When a leader manages to combine clarity, emotion, and purpose, communication can lead to action.
by Mariana Jasper
Partner de AJ | Alurralde Jasper + Asoc.
Effective communication requires us to meet three key criteria: be brief, be understood, and elicit behavior. We need to be heard, we want what we are trying to convey to be understood, and we want our words to lead to action (joining our project, investing, buying, changing minds, etc.). Stories are the vehicle that humanity has found to unite these three criteria. And storytelling has an even more interesting capacity: it is the tool that allows us to combine data with emotions. And this is fundamental: because communication that does not move people does not work.
A leader who occupies higher positions within a company or society has more opportunities to communicate, but not much time for each one. Often, their schedule resembles that of audiences with the Pope. They have only a few minutes with each person or group. And in that brief span, they have the opportunity to open or close a door. They cannot afford to go to a meeting, a panel, or a town hall and “get away with it,” “get a 7,” “not exceed the noise level, and be inconsequential.” It is important that this time be worthwhile.
Responsible and generally self-demanding leaders prepare extensively, at great personal cost to themselves and their teams, who have to prepare documents that go back and forth, with key messages, Q&As, etc. And then they have to learn it all… But you can no longer spend so much time “studying what to say.” Nor is it a matter of reciting key messages like a robot: because that is not effective at all, it allows you to get by, but it is a mimicry of communication. And relying solely on “I know what I’m talking about” usually ends up in a message that, at best, “gets by,” but leaves no mark. It is very difficult to build lasting leadership, employer branding, and strategic direction by getting by in internal and public communication.
So we need to incorporate a different kind of methodology. The preparation we seek is one that leaves room for authenticity, adaptation, and a real connection with the audience. Training means having internal structures and resources ready, not a fixed script. It’s about coming prepared with basic internal resources and, on top of that, being able to improvise. Like a professional tennis player who enters the court thinking about the match, not about how to serve. They have the ability to read themselves, to be connected with themselves, and to interpret how their opponent entered the court in order to play their best game. To connect not with “what they imagined would happen,” but with what is actually happening.
When we work with leaders at the consulting firm, we seek to ensure that they have a method: a foundation of basic narratives, ready to be adapted to different audiences and contexts. And the body, mind, and spirit, trained to bring them to life. Breathing, body language, gaze, voice. They should know their territory of discourse and navigate it with calm and enthusiasm, neither bored of always saying the same thing nor improvising recklessly. Taking calculated risks, the kind that draw the audience in like a magnet.
And on our part, what I feel sets us apart is that they receive a methodology and real feedback: not a “good” or “weak,” but instructions that help them adjust and learn to see themselves accurately. Trying to improve without proper coaching is like shooting at a target blindfolded and settling for being told “you got it right” or “you messed up.” Real progress comes when someone tells you, “raise your elbow, pull your arm back further.” That’s the kind of coaching that helps you because it tells you what you need to change. It’s not a general abstract idea that works for any speaker, like the ones you find on TikTok, such as “you shouldn’t move your hands so much”… It has to be something special for who you are and what you’re doing. And that’s what we do: we look at people and give them guidance so they can continue to be themselves, but communicate radically better.
Ultimately, all this work is not about sounding perfect, but about making an impact, and for that, it needs to be genuine. So that, beyond the role, the position, or the setting, it is clear that there is a person who thinks and feels, talking to another person. Because it is there, in that connection, that leadership becomes human and communication can transform businesses and realities.
