"I just want to talk"

Last year, as we prepped for a podcast and a presentation, a wonderful CEO said to me, “I just want to talk!”

When we listen to a podcast, that person’s voice is in our heads while we go for a run, chop vegetables for dinner, or submit our expense reports. We love hearing a leader be a human, telling personal stories.

So are soundbites and scripts dead? Are Q&As a thing of the past? Not entirely.

Every professional communicator/leader needs to keep two things in mind, even if they are “just talking”:

GOALS: You have your audience’s attention for some number of minutes. There must be something you want them to hear. You can gracefully insert that soundbite/theme/insight/data/message throughout a conversation without seeming like a tool. In fact, that’s what the best spokespersons do.

GUARDRAILS: Don’t make your CFO, General Counsel, or Communications VP sad or mad by saying something dumb. No one likes to have to rush out a 10-Q form because you blurted out something about an impending acquisition on a TikTok. There are always things we can’t and don’t say, even if we are just talking.