Leadership Communications Key Findings
Just 5% of employees understand their company’s strategy, showing poor communication is a major barrier to execution.
Leaders can close the strategy gap by using two key research steps: stakeholder interviews and a PEST analysis to uncover real insights and messaging gaps.
Communication should be measured like any business metric, by tracking team effectiveness and their willingness to ask for help.
Just 5% of employees understand their company’s strategy — a striking insight from ArchPoint Consulting, a global boutique professional services firm.
This shows the biggest growth risk for leading executives isn’t misaligned operations, but unclear messaging that leads to poor internal communication.
That’s according to Andrea Sampson, CEO of Talk Boutique and top advisor to leaders at Google, Deloitte, and TD Bank. Her work allows leaders to translate complex concepts into strategic messages, aligning teams and driving outcomes.
In episode No. 83 of the DesignRush Podcast, Andrea unpacks how communication and leadership go hand-in-hand to align strategy, unify teams, and drive measurable performance.
Listen to the full episode with Andrea Sampson on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube to learn how storytelling turns vision into traction.
Chapter Summary
Andrea's leadership transformation story (04:01)
Role of personal brand in leadership (10:00)
How leaders can communicate effectively and build a strong team (18:00)
Importance of empathy, communication, and alignment in leadership (25:00)
Andrea's leadership mentors and communication philosophies (50:00)
1. Ensure Bold Strategies Don't Stall in Daily Operations
Why is communication important in leadership?
According to Andrea, it's to ensure overall objectives don’t get lost in the company shuffle.
"Companies often invest heavily in strategy but fail to connect it to day-to-day execution. The only way we can have objectives is if we know what our vision is. Because the objectives are created to achieve the vision," Andrea said.
When vision isn’t clearly communicated, alignment breaks down and teams move in different directions. This leads to teams losing focus and wasting resources.
That’s why Andrea emphasizes the need for clear connection points:
“You're going from vision all the way down to tactic, but there's got to be connector points all the way through.
If you're the team person at the bottom of that process and your job is to achieve the tactics, if you don't understand that vision quickly, you're going to be steering the ship all over the place unknowingly.”
2. Start by Listening to Your Stakeholders
Andrea’s methodology combines qualitative interviews and research frameworks to ground leadership messaging in real insight:
“We started with doing stakeholder interviews, from board of directors to internal team members to even customers,” Andrea said. "We did a stakeholder interview, quite a broad stakeholder interview process, so qualitative research.
Then, we did some more syndicated style research doing what we call a PEST analysis. We combined those to understand where the opportunity lies. What is it that we're hearing? Where is the white space or a gap?”
The result?
Effective leadership communication with messaging that reflects stakeholder priorities — not just leadership assumptions.
3. Track Communication Like You Track Revenue
Communication is not a soft skill — it’s a measurable performance lever.
“The way to measure would be through looking at your team and what is the effectiveness of your team," Andrea said. Are they able to effectively do their job, but at the same time, effectively ask for help? These are key.”
Andrea frames the effectiveness of communications leadership as an indicator of business health.
Clear communication fosters collaboration, accelerates problem-solving, and ensures strategic goals are met. By prioritizing clarity and dialogue, you won’t miss out on the importance of communication in leadership to impact productivity, engagement, and success.
Who Is Andrea Sampson?
Andrea Sampson is the CEO of Talk Boutique and a global authority in executive communication. She’s coached leaders at Deloitte, Google, TD Bank, and high-growth startups, bringing TEDx curation, global advertising, and board-level expertise to every engagement. Her work distills complex ideas into strategic messages that drive results.
The Bottom Line: Clear Communication in Leadership Is Key
Great leadership is dependent on great communication.
"If your board, clients, or team don’t understand your story — they won’t follow your strategy," Andrea said.
Leaders who communicate their vision with precision and purpose, create alignment across their organization.
And a well-articulated vision ensures that every stakeholder — from the boardroom to the front lines — moves in the same direction, making success more attainable.
Looking to increase your communication skills? Consider visiting some of these nine top PR conferences to connect with market leaders.
