Communicating for the C-suite

The modern c-suite leader must have impeccable communication skills. From board presentations to participating in media interviews, communicating is a critical role of all c-suite positions. This interactive session will offer actionable insights to help leaders and emerging leaders elevate their internal and external communications skills, and build their own personal brands. Beth Jarecki and Margaret Resce Milkint have spent their careers helping elevate leaders in the insurance industry. Beth, as a communications consultant, and Margaret as an executive search leader, will bring together their years of experience to share their best tips for communicating for the c-suite.


Transcription:

Margaret Resce Milkint (00:11):
Well, good afternoon everyone.

Beth Jarecki (00:13):
Hi everyone.

Margaret Resce Milkint (00:16):
We are delighted to be here to talk to all of you about one of our favorite subjects. In fact, Beth, I think it is our favorite subject.

Beth Jarecki (00:25):
Absolutely.

Margaret Resce Milkint (00:26):
So communication is everything. So I want you to imagine that this is your moment. This is your moment to shine. This is your moment to lift. This is your moment to step into your power, and that's what we're going to do for about the next 35 minutes. We're going to learn, we're going to listen, we're going to have a bit of fun. Communicating will differentiate you. It will make you stand out. It will help you to get to that next level, whatever that next level is. The C-suite, the boardroom, chairing that board. It's your moment. So to get you ready, what Beth and I have created for you is really this collaboration. This lady here is my chief marketing officer. She's my chief PR Maven. She gets it. She gets it. We power through it together. She's on my personal advisory board. I'm on her personal advisory board. This is what we do. This is how we roll. So here we go. That's going to lead you through it.

Beth Jarecki (02:01):
Okay? Can everyone please stand up? Great. Can you shake it out a little bit? Everyone? Okay. Take a deep breath. Now everyone say taxi.

Margaret Resce Milkint (02:18):
Taxi.

Beth Jarecki (02:19):
Say it very loud and enunciate with me. Taxi. Great. This is what my daughter and I do when we go to her audition. She's an aspiring actress and stay standing with me, everyone. And in the car on the way to the audition, the whole way there we say taxi, taxi,

Margaret Resce Milkint (02:39):
Taxi.

Beth Jarecki (02:40):
Lots of other fun words. One more. So this is about, oh, do you want to do it one more time? One more time? Okay, we're going to do it again. Ready?

(02:47):
Taxi. Pick your word. It could be taxi. Another fun word. There's all sorts of fun vocal exercises. But before you have your moment to go on stage, to be in front of your team's screen where you have an important presentation, before you might be going on a job interview. If you have a media interview, if you're going on a panel, pick your word. Take a deep breath, shake it out. Now I want everyone to, we heard this morning from Jean about stepping into our power. Now take a step forward. Step into your power. Great. And now Margaret is going to ask you to do a little exercise.

Margaret Resce Milkint (03:29):
Absolutely. So this is your green room. You are getting ready, right? You're stepping into your power. So what we want you to do next is turn to the person next to you, and if you haven't met them yet, introduce yourself. And then what you want to do is share your superpower. I'm Margaret Russi Milken. My superpower is connecting. I connect people for business. I connect people for fun. I can't help myself from connecting people all the time. Alright, so we're going to take a moment, just a moment. Quick, quick minute. Partner up. Partner up, introduce yourself and share your superpower. I'd given another 20 seconds. And then close it. You want me to out close it? Here's your five second warning. Wrap it up. Five second warning.

Beth Jarecki (05:11):
Okay, we can let everyone sit down now. We can continue this over cocktails. We'll hear more about the superpower.

Margaret Resce Milkint (05:23):
So everyone, let's come back together. Let's come back together. Take a deep breath, big cleansing breath. You were practicing. This is muscle memory. Remember how this feels when you go into that next big presentation, that boardroom, that screen. Your superpower, your word. Your mantra. I love. Step into your power. I love that. What's your mantra? So let's move on. Beth is going to,

Beth Jarecki (06:10):
I'm going to do the challenges. I had a stat that's missing, but the stat is 88% of your workweek is spent communicating that regardless of what you might be doing, you're in data analytics, you're a CIO, you are communicating 88% of the time. This means you're communicating to your coworkers, to potential customers. You're doing this virtually. You're doing this through slack. Somehow you are communicating. This is such an important professional skill. We're going to start with the challenges and then we're going to move on to how to tackle the challenges. Just to kind of give it all away, lack of preparation is the first challenge we'll talk about, but preparation is everything. So all of the challenges here, if you're prepared, they all go away. So lack of preparation is really the first challenge. And then I'm going to start with the one that really gets in under everyone's skin, which is really the vocal issues, the cadence, the tone, the fillers, the projecting.

