How to innovate to communicate with impact (say what’s unsaid)

The key to nailing a difficult point – and creating meaning that lasts – often lies just beneath the surface, in a story a leader has never told.

When a thought partner uncovers that story and helps a leader find the courage to say what’s unsaid, everything changes. The message sticks. It resonates. It lasts.

If you’re a thought partner or leader who needs to innovate to communicate with impact, read this post: a case study in the power of saying what’s unsaid.

Recently I led a project meeting with an executive I’ve served for many years. Our relationship is based on mutual trust and respect – with a healthy dose of candor.

We were exploring how to explain an operational strategy that employees tend to twist and redefine (often incorrectly), when the executive mentioned a parallel that might help: a concept shared widely in the legal profession but otherwise rather unknown.

“If employees saw our strategy through that conceptual lens,” he said, “it would click.”

It was indeed a brilliant parallel: simple and instructive.

I asked how he made that connection, and the story he told stopped me – with surprise and then delight.

It was a personal encounter he had years ago with a highly respected, famous public figure who’d made quite an impact in the United States – someone who also happened to be his close friend.

That conversation and that concept, he said, bubbled back up to the surface for him just yesterday since we’d been exploring for weeks how to make the operational strategy stickier with employees.

As his thought partner in executive communication, I immediately knew how we could tell this fascinating story – in just the right detail – and finally connect the conceptual dots for employees struggling to correctly interpret the operational strategy.

I saw it all.

The characters. The setting. The dialogue. The drama. The aha moment.

Making this connection would be the perfect fix to our executive communication challenge.

But to go forward, I first had to go backward.

I asked the executive to walk me through that pivotal conversation again, this time sharing a few more details, and a bit more color, so that together we could recreate that personal encounter from years ago that suddenly had outsize meaning today.

But he hesitated.

“Maybe skip that part,” he said, “and just explain the concept.”

(I understood his hesitation; he’s a leader not obsessed with the need to impress. Revealing his personal tie to that famous public figure, he sensed, might create an uncomfortable distance between him and the employees – which we surely didn’t want.)

And yet, as his thought partner, I saw what he could not yet see.

This incredible story wasn’t really about him.

It was about helping employees understand something essential through his experience as a leader.

We went back and forth for just a bit.

Perhaps we could build it out and test it? I suggested.

He agreed.

We spent the next few minutes going back in time (my curiosity and questions leading the way, patiently drawing him out) as he repainted the scene, and recalled the conversation, bit by bit, detail by detail.

“Write it up,” he said, “and we’ll see how it looks.”

(And happily) I did.

A week later, we met to review the draft.

He read it once – twice – and signed off.

“No changes,” he said. “Good to go.”

Here’s the key takeaway

In the end, this at-first unfamiliar concept was the perfect parallel to help employees easily interpret the operational strategy.

It worked.

But not by itself.

Instead, it was the leader’s courage to share the backstory that made the concept stick.

By telling this story – by choosing to say what was unsaid – not only did we make this unfamiliar concept real, relatable and relevant to the operational strategy employees had struggled to grasp, but we also made it memorable.

Ultimately, saying what was unsaid made the message – now shaped and shared with care through story – unforgettable.

5 lessons from this case study so you can innovate to communicate with impact

For leaders and thought partners everywhere, this exchange brings forth a powerful reminder:

There’s always a story beneath the surface that can unlock understanding – and change everything for others.

But those stories often stay buried because leaders either downplay the story’s value, or they fear sounding self-important, or they want to avoid vulnerability.

That’s where the thought partner in executive communication comes in.

Our job isn’t to extract stories simply for theater.

Instead, it’s to recognize stories that carry memorable meaning for the audience.

And to convince leaders to trust the process of refining that meaning through story.

Let’s dissect the lessons learned here, which become the process that thought partners in executive communication can use to innovate to communicate with impact – and serve their leaders well.

Lesson 1: Listen for the spark under the surface

The spark often sounds like a side comment:

“That reminds me of a conversation I had years ago,” or “It’s kind of like what they say in the legal profession …”

When you hear a spark, stop.

Ask: “Wait – can you tell me more about that?”

Leaders rarely recognize the value in those moments – but thought partners need to.

The spark is the signal that something important is trying to surface.

And it’s the job of the thought partner to bring it out.

Lesson 2: Ask the right questions to ‘invite the story out’

Once the spark appears, curiosity must take over.

Good thought partners in executive communication know exactly what questions to ask – on the fly – to draw out memories and details from the leader.

Patient yet probing questions will encourage leaders to tap memories and recreate characters and scenes.

“What happened next?” and “How did that come about?” and “Why do you think …?” questions are important follow-ups so thought partners can gather just enough detail upfront to draw the proper conclusions later.

Lesson 3: Apply patience and build psychological safety

When leaders hesitate – and they will – it’s not about obstinance.

Instead, a leader is simply being cautionary for some important reason, either known or unknown by the thought partner.

When the executive above expressed caution, I reflected that caution back when I said, “Perhaps we could build it out and test it?”

No promises. No insisting.

I simply suggested we could give it a try (so no risk). Because once he saw the context and framing (crafted with care to eliminate risk), he of course would have the final say.

Seasoned thought partners in executive communication know the truth:

Leaders sometimes need to see a story on paper before they’re convinced it’s safe to share.

So you do that – and go from there.

Lesson 4: Write with restraint and precision

Thought partners trusted to hear, interpret and then share a pivotal personal story to make a point know they must do so with care.

When a story feels a little risky or a tad vulnerable to a leader, a perceptive thought partner in executive communication knows this – and will handle it carefully.

A thought partner understands what’s at stake: not only to reveal the leader’s humanity to make the story memorable but also to protect the leader’s voice and intent, while surgically working to distill, polish, frame.

Nuance here is king.

Brevity is queen.

And dot-connecting reigns supreme.

Lesson 5: Build the bridge to meaning

Once the story is told, the thought partner’s job is to nail and land the point of the story and apply meaning.

Thought partners build the bridge to meaning by turning a private story into a public point that’s unforgettable for the audience.

Building the bridge requires identifying the one clear idea the story reveals.

Or in other words: What is the truth that connects the leader’s experience just shared to what the audience needs to understand and remember?

A seasoned thought partner shapes this truth using simple language that moves people to think or act differently.

How good executive communication is born

Innovation in executive communication isn’t tactical, technical or cosmetic.

Instead, it starts with leaders who have the courage to say what’s unsaid.

When leaders collaborate with a trusted thought partner to have a brave conversation, everything changes.

Thought partners in executive communication who know how to surface, shape and share the right story – while honoring what the leader values most – can finally get a tough message to break through.

They can finally build the bridge to meaning that’s memorable.

Meaning that endures.

Need help ensuring you can innovate to communicate with impact in your executive communication?

Contact Teresa Zumwald: a 21-time winner of the Cicero Speechwriting Awards who delivers custom speechwriting services, plus executive speech coaching, executive communication, and speaking and training.