#472 How Leaders Get Their Message Across: Executive Communication Lessons from Frankie Kemp
How Leaders Get Their Message Across: Executive Communication Lessons from Frankie Kemp
By Niels Brabandt
In modern organisations, leadership effectiveness is increasingly determined not by expertise alone, but by the ability to communicate with clarity, relevance and credibility. In a business environment characterised by back-to-back meetings, dispersed teams and constant information overload, many leaders struggle to make their message land. In my recent interview with Frankie Kemp, communication specialist and leadership advisor, we explored why this problem persists and how decision-makers can fundamentally rethink the way they communicate.
The hidden cost of meeting culture
Most executives operate in calendars filled with meetings that neither create alignment nor lead to decisions. As discussed in the interview, meetings often exist to justify further meetings rather than to enable action. Leaders arrive fatigued, audiences disengage, and communication becomes transactional rather than strategic.
This environment encourages a reliance on slide decks as a perceived anchor of professionalism. Yet volume does not equal value. When leaders default to dozens of slides, they often obscure their core message and dilute their authority.
Why slides fail and clarity succeeds
A central insight from the conversation is that senior stakeholders do not expect more information. They expect judgement. Leaders gain credibility by articulating a clear point, addressing what matters to their audience and linking their message to strategic objectives. The decisive question is not what the speaker wants to say, but what the listener needs to understand.
Frankie Kemp highlights that many leaders would be far more effective if they stripped communication back to its essence. In many cases, a compelling message can be delivered in minutes without slides, provided it is concise, relevant and outcome-focused.
From presenting to connecting
One of the most persistent myths in executive communication is that effective speakers are born, not developed. The interview challenges this assumption directly. Communication is not performance. It is connection. Many highly effective communicators are introverts who have learned how to engage authentically rather than perform theatrically.
Reframing communication as a conversation rather than a presentation reduces pressure and increases impact. Leaders already communicate successfully in one-to-one settings. The task is to translate that capability into formal business contexts without hiding behind slides or scripted delivery.
Authenticity as a leadership asset
Another recurring theme is authenticity. Attempts to imitate charismatic speakers or adopt fashionable presentation styles often backfire. Credibility is built when leaders communicate in a way that is consistent with their personality, values and professional identity.
As the interview illustrates, effective communication does not require pretending to be someone else. It requires removing unnecessary constraints that prevent leaders from being understood.
What this means for decision-makers
For decision-makers, communication is not a soft skill. It is a strategic capability. Leaders who cannot get their message across struggle to align teams, influence stakeholders and execute strategy, regardless of technical competence.
Developing this capability means simplifying messages, prioritising audience relevance and practising connection over delivery. In a complex business environment, this is no longer optional. It is a leadership imperative.
Niels Brabandt
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More on this topic in this week's videocast and podcast with Niels Brabandt: Videocast / Apple Podcasts / Spotify
For the videocast’s and podcast’s transcript, read below this article.
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Niels Brabandt is an expert in sustainable leadership with more than 20 years of experience in practice and science.
Niels Brabandt: Professional Training, Speaking, Coaching, Consulting, Mentoring, Project & Interim Management. Event host, MC, Moderator.
Podcast and Videocast Transcript
Niels Brabandt
You want to build a great team, you want to have an inclusive culture, and also you want to thrive as a leader. The question is, how do you want to do all of that at the same time? And we have an expert with us here today, Helen—welcome, Frankie Camp.
Frankie Kemp
Hi Neils, it's a real pleasure to be here and meet you.
Niels Brabandt
Thank you very much for taking the time. I get straight to the point here: many leaders tell me, "Look, I really like to thrive in an environment which is challenging, but let's—let's just say the economy is tight and we all have these meetings." And you know, when I'm speaking, some meetings are just a bit dull, and I have to use these PowerPoints, and I have to tell them what's on the PowerPoint. And when you have 10, 15, 20 meetings, leaders can't thrive on the 15th meeting, or can they? What's your take on that?
Frankie Kemp
Well Neils, my take is that they can't. Who can? There are so many people that they spend their day bowling from one meeting to the next. And when those meetings are over, you know what happens? That's when they have to do their work. And the meetings themselves are usually not structured in a way where people can exchange ideas, get to an action point, and then follow up. Often those meetings are structured to organize—what?—another meeting.