(07:16):
This is the one thing that people feel most self-conscious about. I do a lot of media training and we record ourselves and we hear ourselves back and it's so hard to hear yourself. Has anyone done that? You hear yourself back. Does everyone agree? It's horrible. Yeah, it's horrible. So one of the things I'll tell you about it is just to go slow. Any problem, any filler, you go slow and that is how you get out of it. You prepare. One of the things that stuck with me in my career is early on I was told by a client, someone I was very close with that I said too much and I just wanted to dig myself into a hole. I was so embarrassed about that and I'm aware of it. And it helped me. It was very kind that she shared this with me. Whereas at the time it didn't feel kind.

(08:13):
It felt embarrassing, but it helped me because now when I'm giving a presentation, I prepare, I slow down. And occasionally I say, and that's okay. We can't kill ourselves over these things. We're going to do these things. We're going to say like we're going to say we're going to use the fillers, and that's okay. But if you slow down when it's important and you're prepared, those things go away. The next challenge is really fear. In an earlier presentation today, someone said, after a teams call, I always think, what did I say? There's a lot of fear in speaking, which prevents people from speaking at all. You're afraid, maybe you don't have the authority to speak, you're afraid that you're not qualified, you're afraid you might say something wrong. So really fear is a challenge that we have to get over. And again, the preparation and being brave as we heard early today from Jean, which really spoke to me, is something that's really important with speaking, it takes a lot of bravery. And personally, I'm a behind the scenes kind of person. I help other people do this. So for me, there's definitely some fear. But Margaret, she's on my personal advisory board. She pushes me to do things. I do, I do. We do these and now we're doing these things together, getting over the fear and we're speaking

Margaret Resce Milkint (09:37):
Absolutely. And I think right along with that fear is your voice. Understanding your voice, using your voice and giving yourself permission to be heard. We all have a voice. We all want to be heard. So this next challenge is one that I've had to grapple with my entire life career. And that is not the difficulty projecting excitement, but the difficulty projecting too much excitement. Because I am a passionate person. Really. Yes I am. And what I have been coached to do is just take it down, Margaret, take it down, take it down and octave and breathe. The way that you get through this is the pause is the breathing. And you do have to read your audience, right? I know I can be a bit more animated when I am with a group of women. You get me right? You get me, I get you. But if my male audience, and it's primarily male, I have to take it down. That doesn't mean I'm using a different voice. I'm just being smart. I am just communicating to my audience and I'm being aware, I'm being self-aware. So other side of the spectrum, you come into the meeting, you have no excitement, you have no connection to what your message is, your audience isn't going to connect to him, it's not going to resonate. So it's back to balance reading your audience and finding the voice that's the right voice at the right time.

Beth Jarecki (11:42):
And a lot about authenticity today and being yourself. And that is very important. And we'll talk about being the best version of yourself. And for some people it's about turning the volume up a little bit. And it's about turning it down a little bit and knowing your audience for sure. Another challenge, which could be an opportunity is lack of stats, is making your case without giving the data. I think we have a lot of data people here. What I always advise is to have a list of your favorite stats, your favorite data, your favorite examples, so that when you go into these presentations, when you're on a team's call, making a case for something, you have it handy. So I'm going to give you an example. So we all agree it's very important. We'd love to see more women on boards. It would improve a company. I think it's super important. Diversity of thought is important and we really need more women on boards. Now let's Margaret try

Margaret Resce Milkint (12:51):
It. Alright, now we're going to take another take on that. We need more women on boards. We know it makes a difference. It makes a difference to the business. It makes a difference to the bottom line. And did you know that there's some magic that happens when three women are on a board. When one woman joins that board, there is some change. Her voice is being heard. Two women, they've got each other. But you know what? When that third enters the boardroom, that's when the magic happens. They can amplify each other. The change then happens.

