Author Archives: barrymike1

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About barrymike1

Barry Mike is managing partner of Leadership Communication Strategies, LLC, a firm he founded after four years as a managing director for CRA, Inc., a management consultancy specializing in solving business problems whose cause or solution is communications. He has worked extensively as a trusted advisor and leadership communication coach with partners at McKinsey & Co., the world’s leading strategic consulting firm. He has also consulted with senior and emerging leaders in organizations like Kaiser Permanente, Carlson Companies, McDonald’s, Merrill Lynch and Watson Wyatt, crafting a deliberate and outcome-based approach to communicating to key constituents and stakeholders, building leadership communication capability, advancing strategic alignment and communicating corporate change. Barry started consulting after extensive corporate communication experience working with senior executives on strategic leadership communication at T. Rowe Price, Pizza Hut, Verizon, and HP. He has recently published articles on organizational accountability, communicating compliance, and changing corporate culture in the journals Strategy and Leadership, Organizational Dynamics, and Strategic Communication Management.

The Downside of Transparency: An Interview with Professor Eric Eisenberg (Part 2)

In the first part of our interview, “Openness and Clarity are Overrated,” Professor Eric Eisenberg re-made the case he had pioneered as a young communication scholar in the mid-1980s when he argued against the then prevailing view inside and outside … Continue reading

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Openness and Clarity are Overrated: an Interview with Professor Eric Eisenberg (Part 1)

In the mid-1980s, a young communications scholar, Eric Eisenberg, published what would become a highly influential paper, “Ambiguity as Strategy in Organizational Communications.” In it, he argued against the then prevailing view inside and outside of academia that clarity and … Continue reading

Posted in Ambiguity and Transparency, Persuasion and Influence, Uses of Language | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

2 Reasons to Use Numbers in Your Titles; and 2 Reasons to Ignore Anyone Who Does.

As I’m sure many of you do, I get feeds from web-based business news aggregators, like SmartBrief.  What you get on a daily basis is an email with a bunch of headlines and links.  If the headline is sufficiently compelling, … Continue reading

Posted in Communication and Cognition, Communication Media, Persuasion and Influence | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Silence is NOT Golden

I do a relatively frequent amount of public speaking, with one of most consistently requested topics being—no surprise—Strategic Leadership Communication. My presentation on the subject, titled, “Five Simple Rules: What Leaders Need To Know About Strategic And Effective Communication, But … Continue reading

Posted in Communication and Engagement | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

3 Ways Senior Leaders Can Support “Meaningful” Work

A friend and former colleague of mine is the Senior Vice President, Human Resources, at a biotechnology products and services company – that is, one of those companies racing to create gene sequencing machines that can bring the price of … Continue reading

Posted in Communication and Engagement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Lessons from “Three Non-Leadership Lessons from the Life of Steve Jobs”

The last Strategic Leadership Communication blog entry, “Three Non-Leadership Lessons from the Life of Steve Jobs,” generated more comments than any other entry yet – mostly positive and most sent as personal notes to me. A couple of resulting observations: … Continue reading

Posted in Communication and Power, Persuasion and Influence | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Three Non-Leadership Lessons from the Life of Steve Jobs

The untimely death of Steve Jobs, amidst the astonishing success of Apple, resulted in an enormous, effusive and understandable outpouring of worshipful praise for him and for his leadership. He was celebrated for his genius by the Technorati, mourned around-the-world … Continue reading

Posted in Communication and Cognition, Communication and Power, Persuasion and Influence | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Getting in Touch with Reality: Three Simple Suggestions for CEOs Who Want to Connect with their Front Line

In the last entry of Strategic Leadership Communication, we pointed out something probably self-evident already, and aptly demonstrated by the show Undercover Boss: those at the top are out of touch with the reality of those on the front lines. … Continue reading

Posted in Communication and Power, Persuasion and Influence | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Are CEOs in Touch with Reality? Uh…. Not Really.

A friend of mine works with a CEO who has appeared on the television show, “Undercover Boss,” (and who has been basking in the glow of his appearance ever since.)  Given the positive corporate and personal publicity that resulted, it … Continue reading

Posted in Communication and Power, Corporate Culture Change | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments