Pass the Mic
How to be Ready to Say Something, When Something is Needed to be Said
Here’s a critical leadership moment that’s difficult to anticipate—but essential to be ready for:
At some point, you will be handed a microphone, and you’d better have something to say.
The moment and the microphone may or may not be metaphorical. But the reality is this: as Dr. Al Mohler would say, if you’re not communicating, you are not leading. And occasionally, leadership requires communicating to an audience that needs you to say something that actually matters.
That communication might take the form of a widely distributed email, a discussion topic in a meeting, a proposal for a new initiative, or an actual microphone in front of an actual group. Regardless of the format, that communicative moment must include three essential elements:
It must be clear.
Albert Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it clearly, you don’t understand it well enough.”
It must be concise.
A leader’s moment should leave people wanting more, not make people want to leave.
It must be convincing.
A leader must understand the key pressure points—the things that matter most to the audience—and know how to leverage them to elevate understanding.
When you’re prepared to say something clear, concise, and convincing, you’ll leave people wanting more and not looking for the exit.
But how do you do this? How do you consistently distill complex perspectives, information, and data into clear, concise, and compelling talking points—or harder still, a single point?
Somebody recently posed that question to me.
I had just finished a talk with a room full of leaders with whom I work on complex organizational dynamics. The message resonated, and afterward several leaders asked how I had boiled down so much complexity into a coherent and compelling presentation—without notes.
So here’s how to be ready to say something when something needs to be said.
Ask great questions.
Ask thoughtful questions about the organization, its people, and the place you lead. While preparing for a corporate speaking engagement, I once spent an hour on a virtual call simply asking C-suite leaders questions about their organization. If I didn’t understand them, how could I communicate anything that mattered to them?
How much more important is this in the places we lead day to day? When you ask great questions, they tend to ask them right back.
Read. A lot.
If leadership communication were an engine, reading would be the fuel. Without regular reading, you simply won’t have much substance to offer. A reading habit isn’t just something you do; it’s something that is done to you.
Here’s what I mean:
Reading is more than consuming information, but it’s not less than that either. Communication requires fuel, and the best fuel is what you’ve read.
Reading strengthens your brain. The strength of your mind shapes the thoroughness of your thinking and the effectiveness of your communication.
Write. A lot.
This isn’t a challenge to write a book or start a blog. It’s a challenge to write frequently, because writing is how you organize your thinking, both while consuming new information and afterward.
Here are three practical ways to write more.
First, whenever someone else steps behind a microphone, take notes. Write down what matters to you, along with the thoughts and questions it sparks.
Second, treat meeting agendas as writing reps. Reviewing past agendas, organizing discussion topics into themes, and sequencing them by importance are subtle but powerful ways to sharpen communication.
Third, if you’re a leader, send a regular email to your team. Draft it in a Word or Google doc using a running format. Reviewing what you’ve written over time helps refine your sense of what truly matters. Some things don’t need to be repeated—but some things need to be said ad nauseam. This is how you grow into what Patrick Lencioni calls a chief reminding officer.
Did you know we’re exposed to more information in a single day than people consumed in a lifetime one hundred years ago? An advanced leadership skill in the information age is helping people make sense of the flood of information.
Leaders who invest the effort to ask great questions, read, and write will organize that information for their people in ways that are clear, concise, and compelling.
And when you’re handed the mic, you’ll be ready.
Lead on, friends!
About Learning and Leading
Hi, I’m Chris Hobbs, and I write Learning and Leading. It is simply a blog where I share what I’m learning while leading. In the words of CS Lewis, though, ‘My descriptions of my thoughts may make others believe I have been there.’ I’ve spent over 25 years in school leadership, and I’ve been fortunate to earn several degrees and receive recognition in the spheres of educational leadership and athletic coaching. Yet, for everything I get right, there are dozens of areas I’m still figuring out how to get right.
I’m married to my high school sweetheart, and we’re the proud parents of three incredible young adults. Faith in Jesus Christ is my foundation, yet I am far from perfect. Life is often messy and complicated, but I believe it’s still worth leading with clarity and hope.
You can find me on X or LinkedIn, where I share daily thoughts that (hopefully) inspire and make you laugh.