Beth Jarecki (13:33):
So hers was better. And it's for many reasons. I'll give you a couple of things that she did. She used an example that really caught your attention and she made it real. So I hope there's more women on boards. We all agree it's the same message, but how much better was it when she explained the numbers behind it? The three women. The other thing that she did was she did something called flagging, which you used one of my favorite flags, which is you said, this is when the magic happens. So you'll be sitting listening to presentations all day and maybe you tune out a little, maybe you're tired, maybe you're distracted. But if someone says the most important thing you should know, I always look up what is it? She's going to tell me what the most important thing is. And Jean this morning did that and she said, the most important thing I want you to remember, and I am not getting exactly right, but it is something like stepping into my power, which we did earlier. And I remembered that and I said, you flagged it when you're sitting all day and you hear someone say, this is where the magic happens. You're going to look up because you're going to want to know is there magic? Where is it? And so she gave us some magic, so thank you for that.

(14:46):
The last one I want to go over is really being overly modest, playing down your expertise. So for example, I work with a lot of insurance underwriters and they say, oh, I am an underwriter. I said, really? You're on the front lines looking at this very significant risk, a cyber risk. You see the ins and outs of what happens in a natural catastrophe. This is so exciting. So a lot of what I do is really building people up and showing them why they are exciting. Because you might just, oh, I don't know. I just look at numbers all day. No, you don't. You're part of the biggest thing going on right now in the world. You're part of technology, you're part of ai, you're part of data analytics. So thinking about what you do in a different way, you kind of have to step out. And maybe you're working from home and you're like, I'm just working from home and I'm in front of my screen all day and that's what I do. No, what you do is important. What you do, you play a big role in the business world. The insurance industry is on the front lines of the most important challenges facing the world. So remembering that what you do is important and having that confidence to speak.

Margaret Resce Milkint (15:58):
Absolutely. And I want to underscore that because I talk to women like you do all day. And so many women diminish themselves by the words, I'm sorry, maybe this is an important, of course it's important. It's your idea. So be big, be bold, be courageous. Step into your power. Get out of your own head. Okay, I do this all the time. Why? I could tell you that story about the three women in the boardroom. That's my story. I can tell that story. It's my narrative. And you know what I've practiced. This doesn't just roll off the tongue. You have to practice it's muscle memory.

Beth Jarecki (16:50):
So just like we talked about, having the list of stats, have the list of your stories, your case studies, your client examples, you should have that at your fingertips. And being authentic, being yourself. And the trend that we're seeing,

Margaret Resce Milkint (17:06):
Absolutely authenticity. Is it a trend? Is it a reality? Maybe it's a little bit of just us both. Yeah. And it's us, right? It's us. But the moment and the inflection point that happened, and I think we all live through this. We are in a post covid environment. We wouldn't be talking as much about authenticity, empathy, influence, kindness, humanity in the workplace if it hadn't have been for covid, beautiful silver lining. And I'm all about the silver linings. But what this has launched is the rise of the humanistic leader, the modern leader. That leader who is a communicator, who can command the screen, who can command the stage, who can command their texts, their emails, their cocktail parties. They're virtual, they're in person, but they are a holistic leader. They are a communicator. That is the anchor, that's the anchor for success. That is the difference between good and great.

(18:29):
That's where it is today. So it does come into your brand, right? As Beth said, you have to be the best version of you. That's a little homework for you. What is that best version of you? What is your personal brand? What do you stand for? What's your character? What's your outlook? What's your relationships? What are your expectations for yourself and others? That's how you center yourself. She's the brand expert. She is the brand expert. We all have to own our own brands. We own that brand thinking about embracing, and I'd love that word. And I was an English major, so I love words. You love numbers. I love words. It's important to embrace that diversity of thought, individuality and on the journey that we're all on in inclusivity, intersectionality, representation, equity. What does that mean and how does that flow into your brand? Because my aha moment has been recently, there are not two talk tracks.

