Let’s Keep Talking: My Commitment to Over-Communicate

I’ve made one BIG commitment for my tenure as chair of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO).

Communicate, communicate, communicate. In fact, I’ve promised that as chair, I will over communicate.

Leading a global organization won’t be an easy stroll – after all, as I mentioned in my last article, I have big shoes to fill, steering a network of 16,000 diverse entrepreneurs who are each leaders and employers themselves. But of all the challenges of my new role, this over-communication is one I take extremely seriously and, as a naturally private person, one that I know requires focus and dedication on my part.

Years ago, I would have asked myself:  if communicating takes so much effort, why do it? EO will have its own communications professionals to handle that for you.

The answer is simple. To truly unleash EO’s potential, we need open and honest discussions of our ambitions as leaders – not to mention on our progress, our setbacks and our rationale. As a board and as an organization, we need entrepreneurs to understand and sign up to be part of our entire growth journey. I know that over-communicating is key to achieving this alignment.

As a chair, that means I need to be answering questions from leaders and members before they’re asked. I need to share our challenges and opportunities in a way that makes me accountable for our goals.

Communication is a skill I’ve been learning for decades and will be learning for decades to come. It’s not one that comes naturally to me. In fact, I learned the hard way how important dialogue and over-sharing is for professional success in 2006. It was a time when keeping my thoughts to myself about my future role in the company we had built nearly ruined my relationships with my co-founders – not to mention nearly ruined our business. That’s a story for another day, but it was an important turning point for me.

Ever since, I have committed to learning how to communicate personally and professionally, and as a leader. I couldn’t do this by myself; my peers have played a critical role in helping me grow as a communicator.

Just before I became chair earlier this month, I took part in a brilliant exercise with the EO leadership team – something we jokingly called the “seat of love.” Here’s how it works:

Take your team and sit in a circle, with the person in the “seat of love” seated with their back to the rest of the group. Everyone will take turns sharing what they especially value about that person, and everyone in the group will have their turn basking in the positive feedback.

Then move into round two: now all being seated in the circle, share one piece of constructive feedback for each person – something the person should start doing, continue doing, or stop doing, in order to continue growing as a leader. Moving around the circle, the exercise becomes a literal feedback loop, made possible through a thirst for learning, and a commitment to trust and respect (two of EO’s core values).

At the end of the exercise, every person will take one feedback point and make a commitment to the group about what they will do to work on it. The group will help hold them accountable to that action.

When we were doing this exercise, I felt completely supported by my peers. They understood that my need to do more, to over-communicate, came from a place of wanting us to succeed - together. Ultimately, they told me, I think quickly – sometimes too quickly, which means I forget to invest the time to bring everyone along with me in my thought process. For us to work together and succeed in EO’s big journey over the next year and in our ambitious 10-year vision, they said I need to commit to keeping everyone informed, even if it felt like I was sharing too much.

I walked away thinking “WOW.” I was blown away by how an exercise that only requires a few chairs was able to empower all of us with such insightful and actionable feedback.

Although we have each built businesses and gained leadership skills in the process of guiding people and running our companies, none of us is above learning more, listening deeper, and unlocking our still untapped potential. In my surely biased view, no formal training offers business owners the kind of radical honesty and personal feedback that a vulnerable conversation with your EO peers does.

Ultimately, “the seat of love” helped me focus my leadership style as chair and to make the promise to myself and to my team to over-communicate.  

And in the spirit of over-communicating, I wanted to share this journey with you. Let’s talk about it – together.