Frankie Kemp
So I work with technical experts or specialists in tech all around the world in communication, up, down, and around. So I get to see how people—for example, as you said—they will talk about, "Oh, they've got to get their pack together. Their slide deck, like it's 1984."
Niels Brabandt
Yeah.
Frankie Kemp
And they think that's how they're going to get their message over. But what we are all looking at is, especially in dispersed teams, feeling like we're part of something and that we matter, which are the two strands of Daniel Pink's research about motivation. So it's killing people's motivation when you just turn up with 100—I mean, I was working with an engineer a few weeks ago, and he said he had a 15-minute meeting and he was worried he wasn't going to get his point over with senior leaders.
Frankie Kemp
I said, "So what's your point?" And I thought, "He just told me." Oh no, no. He opens up his laptop and there's 70 slides. Sorry, how long's this meeting?
Niels Brabandt
70, 70, not 17, 70.
Frankie Kemp
70 slides, right? How long's the meeting? 10 minutes. Was it 10 or 15 minutes? Something like that. I went, "Oh my gosh." I said, "If anything, you need three of those."
Frankie Kemp
I could see immediately. But I said, "Let's just strip this back. What is the point you are making?" Now, we're talking about a leader, but he wants to go up to senior management and he wants them to take him seriously. I said, "If you want them to take you seriously, you keep your point concise. You tell them what's in it for them." And for all you listeners, this is so important: you address their concerns, not your concerns, how you can help them reach their strategic objectives.
Frankie Kemp
That is what you need to do. And you can do that in 5 or 10 minutes without a single slide. And you know what? Nobody's going to walk away going, "Well, Richard, he gave us what we want and we can see that it really matters, but I really miss the slides."
Niels Brabandt
That's probably because I saw on your LinkedIn profile that you say, "Be less vanilla and more thriller," which I think is an absolutely great line. Cut the waffle. However, some people might now say, "Well, when I cut down the slides, maybe I'm just—I try to sell something, but I'm basically selling out. I'm selling out my position. I'm giving them everything they want." So when people say, "Oh, I think really," or they say, "I think it's our culture to have the slides, it's just how we do things here." What's your take on that?
Frankie Kemp
Right. Well, I have another situation with industry analysts, and I've trained them right up to senior level. And I was training the senior—the team below the senior leadership team—last week. And I said to them, "You know, when you don't have your slides, you're putting everything that I'm saying about presenting and involving a dispersed audience into practice. But as soon as I say, 'Right now, relate this to a current project on which you need to present,' you are going back to your status quo." And they go, "I know, but this is how they do it." And I said, "They've brought me in because they know that that's wrong and they want me to work with them in the future.
Frankie Kemp
Meanwhile, you're going to show them." I went, "But okay, I don't want to put that on you. This is what I'm going to ask you to do, and this is so important. You're going to ask them—you're going to simplify your slides like so-and-so has done—take it to," and I mentioned the CEO, "and say, 'Is this okay if I present like this if I'm giving these handouts to the clients?'" The answer was, "Yes, that would be a blessed relief."
Niels Brabandt
Okay, there. Yeah. Excellent point made. Excellent. I saw on your CV you did not only work with many tech firms, you also work for a business school, you have the track record of academia. When you now say—because I saw on your website as well—it's the theater-based people skills for geeks. That's one of your lines.
Niels Brabandt
How do you deal with people who say, "Look, Frankie, I'm an engineer. We are very technical. In your theater world, this is all okay. And we just do presenting with slides and tell people technical details. That's just how we are." How do you convince people when they really think this is the right thing to do?
Frankie Kemp
Well, firstly, I've worked with tech and engineers for 25 years. And what happens is I can get somebody doing a three to six-hour coaching session with me. Nobody would have heard about any presentation that they've ever done in their life. And then suddenly the senior leadership are going, "We want to know about your proposal. We heard about it. We weren't even at the meeting." So firstly, I know the proof of the pudding is in the training because it gives people—so it gives your listeners will be able to—they're tangible and practical.
Frankie Kemp
Now, in acting, what we do is we don't do theory. You study theory, but you can't act with theory. It's got to be practical. Now, the other thing is acting isn't all sparkles and sunlight. I mean, if you're doing TV, everything has to be minimal. So when people are on virtual calls, I'm looking at what they're doing. I'm listening to what they're doing.
Frankie Kemp
I can hear this. I can tell by the eye contact that you're reading an email. You're not looking at the screen. You are scanning the lines of an email. And actors are often—and this is probably going to sound strange to most of your listeners—many of them are natural introverts.
Niels Brabandt
That is something I had not expected because you go on a stage, so you think they are probably on the other end of the scale. So how do they manage?
Frankie Kemp
Having a character is a release. It gives you permission to—ironically, it gives you permission to be more you. We do this exercise. So when I'm presenting, when I'm doing the presenting training, for example, there's this exercise where I give people really—they always put it on the feedback form. It's like, "You made me be a game show host." Now, we do it in the spirit of fun. I'm not going to—I push people outside their boundaries, but in a way that's fun.
Frankie Kemp
And they always say, "I never expected to do that, but I felt safe with Frankie doing it because that's the main thing. I wouldn't do it if they didn't feel safe pushing their boundaries out."
Niels Brabandt
Excellent.
Frankie Kemp
But there's this exercise where, for example, they're a game show host and everyone looks at them—I don't know, Sally from accountancy being a game show host—and they're going, "Sally, that's actually what you're like." And she said, "But I feel like I'm over the top. So I'll show Sally her." And I go—and she looks at it. She goes, "I look so much more relaxed." And sometimes you've got to—it's not fake it till you make it. It's fake it until you realize who you really are and you don't have to use the mask.
Niels Brabandt
Excellent. Very good point because I'm not a friend of fake it till you make it at all because that usually means you're lying to people's faces and trying not to actually be discovered. So would you say when someone now comes up and says, "Look, I am just not a natural presenter?" There are natural presenters and there are not. You think that anyone can learn how to be an amazing presenter and absolutely no exception?
Frankie Kemp
So it's interesting when people say, "I'm not a natural presenter," I say, "Well, forget presenting. I'm not going to teach you how to present. I'm going to teach you how to communicate." Now, presenting is communicating. You're speaking—it's a conversation with one person speaking most of the time. Now, when people ask me to present at keynotes, whether it's on difficult people or workplace dynamics or learning, whatever it might be—and I'm going to confess something to all of you out there—is I am absolutely freaking myself. I'm naturally nervous because I am this introvert.
Frankie Kemp
And I know you're probably listening and going, "No, you're not."
Niels Brabandt
Well, most people think when I feel nervous, other people will realize that I am, and then they will not believe whatever I tell them.
Frankie Kemp
Well, my main concern here from a personal point of view is, am I connecting? That's all I need to do. It doesn't matter if you're nervous. Are you connecting with people? So when people say, "I'm not a natural presenter," I go, "You don't need to present. You need to connect." So coming back just for a second to my experience, when people say, "I'd like you to do a keynote or I'd like you to present on something," I reframe it in my head and I go, "I'm going to give people a conversation."
Frankie Kemp
That's what I'm going to do. Now, if you reframe it and ditch the word present, which is very loaded and it comes with all these intrinsic expectations, which are very tacit, and ditch that, it can be very freeing. We don't even use the word present. It's communicating. It's connecting. And you can connect. You communicate with your colleagues.
Frankie Kemp
You connect with your friends. You have the ability to do it, but you're not conscious of what is making that happen. I'm not going to come in and tell you all the things you're doing wrong. Oh, you need to be different. You need to be a presenter.
Frankie Kemp
No. You need to present as I was watching Mark Carney Davos, right? Davos. And he has a very—he has his own style. It's extremely different from—I mean, you take Tony Robbins, completely different. Again, not everybody's cup of tea, right? But the point is to do it in a way that is true to you.
Frankie Kemp
And my job—sorry, Niels. Yes, carry on.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah. Because I think these are the perfect final words. And some people might now think, "Hey, I think I should work on that." The question is, how can people get in touch with you when they say, "Hey, I'd like to work with Frankie?" How can they reach out?
Frankie Kemp
Well, I'm not going to mystify that. So it's Frankie@frankiekemp.com. So Frankie with an I-E at frankiekemp.com. All you need to do is hit that, click contact, get in touch. There's tons of free resources there as well. And that's the easiest way. My phone number's on there.
Niels Brabandt
So they can get in touch quickly and then discuss everything with you from training to keynote. You are there for them. Perfect.
Frankie Kemp
That's exactly it, Niels.
Niels Brabandt
Brilliant. I think these are the perfect final words. Frankie, thank you very much for your time.
Frankie Kemp
Thank you. It's been a pleasure, Niels.