(19:55):
We can't be talking about bold leadership and DEI and B over here. We got to do it together. We got to do it together. That makes the difference. So embracing that, embracing your thoughts, knowing where you stand, enjoying it, collaborating on it, creating ecosystems around it. So important. So this is all about the mindset. I said yes, get out of your own head, get into your own head. It's like an in and out thing. You have to think about it. And then you have to live with it and you have to talk about it with people. You socialize it. It's living and breathing. And when you do this with that positive self-talk, this is going to make a difference. I know it is. When people tell me they have DEI, fatigue, I say, really? I'm thinking, where have you been? This is such an amazing journey. And you know what? 10 years ago I couldn't name on one hand all the females CEOs in the insurance industry. And we had one here today, right here today. And how many other CEOs are in the room right now? I know this one is, yay. You know what? 10 years ago that wasn't there, right Jackie? It wasn't there. So it's the self-talk. Either the glass is half full or half empty. I was raised with the half full glass. You get lemons, you make lemonade. That's what my mom said. And you know what? You keep that positive self-talk track going in your head when you're feeling that moment. And we all have them. I've had them. And you feel low, how am I going to do this? Just go back. Go back. I can. I can taxi. Taxi.

Beth Jarecki (22:05):
Get that taxi.

Margaret Resce Milkint (22:07):
One last point, and this is very actionable. I think you all probably remember the rise of executive coaches and how critical they have been in career development and getting to that next level. Now we're seeing organizations, hiring communications coaches, media coaches, acting coaches, improv coaches for the very reason that Beth took us through the vocal exercise. It's using this voice, using this voice, using the eyes, using the gestures, owning the space. So critical and organizations, they will support you. Your company will support you to do this. Trust me. They will ask for it, ask for it. It'll give you an edge and it'll be a differentiator.

Beth Jarecki (23:07):
And because you're here today, we really truly believe that. So we're talking about communicating for the C-suite. So I thought it would be interesting to share some numbers with you. These are insurance C-suites, not just the broader c-suite community. So I worked on some research with a company called Slip Case, which is a news aggregator for insurance. And we looked at the topics that the C-suite is following. Well, good news for everyone here. The C-suite is really interested in technology. The C-suite is also interested in m and a in market moves and financial results. So one of the reasons we wanted to show that is because to get to the C-suite, you have to elevate beyond what you're doing at your desk every day and take a broader view. Think about the financial results, market moves the m and a. What companies are doing look broader than just what's at your desk.

Margaret Resce Milkint (24:09):
So if you take that C-suite, maybe you're not in the C suite today, but you want to be there, we

Beth Jarecki (24:18):
Want you to be there.

Margaret Resce Milkint (24:19):
You absolutely do. So the C-suite and the board I will add, there is value in curiosity. There is value in a forward looking leader. There is value in a leader who can look around the corner and see what's coming next. That is a characteristic that is a way of life for the modern leader of today. And you want to think about how you are impacting your organization. What are you doing to elevate your organization, getting it to that next level of success? Profitability, hitting the KPIs. If you don't have a p and l role, and many, many don't on paper, but you know what, not on paper. You all have p and l roles. We all have P and L roles. We have shared p and l. Understanding the profit and loss of your organization, differentiates yourself and get yourself comfortable, as Bess said, with the numbers, with the financial, with the emerging issues and trends, whether it's AI, whether it's cyber, whether it is the dwindling pipeline of talent, these are the things that are keeping the C-suite awake. They should be keeping you awake and you can be that person who is looking around the corner to serve as a trusted advisor to the C-suite as you get ready to elevate. So it's all about elevating, it's all about taking the enterprise view.

Beth Jarecki (26:06):
So once you take that view, are you going to have the opportunity to speak about it publicly or what are the opportunities? So just in this room, how many people feel like they have a great understanding of what their marketing communications people do within their companies? How many people have been tapped to participate in thought leadership opportunities to write an article to speak to media?

Margaret Resce Milkint (26:34):
That's great.

Beth Jarecki (26:35):
That's great. So it's about half of the room. So I thought it would be interesting because we're talking about communicating for the C-suite, and part of that is becoming a thought leader. So we talked about taking a broader view, but now this is talking about, this is kind of drilling back into what your expertise is and becoming a thought leader. So this is how it works and how it should work within a media relations organization. There's three ways you could talk about the company. You could be the news, you could comment on the news or you could create the news. So being in the news is when they put out a news release about a merger, when you have a new department and you have a new capability where you could really play a role is the middle section here is commenting on the news.

