Aristotle wrote about three critical elements in communication — logos, pathos and ethos. Logos is all about the rationale of our communication, or as the word implies, the logic. This is the thinking piece — How do I marshal my arguments right? What statistics will I use? What anecdotes will I quote? This is an extremely important part of communication; without it, there is little chance that we will make sense to our teams or our audience.
The second part is pathos, which is all about the emotional energy one brings to their communication — Do I understand my team, my clients, their needs? Does my communication reflect that? Do I convey my passion and enthusiasm well?
Many leaders spend a lot of time on logos and pathos, but often miss out on the third critical element — ethos. Ethos is about credibility — why should anyone listen to me? Why should people believe in my message and why should they get behind an initiative I am proposing?
The magic ingredient
Credibility is often the magic ingredient in power communication. It is about walking the talk. Communication is not just about speaking and writing — it’s also about living. Mother Teresa didn’t have to be a powerful orator to ensure her message was heard, because she was the message.
This alignment between the walk and the talk plays out in many aspects of a leader’s role. Let’s look at three areas where this makes a big difference.
In leading change
The APAC (Asia-Pacific) regional CEO of a large consumer goods company was based in London and continued to drive change from there. The global CEO and his team were, however, driving the mantra that emerging markets led by Asia would be the next wave of growth. And yet, the helicopter leadership from London continued, until the global CEO mandated that the APAC CEO needed to be based in Asia. Only then did he make the move to an Asian country, finally emerging from the London cocoon. Now, the change message could really land.
When change happens in an organisation, it is difficult for everybody. And the whole organisation looks at the leader to see if she really means it when says “We need to change this”.
Remember, employees don’t listen to the leader; they look at her. The most inspiring speeches about change, the snazziest change communication collateral, the most creative videos on the change journey, will all have no power if the leader does not walk the talk. A leader who hesitates here, who betrays either lack of belief in the change or the lack of courage to make it, risks impacting her leadership.
Therefore, a leader needs to test both, the depth of her belief and her courage before embarking on the journey of change. She must translate the vision into realities and ask if she’s prepared to have her team, and herself, face those realities.
In managing people
Sabu M Jacob is the MD of Kitex Garments. It is a listed company and one of the fastest growing kids apparel companies in the world. He believes in investing in his employees, and giving them a work-life balance is one of the ways he wants to show that.
No policy statement or work-life mantra is as powerful as the practice he enforced, of a strict 9 to 5 culture. Everyone stops their work at 5 pm and the garment machines automatically power off at 5.05 pm. Now, that’s walking the talk! It gives his people the message that he means what he says, that he’s willing to put their interests ahead of a business deadline or ramping capacity mindlessly, and that he follows intent with action.
When US President Trump flippantly remarked “That’s too bad” on being told about the collision between the USS McCain and an oil tanker off the coast of Singapore that most likely claimed ten sailors’ lives, he betrayed a disregard for the lives of those sailors whose Commander-In-Chief he is.
It’s less likely that his folk will believe him when he says he cares about their lives. It’s less likely that folks will trust that the military decisions he makes have been thought through and the cost of lives weighed carefully.
To decide if they are willing to be led, people watch the walk and listen less to the talk. When a manager says he wants to listen more to the team, but can’t take out two minutes for a real conversation, people get the real message. When a CEO talks about giving women more roles in leadership but keeps his entire team of male direct-reports intact, people get the real message.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it: What you do speaks so loud, that I cannot hear what you say.
In standing for principles
We’ve had a lot of talk about poor governance at an IT major, from the former founder who didn’t think twice about bringing in his son to work with him. As he himself is reported to have said, “When you sit under a toddy tree and drink, even if you’re drinking a glass of milk, people will think it’s toddy”. The idea is that the leader’s behaviour has not only got to be fair and ethical, it should also be seen as such.
I remember my stint at a garment exports business. Some employees had a habit of helping themselves to a few products — a practice I was particular about stopping. We did have a process where employees could buy our own products at a discount. I did that once and paid for a shirt at the discounted price. But I immediately realised that if I wanted to set a high standard of integrity, I had to avoid the least suspicion that I was dipping my hand in the till as well. So I returned the shirt and never bought another of our products. That turned out to be a more powerful message than any office memo I could have sent on the topic.
More than sound bytes
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have enormous credibility when they take a stand on the principle of more wealth being given away because they walk the talk. They’ve backed their stand with their personal giving; so when they talk, people listen.
Often, leaders get carried away by focusing on the sound bytes. Are we tom-toming our achievements enough? Do our bosses know about all the good work we’re doing? Should we put a newsletter or blogpost together to highlight the great work we’ve done? Sure, that kind of communication matters, but for leaders, one ounce of action counts for more than a pound of words.
Admiral Mike Mullen, a former Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff summed it up well when he said: We need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate.