A few weeks back, I joined the Human Risk Podcast hosted by Christian Hunt.

The Human Risk Podcast focuses on "the risk of people doing things they shouldn't or not doing things they should" and examines how behavioral science can help us mitigate it.

In this discussion with Christian, we focused on communications strategy.

We discussed which politicians on the campaign trail are good at communicating and those who need help. 

We explored how people who aren't natural-born communicators can communicate their message to differences between political and corporate communications. 

And finally, how communications have shaped the war in Ukraine to the expertise of a communications strategist to keep things out of the news.

Here are some highlights:

The benefits of high-low communications: It is equally important to attend Davos and speak with CNBC, the Financial Times, and BBC News as it is to speak before a local chamber of commerce event in St. Louis and be interviewed by a business journalist the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Humans want to connect: We are hardwired to hear stories, share data, and accept information. One's ability to share information in an engaging, compelling, and educational way is super important.

The ability to be a chameleon: From speaking to the board members of Goldman Sachs to entrepreneurial founders at Startup San Diego, you could share the same information, but how you connect to those two audiences needs to be different.

Communications is a superpower: You could have the best idea in the world, but if you can't tell that story and convince enough people, you won't be able to make your idea work.

Learn communications skills from comedians: Spend an afternoon binge-watch a slew of different comics on Netflix. Watch how they move, speak, connect, and control a room. Take improv classes and get comfortable with the spoken word, being on stage, and connecting with an audience.

Here are two frameworks discussed:

The best communicators embrace the E-STOCK framework: E-STOCK = Event, Strategy, Tactics, Organization, Consistency, and Know-how. 

What is the event - the context of the communications effort?

What is the strategy - what are you trying to achieve?

What tactics or tools will you use to best communicate to your audience?

What are the organizational requirements, staff, and systems needed to best communicate to your audience?

What is the cadence and pace of your communications - what will you do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually?

What expertise and know-how can you share that no one else can - what makes your communications unique?

The best communicators embrace the TWIN framework: TWIN = Targets, Win, Influence, and Neutralize.

In a complex communications effort, you will likely have 5, 7, 9, 11, and 25 targets (audiences) that you need to win, influence, and neutralize.

This ability to identify targets is classic stakeholder management, engagement, and situation awareness.

To succeed in a complex communications effort, ask yourself which targets (audiences) do you need to win, influence, and neutralize.

Of the 5, 7, 9, 11, and possibly 25 targets, identify them and place them into one of three columns - win, influence, or neutralize.

Which targets (audiences) do you need 100 percent on your side to win?

Which targets (audiences) do you need to influence?

Which targets (audiences) do you need to neutralize?

Pro-tip, mathematically the win and influence audiences should be bigger.

You can listen to the complete episode here.

If you need help with your communications strategy, Caracal is here to help.

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

ITK Daily is geopolitical business intelligence for senior executives with global ambition.

ITK Daily curates news @ the intersection of globalization, disruption, politics, culture, + sport and provides actionable insights and sharp commentary.