(27:27):
So within an organization, sometimes you'll see the same people quoted in the media or tapped for thought leadership articles or put on panels over and over and over. But what I'm hearing more and more is that companies really want to expand their thought leaders. They don't want to see the same people over and over. They want to develop people. And because you're all here today, clearly your companies value you and they want to elevate you within the organization. So this is a good opportunity to raise your hand. There's lots of different ways to get involved to show your expertise. So raise your hand. You could go to your media relations department and say, I would love to participate. How can I get involved? You could if you have, for example, if perhaps it's someone else in your company that you work closely with is the one that's always being quoted.

(28:20):
Maybe it's a man, he's always being quoted. You could say, that's great that you're doing that all the time. I'd love to give that a try. Perhaps we could coline an article together. So raise your hand, volunteer to do something. One of the best ways to do that is really by following what's going on in the news. What I always say is, when you're reading the news and you're reading articles about your area, what's the one thing that you think is missing? Is there something that you're reading that you're saying, oh, everyone's talking about this trend, but what they're really missing is this. They're talking about the importance of data, but what they're really missing is data bias is a major issue. And that's something I really care about. So what is your passion? What do you care about? Taking a look at what's going on at your desk, but then also taking an outside view, looking at the trends.

(29:10):
And then you take those trends and you share them with your communications department. Say, I have this idea. This is something that's not being covered. I'd love to write an article. So raising your hand, getting involved, finding your niche. These are ways to get involved in the process. And more and more we see that within companies, if it is only five men that are quoted all the time in the media within the company, they're realizing that. And I would come to them with an opportunity. I would say, here's a great opportunity to talk about data analytics. And they'll say, oh, Fred is available. And we'll say, is there anyone else? And so they really are opening up their doors to women. And so there were many opportunities to get involved, but so those are some strategies to go about it.

Margaret Resce Milkint (29:59):
And as you're letting that sink in, I'm going to tell you one of my favorite things that I say to myself in my head, Margaret, get comfortable being uncomfortable. Margaret, get comfortable being uncomfortable. So if you don't think you're ready to be a thought leader, get comfortable being uncomfortable. So how are we going to prepare for greatness? Well, I'm going to tell you, you're doing it. You're here at this conference. You have carved out this time for you. This is self-care. It's terrific. It's intentional, isn't it? You plan to be here. This did not happen by accident. Greatness does not happen by accident. You prepare for it, you get ready, you step into it and you keep doing it because this is a living, breathing thing that we're creating. One of my favorite things is that moment taking your shot, I want you to think about the time that you had your shot or maybe your shot is coming up, maybe it's tomorrow, maybe it's next week. Take your shot, use your voice. Don't rush, take it and pause. When I start speaking and the room isn't quiet, I just stop. I stop and I wait, I stop and I wait because I want everyone to hear what I have to say. You want everyone to hear what you have to say.

(31:45):
Thinking about all of the ways that we communicate and we communicate in so many different ways on the screen. In person one-on-one, two-on-one, big groups like this. Micro groups, we create the ambience, right? We think about what outfit we're going to wear. We think about our backdrop. No backdrop. Do I blur the backdrop? I am sure you're thinking about all those things like I am. It's intentional, right? So we want you to think about yourself as your own green room. You have to get yourself ready, smile, whatever you need to do. Taxi, right? Taxi in the morning. I don't sing, but you know what? I sing, I sing. I get the vocal chords going and it makes me feel good. It puts me in a happy mode. And that's what I do. I think. Don't do it in front of people, but I do it in privacy.

(32:51):
But it is fun. I always think about what I'm going to talk about. What are the points? Maybe what are the counterpoints that are going to come at me? But I never write a word for word script. The script, unless you're an actress or an actor, is the kiss of death because you never know where people are going to go. You've got to be nimble, you've got to be agile. You've got to be quick on your feet. That's another one. You got to listen, right? That's a part of communicating. And I have to tell you all I know that media training says, don't look at yourself on the screen. Look at yourself on the screen. Because what it does is it forces you to smile, to nod, to pay attention. How many times have we been on those screens where someone is multitasking, doing their email, making a mean face, and everybody sees it? It's really good. You don't have to stare at yourself the whole time, but make sure you look at how other people are seeing you, how the world sees you is so important. Beth is going to talk to us about messaging that is so critical because the words do matter and she is the expert at the message sandwich. I love this.

