room.
It’s about being the one who dares to turn it on.

Because let’s be honest. The world is full of leaders who perform clarity instead of practicing it.

They talk about purpose, but you can see in their teams’ eyes that no one really knows what it means. They deliver messages that sound perfect on slides, yet are nowhere to be seen in real life.

And then there are the others.

The ones who care enough to stop pretending. Who say, “This is messy. I don’t have all the answers. But here’s what I know still matters.” Who don’t speak to impress, but to connect.

Those are the ones who light the path.

Not because they know more.
But because they care more.

If that’s you, keep going.
The world needs more lights like that.

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

PS: The photo is from my keynote at Vonk Conference 2025.

Clarity ruins everything

Duh, of course people prefer clear over confusing.
Only that that’s a lie most of the time.

To most people, clarity stops being attractive the moment it forces you to make choices.

The problem is, it always does.

Every word you clarify reveals what you truly stand for. And what you don’t.

Which means you’ll actually have to stand for it.

That’s why confusion often wins.

Not for you, I guess.

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

What makes a team fly?

When people ask me about teams, they are usually surprised when I dismiss the passionate talents, charismatic leaders, or the visions with big, motivational words.

But I’ve seen too many talented teams fail.
I’ve seen brilliant visions collapse.
I’ve seen strong leaders struggle.

High performance in teams is very rarely about the big stuff.

It’s not the grand speeches, the lofty goals, the once-in-a-lifetime charismatic leader.

More often, it comes down to something deceptively small.

The habits.
The things you do when nobody’s watching.
The little rhythms that slowly, bit by bit build trust.

A team that listens before it argues.
That remembers to give credit before moving on.
People saying what they will do and then actually doing it.

None of this sounds glamorous. But stack a handful of these habits together, and suddenly you’ve got something extraordinary.

So when we ask, what makes a team great?, maybe the answer is simpler than we think.

Not the strong leader.
Not the perfect plan.

But the discipline to show up, day after day, in ways that build each other up.

This is what creates a foundation so strong that when the big moments come – the crisis, the pitch, the turning point – the team is ready.

If this is the kind of team you want to build, there’s a brilliant new book out by Jan Fischbach and Alisa Stolze. For now, it’s in German only but if you speak German, read it. It’s called Teamleitung konkret.

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

Posts in Tag: Leadership