swap the battlefield for the boardroom.

CEOs love a good war metaphor — “battlegrounds,” “offensives,” “fighting for market share.” It sounds bold. Strategic. Even inspiring.

But new research from João Cotter Salvado and Donal Crilly shows that this language may backfire — especially with financial analysts.

📉 Analysts interpret war metaphors not as strength, but as signals of recklessness and risk. In fact, just a 1% uptick in war-related language can lead to a 20% increase in negative analyst sentiment.

In volatile markets or for dominant firms, the effect is even worse.

💡 The takeaway? Words matter. Especially when the audience is trained to assess risk.

👉 Leaders: Swap the battlefield for the boardroom. Choose metaphors that signal stability, not chaos.

João Cotter Salvado and Donal Crilly

"Research: When CEOs Use War Metaphors, Analysts Worry," Harvard Business Review. January 3, 2025

#Leadership #Communication #Strategy #InvestorRelations #BusinessLanguage #CEOInsights

cheer up, george

A pilot once told us a story about an accident on an early morning flight in the 1950s. As the aircraft accelerated to take off, the captain noticed his flight engineer’s sullen expression and called out, “Cheer up, George.” But in his sleepy state, what the engineer heard was, “Gear up, George” — and he duly raised the landing gear — prematurely as they were not quite airborne. The aircraft sank onto its fuselage and slid to a halt, causing much damage. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

The story illustrates an important point: miscommunication and misunderstanding are both much more likely when context is unclear or not shared. Had George known that the topic of conversation was his mood rather than the flying of the plane, he would have been less likely to misunderstand what his captain was communicating to him, and he most certainly would not have acted the way he did.

Constantinos C. Markides and Andrew MacLennan

"3 Ways to Clearly Communicate Your Company’s Strategy," Harvard Business Review. May 24, 2024

we did this ourselves

A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. Fail to honor people, They fail to honor you. But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aims fulfilled, they will all say, "We did this ourselves."

老子 Lǎozi 

Tao Te Ching, late 4th century BC. Chapter 17. 

poor strategy execution

"Sixty-one percent of corporate strategists say poor strategy execution is the primary reason that new growth initiatives fail,” says Marc Kelly, VP at Gartner. “It’s more of a problem than the strategy itself or the funding of that strategy, and it stems from a range of issues."

Jackie Wiles

The 5 Pillars of Successful Strategy Execution. Gartner. July 17, 2023

after just 10 minutes

A recent Finnish study of 380 virtual work meetings showed that remote viewers reported feeling drowsy (and some nearly fell asleep) after just 10 minutes...

The study reinforces another experiment that University of Washington biology professor John Medina conducts with his students every year, which reaches the same conclusion.

Medina says, "After 9 minutes and 59 seconds, the audience's attention is getting ready to plummet to near zero."

Carmine Gallo

Scientists Pinpoint the Exact Moment People Loose Interest in a Presentation: Three ways to keep your audience engaged beyond this cliff. Inc. Feb. 27, 2024