Micromessaging: Why Great Leadership is Beyond Words

Introduction: Setting the Stage

It was Monday morning, which meant yet another routine staff meeting. Our manager pulled the eight of us on her team together as many as four times a week for updates on virtually imperceptible changes in our projects. The meetings were unscripted but so predictable that everyone practically mouthed all the words. The afternoons were filled with one-on-one discussions with our manager, in which we used a variety of creative synonyms to describe what had already been reported to the group. Extensive filler was generally required here.

No one ever complained about the constant meetings. So, I did what most of us might do: I interpreted the silence as compliance. But there was another silence quietly building.

My ...