Leadership Communication

CHAPTER 3

Leadership Traits

“How’m I doing?” When he was mayor of New York, the adroitly political Ed Koch had the habit of asking this question to his stakeholders—voters and team members. An elected official, understandably, needs to know constantly how he or she is perceived on the prospects and values that voters expect to receive as part of their “deal” for support.

Somewhat similarly at least, the chief executive of your company may pose a similar question: “how are we doing?” in delivering the outcomes—expected “deal-binding values”—through the vision and missions to which he is committed. He knows that leading a company is a constant, competitive condition. It is a race to perform better than others in your field.

If you, as Chief Communication ...