What’s hard about communication is that it requires courage, clarity, and care. It takes time, intention, and experience to teach us that communication is not just a skill, it is a responsibility. Legacy‑minded leaders understand that how they communicate today shapes the trust, stability, and direction others carry forward tomorrow.
Leaders who succeed take responsibility for both sides of communication. They ensure they are heard, and they take responsibility for how others hear them. They treat communication as a two‑way process, not a one‑way act. This is the mark of a leader who understands long‑term influence and impact.
The Communication Crisis
Today’s environment makes communication even more challenging:
- AI, messaging systems, and lower reading levels have weakened clear expression.
- Emotional reactivity makes people easily offended, afraid of the blow-back, or hesitant to tell the truth.
- Social media distortions cause people to trust posts over people, even when the post is wrong.
After discovering an obvious online error, one employee asked, “Why would they write something that wasn’t true?” Errors happen for many reasons: multitasking, poor attention to detail, lack of verification, and failure to consider impact. Yet people still believe what fits their comfort zone.
This is why leaders must stay alert. If you weren’t there, you don’t know the facts. And yet people talk as if they do. Legacy‑minded leaders pause, verify, and respond with steadiness.
Common Communication Challenges and Solutions
The myth of “I’ve got it handled.” Effective communication is a lifelong process. If you think you’ve mastered it, you’re already behind. Everyone listens through filters and those filters shift with world changes. Remember, you don’t have it handled.
Leaders who rely on ego fail. “It’s up to them to understand me.” Leaders who continually improve their communication style succeed. Legacy leaders know mastery is never final; it is sustained through humility and practice.
Know your audience. People learn and process information differently. Your job is to keep it simple.
- Use words that match the listener’s ability to understand
- Avoid insider language (jargon)
- Don’t speak to show your education; speak to create clarity
- Use open‑ended questions to engage others
When leaders talk too much, offer no context, or make everything about themselves, people tune out.
- Getting everyone on the same page takes responsibility and patience.
- As one leader said during a listening exercise, “This listening stuff is too hard.” (It may be why he closed his company’s doors.)
- Legacy leaders know listening is fundamental.
Use tools that help people understand. Legacy leaders use tools to illuminate, not impress. When someone struggles to understand you:
- Use graphs
- Use flowcharts
- Use physical examples
- And above all, keep it simple
Communication is more than words. Words are only a fraction of communication (research has shown only 7 percent). Over 90 percent relies on tone, gestures, impatience, and emotional expressions that can destroy your message. Legacy leaders understand that self‑awareness is a responsibility, not a luxury.
Brainstorming. Legacy leaders know great ideas often come from unexpected places so they create the conditions for those ideas to surface. Brainstorming generates ideas, solves problems, and elevates people’s sense of value. But it requires strong facilitation.
- Use Round Robin input (go around more than once)
- Value each person’s input, even when you disagree
- Keep examples on point
- Don’t dismiss off‑the‑wall ideas; they may hold insight
- Use open‑ended questions to keep people talking and listening
Avoid communicating “I don’t value you.” Good leaders avoid behaviors that send the wrong message.
- “I’m too busy.”
- Multitasking (the brain cannot do two things at once)
- Talking over someone
- Having a ready answer before they finish talking
- Unexamined biases, judgments, and attitudes
- Dismissing or joking about others’ ideas or questions
Make the commitment to improve your communication style. It starts by hiring the right coach. Communication is often a leadership blind spot and is fixable. Legacy leaders develop and strengthen communication skills because they understand the long‑term negative impact of ignoring them.
Effective communication has always been hard and requires courage, clarity, and care. Also, it requires awareness, emotional intelligence, and the willingness to take responsibility for what you say and how you say it. Legacy leadership demands nothing less.
© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved
Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience activating greatness in leaders and companies. She delivers practical coaching and solutions that elevate performance today, build legacies that stand the test of time, and support people empowering themselves to lead with clarity and impact.
Leaders must stay alert. You have what it takes to make a difference. It starts with your ability to communicate effectively. Contact me to learn how.