Eight practical communication habits for leaders and founders

Executive overview

Most communication failures in organisations come from leaders assuming a single message, sent once, lands clearly. People are busy, messages get skimmed, and words are interpreted differently depending on emphasis. Cameron Herold shares eight habits that fix the most common breakdowns — from over-CC'ing email to reacting instead of responding.

The biggest lever is not what you say, but how often, how transparently, and with what energy you say it.

Share experience, not opinion

• Advice is opinion; opinion is narrow and easy to dismiss.
• Sharing what you went through lets the other person distil their own solution.
• Multiple people's experiences, woven together, beat one person's directive.
• Gestalt Protocol (used in EO and YPO): entrepreneurs share experience only, never advice.

Communicate relentlessly

• People are busy; one email in 80 gets skimmed or forgotten.
• The same message needs multiple formats and repetitions to stick.
• Jim Collins: you've only truly landed a message when employees start making fun of you for repeating it.
• One six-word sentence — "I didn't say you were beautiful" — carries six different meanings depending on emphasis; misinterpretation is the default, not the exception.

Use CC and BCC with intent

• CC originated with physical carbon-copy memos; overuse was impractical, so it was selective — email removed that friction and created clutter.
• If you CC someone, state upfront what they need to do; otherwise, don't include them.
• BCC without disclosure destroys trust: recipients wonder what else is being hidden from them.

Recognise that your title amplifies everything

• A casual comment from a COO sent a whole team into emergency meetings overnight.
• Every off-hand remark lands like a boulder in a pond — the bigger the title, the wider the ripples.
• Leaders are not allowed to think out loud carelessly.

Respond, don't react

• Reacting to conflict — out of anger or feeling cornered — shuts people down.
• Pause and ask: what if they're right? What was my contribution? What system is missing?
• Even "let me think about that" buys the space to respond well.
• Every problem is a growth opportunity; treating it that way changes the outcome.

Be transparent with financials

• Employees see revenue but not expenses; they assume the leader is getting rich.
• Showing the full P&L — costs, royalties, insurance, payroll — reframes the picture fast.
• One pizza-and-beer session with 12 employees flipped their attitude from resentment to motivation within 20 minutes.
• Transparency works at any company size.

Let employees inside your world

• A Las Vegas CEO refused transparency because he didn't want staff knowing his income.
• His staff already knew — he arrived daily in a 50-foot limousine with two private jets on standby.
• Inviting them to his mansion didn't reveal anything new; it built connection.
• Pretending wealth doesn't exist erodes trust; acknowledging it builds it.

Manage your energy before it manages your team

• Energy inside a company is created or destroyed by its leaders.
• Stress and negative energy spread downward; de-compress before you walk in.
• Arrive looking for things to praise and values to acknowledge.
• Ask yourself one question at the start of each day: what will I do today to raise the energy level?