Beth Jarecki (34:19):
And Margaret is an expert at executive search. So she sees people on the screen when they're being interviewed. So these skills are for being interviewed in these hot seat situations and just in your everyday meeting. But I want to talk to you about repetition and structure and planning and preparation. So before you go into a meeting, you might want to think about what are the key things? What is the most important thing I want to get out of this meeting? If I hang up on this team's call, and I haven't said this, I will be kicking myself. What is the most important thing I want to get across? And then what are my support points for that key point? Now, I love this sandwich. I've been talking about it for a while, and one of my colleagues created this adorable sandwich for me, which I love. And the old lesson is tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell them, tell them, tell them and then tell them what you just told them. The reason why is because repetition is good. We have short attention spans and we need to repeat these days that if it's your most important point, you don't want to leave them. On the third example also, if you end with a headline, you're ending on a strong note rather than this. I'll give you an example. I think dogs are the best family pet.

(35:49):
They're great to get you out, you get to walk them. They really teach the kids responsibility and they're just so cuddly. So yeah, they're cuddly. Whereas if I said, dogs are the best family pet, they get you out of the house, you could walk them and they are really great with cuddling and showing affection. So dogs are the best family pet. So you're left with cuddling is not the most important thing. Cuddling is lovely, but what I really want to say is the dog is the best family pet. And so that's what you're going to be left with. So the message here is to have a structure, whether it be sometimes we structure like a house, have a door, have a way out. And the best thing is to end on a headline. To start on a headline. This is what I want to tell you. This is why it's important. You flag it, you give your examples, you give your stats, and you end with the same headline.

Margaret Resce Milkint (36:48):
I love that message, Sam. So I'm going to start breezing through a few things because we know that cocktail hour is close at hand, but I can't stop thinking about connections, networks, ecosystems, and we all know how important a network is. All I will tell you is don't use your network when you need it. Cultivate your network when you don't need it. Be that person that answers the call. Be that person that volunteers to help. Take the phone call that you really don't have time to take. Do a little bit more, do that one more thing my grandma used to say. Do everything you can and do one more thing. This is one of those moments where you do one more thing. So we have some takeaways for you. And these takeaways are a labor of love. And Beth, I know you have your favorites and I have my favorites.

Beth Jarecki (37:54):
I'm going to do blue and Margaret's going to do pink. But be a thought leader. Raise your hand. Practice communications, like I said in the beginning, is really a major part of what you do. So while you might say, I'm not a communicator, I'm a technology person, you're a communicator. We all are communicators. So let's work at it. Take the time, own your moment and bring your confidence. It really is about confidence. It's about being your own cheerleader. It's about taking the time, the self-care taking your moment preparing.

Margaret Resce Milkint (38:34):
So whenever I have a group of women and allies gathered, I like to tell this story. It is about preparing for greatness. It's about giving yourself the power. So this is what I call lovingly the I and we story. Once I made a pitch and to the male board of directors I pitched to, I never said the word I once. We will do a good job. We can do this. We are capable, we. And at the end of that pitch, I thought I did a great job. I didn't because that male board of directors never heard me say I once. They didn't think I was prepared for greatness. So the lesson here for all of us is we need to say, I need to give ourselves permission to say, aye. When I got that feedback and feedback is so important from your personal advisory board, from your mentors, from people in your ecosystem, when that wonderful mentor told me, you should have won, you didn't win because you didn't say, I said, I can fix this.

(40:06):
It's an easy fix. I can fix this. But we can all fix this. So say I and we step into your power. Step into your power. Give yourself permission to add a well-placed. I am confident I can do this. I want to be on your team. It makes a difference. It's so subtle. It doesn't mean that I don't say we all the time. I do. I love, we all love we. But you know what I'm learning to love I, I'm stepping into my power and my own discomfort with saying I. This is what being the CEO of you means. We're all works in progress, but along the way, we're going to do it together. We're going to do it with a bit of fun. We're going to do it with a bit of humor, and we're going to do it with fantastic partners. So we wish you a lot of success. Go out there and win and build your personal advisory board. Thank you.