Anonymous Submission

Genuine opportunities for advancement are rare in company where I work. Frequent job postings appear on strategically placed bulletin boards, according to company policy.

It's easy to tell when there's been a new posting. There's an almost constant group of onlookers, examining paperwork as if it were Holy Grail. You can hear them whisper ----who left? Or was this a new position? Who could qualify? Who would apply? Would they get hired? If they did, would it be a promotion or a lateral move? Was this a genuine career opportunity or a placeholder job?

Pass by human resources and you'll see one or more of "fast-trackers" at information counter. Members of this group apply for any and every job posted. It doesn't matter to them whether they are qualified, talented or experienced in required area - as long as potential salary is higher than their current rate. If there's no salary posted, they go on info-gathering missions and interrogate anyone who might know - on quiet, of course. If it looks like a step up, they apply. Some have made switch successfully, for a while, at least. It's usually not long before they're spotted scanning job board again, searching for new career opportunities.

Word count: 715

Summary: Many leaders have wrong idea of what is important in terms of communication. Brent Filson observes that it's just not sending information that is critical, but making all-important deep human connections with people.

Get Out Of The Stone Age: Give Leadership Talks. By Brent Filson

160 years ago, newly invented electric telegraph carried first news message. The message zipped 40 miles in a flash over wires from Baltimore to Washington, D.C.

The public was dazzled -- except Henry David Thoreau. He wrote: "We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate."

Today, we live in a Golden Age of communication. We have Internet. We have faxes. We have e-mails. We have streaming video. We have on-line audio. We have RSS feeds. We have logs and blogs.

Yet today Thoreau is as right as rain. When it comes to really getting our messages across, we're stuck in Stone Age.

Here's why. The vast majority of business leaders I've encountered are repeatedly making a huge mistake in communication, a mistake that's screwing up their jobs and careers. They're stuck giving presentations and speeches. They're NOT giving Leadership Talks!

What's a Leadership Talk? Look at it this way: There's a hierarchy of verbal persuasion when it comes to business leadership. The lowest levels are speeches and presentations. They communicate information. The highest, most effective way of communicating is Leadership Talk. The Leadership Talk does more than simply send information. It has leader establish a deep, human, emotional connection with audience. That's where leaders communicate for best results.

Here are a few examples of leadership talks. When Churchill said, "We will fight on beaches ... " That was a leadership talk. When Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you ... " that was a leadership talk. When Reagan said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" That was a leadership talk.