The Quantified Communications Blog

In the last couple of decades, leadership development has undergone drastic transformation. From the physical universities like GE Crotonville and Accenture St. Charles to virtual, e-learning software platforms to bite-sized MOOCs from platforms like Lynda.com and even YouTube, L&D has been desperately seeking a structure that both fits into employees’ schedules and enables lasting improvement.

These days, it seems like once a week, some public figure or another is making a controversial statement that’s met by many with demands for apologies and/or consequences. And general consensus would argue that, when a leader—corporate, political, or otherwise—realizes he or she has made an insensitive statement, a sincere apology is in order to save face, demonstrate character and make peace with the public. But recent research shows that, following a gaffe, apologizing might not be the right way to go.

In all the buzz about the future of work, there are two terms we hear over and over: reskilling and upskilling. As in “Businesses will need to reskill their employees as automation changes the nature of their jobs.” Or “In today’s tight labor market, employees are looking for jobs that support their ongoing development, so savvy businesses are investing in upskilling their top talent.”

When we talk about leadership capabilities, we often talk about book smarts, or IQ. “He’s a sharp guy.” “She’s got a mind for business.” But there’s another kind of intelligence that we don’t emphasize nearly as much, and in many ways, it’s even more important than IQ.

“Executive presence.”

It’s one of those buzzwords we hear all the time when we’re discussing leadership abilities, and at a high level, it makes sense. But when it comes time to break down exactly what executive presence (much less talk about how to develop it), it’s not so easy.

But executive presence isn’t just some lofty, intangible “x factor” that indicates leadership abilities. It’s a skill—or, more realistically, a set of skills—that leaders have honed over the course of their careers.

Traditionally, learning and development of any kind has a bit of a bad rap. Being required to attend on-the-job training sounds about as exciting—and useful—as sitting through a defensive driving course. And yet, in today’s business landscape, with Korn Ferry predicting a talent shortfall of 85 million workers by 2030 at a cost of $8.5 trillion per year, retaining top talent by giving them the room and the resources to grow and develop is more critical than ever.

Entrepreneurs looking to recruit investors to support their business ventures are constantly finetuning their pitches, honing the data, polishing the business plan, and looking for just the right way to tell their stories.

The YouTube voice. You can hear it in your head, can’t you? In fact, you’re probably using it to read this paragraph. Your inner voice suddenly sounds uncannily like Hank Green.

As YouTube has evolved from an artistic repository of classics like “Charlie Bit My Finger” and “Harry Potter Puppet Pals” into a platform where influencers and explainers can monetize their every opinion, something else has evolved as well. That’s the YouTube voice.

The standard for measuring your communication skills.

If you’ve been following Quantified, you know our obsession is adding science—algorithms, data, and objective measurements—to the art of communication.

There’s no two ways about it: employee retention is a critical driver of a financially healthy organization. Retaining talent isn’t easy, but research has shown that the cost of replacing just one employee can soar to nine months of that single employee’s salary, and Gallup has found that turnover among millennials alone costs the US economy $30.5 billion annually.

It’s clear that today’s businesses can’t afford not to retain employees, but how can companies keep their top talent engaged? There are dozens of great retention strategies out there, but the way we see it here at Quantified, it comes down to leadership.