A leadership message is not a paragraph delivered at the end of a meeting. It is a single idea the team can repeat a week later without going back to the slide deck. The more messages there are, the less of any of them survives.
Start from one sentence
Before preparing any presentation or remarks, write one sentence that captures what you want the audience to remember. If you cannot get it into a single line, the idea is not ready yet.
Practical steps
- Define the audience precisely: what matters to them, not what matters to you
- Choose one main idea and no more than three supporting points
- Replace internal jargon with language a non-specialist understands
- Close with what you want the audience to do once you finish
A quick test before you speak
Try your message on a colleague from outside your team. If they can paraphrase it correctly first time, it is clear. If they hesitate, it needs simplifying further.