If you want to be run by ideas, not hierarchy, help your leaders in these three ways

In one of his last public interviews, Steve Jobs shared some ideas about the culture he was trying to instill at Apple.

For me, the idea of making a company be run by ideas, not hierarchy, is crucial in an age of cutting-edge competition.

But how do you this?

After more than 10,000 hours of thinking about this – yes, I'm using Malcolm Gladwell reductionist concept–, here's an answer:

You need to:

1. Help leaders become good at sharing their intention

"People typically participate in a wide range of verbal interactions during the course of a day. Many of these interactions are processed mindlessly, and little is remembered from them (...). What people remember from a conversation turn needs to be both short and based on the speaker’s intention", wrote Thomas Holtgraves in a research paper some years ago.

Yeah, it's kind of depressing to read this, but it's better to start with the truth, as hard as it is.

With this in mind, make sure leaders know what do they want to achieve in each interaction or moment of communication.

Pass them these questions:

• Why do you want to communicate that idea? Why are you making that call? What do you hope will happen when you finish?
• What does your audience think of you? Can you break the script and surprise them?
• What does your audience think about what you're going to communicate? Has it been attempted before?

They can wing it, but they'll fall into many biases and end up losing others.

One way to this is to use tools like the Audience Profile Canvas we created for Inspira, our storytelling learning experience, to eliminate as many blind spots as possible. Here's an image of what this canvas looks like.

2. Help leaders install storytelling

We like to believe that we are the same person over time, when psychology has proven that each of us is actually two: the one who experiences life and the one who remembers experiences.

At the same time, there are two people listening to your leaders: the one who is there in front of you and the one who will remember or not what you said.

Which one do you need to address? Both: the one who experiences to capture and maintain their attention, and the one who remembers, as they are the ones who make decisions.

Stories are a great tool - the best? - to interact, connect, and impact both selves.

The big challenge with this storytelling is that there are too many opinions and little evidence about what types of stories should be used.

My suggestion? Look for the anecdote, example or brief, real story that translates your ideas into images that your audience can work with.

For example, this story I recently shared on LinkedIn about how I remembered that the anxiety of public speaking will accompany me throughout my life.

If I wanted to talk about this topic in a meeting, I could decide to only share the learning ("public speaking anxiety will accompany me throughout my life"), which is what we usually do.

Or I could tell the story, and then my learning would be much more memorable.

But you and the leaders in your organization already know this. The problem is that there is a risk of sharing stories and coming across as not professional.

The solution?

Make it acceptable, even fashionable to strengthen your messages with stories. Model the behavior.

Install this habit in your leadership team and in your org culture, and not only will everyone would spend less time—you heard it right, less, not more— in meetings due to an improved ratio of clarity and motivation, but decision-making will improve, as everyone will have those stories salient in their minds.

Give me a call and I'll share how do help leaders at Fortune 500 companies make this a reality.

3. Help leaders self-monitor energy

This is by far the most difficult to achieve, as it actually involves different attitudes, behaviors, and habits, and almost all include an important component of self-control.

But if your leaders fail to do this, the company won't be as fast as you want.

For example, you need your managers to be fluent in:

• reading the audience and "the room"
• having a stopwatch at hand to not lose track of time
• breathing and calming your head, as to not transmit anxiety
• steering away from chasing rabbit holes
• helping your audience relax, using humor, voice, and vulnerability

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Of course, there are many other elements to consider if you want your organization be run by ideas, not hierarchy, but these are a great start.

Good luck!