The Board Report
Why Delivery Matters as Much as the Message
Every CEO projects a leadership persona. Whether it's intentionally crafted or not, it tends to form through years of interactions, public appearances, interviews, and internal communications.
But the challenge is whether your CEO’s persona aligns with the leader they aspire to be and the reputation your organization needs.
Employees, journalists, investors, customers, and industry peers form opinions long before a CEO steps onto a conference stage or appears in the media. Those impressions are shaped by how leaders write, speak, respond under pressure, and consistently communicate over time.
Join us in our upcoming CEO Brand & Executive Persona Lab where we teach you how communications leaders intentionally shape executive presence, credibility, and influence.
Rather than chasing visibility for its own sake, Lab participants will learn practical frameworks for clarifying executive voice, strengthening credibility, and creating a long-term leadership presence.
Fall Workshops Now Open
This fall, The Communications Board is offering three live workshops designed to help communications professionals strengthen executive visibility, thought leadership, and organizational influence.
New Chief Influencer® Episodes Are Now Available
Our latest Chief Influencer® episodes feature conversations with leaders shaping institutions, industries, and public dialogue.
Explore our latest Chief Influencer® award winners
Chief Influencer® is a program sponsored by The Communications Board that was created in 2023. Directed and produced by Social Driver, the initiative is designed to recognize senior leaders whose influence extends beyond title or role and is demonstrated through sustained impact, credibility, and strategic communication.
Industry Highlights
AI Superusers Aren't Just Better at Prompting
An eight-month study of 2,500 employees by KPMG and researchers at the University of Texas found that only about 5% of employees demonstrated sophisticated AI use. The highest-performing users treated AI as a reasoning partner, delegated complex work with clear objectives, and intentionally switched between models depending on the task rather than simply using AI more frequently.
Implication: For executive communicators, the findings reinforce that AI capability depends less on tool adoption than on strategic judgment and disciplined workflows.
Why More CMOs Are Becoming CEOs
A growing number of organizations are recognizing that today's CMOs already manage many CEO-level responsibilities, including brand trust, reputation, organizational alignment, customer experience, growth, and enterprise storytelling.
Implication: As leadership increasingly depends on influence as much as operations, communications experience is becoming a stronger pathway to the CEO role.
Trust Is Shifting From Institutions to Individuals
News consumption continues to move away from traditional media organizations and toward personality-driven creators, independent journalists, and newsletters. Researchers argue that audiences increasingly place trust in individuals rather than institutions, creating new opportunities and new challenges for executive communicators.
Implication: Increasingly, audiences connect with credible individuals, making executive visibility, authentic leadership, and thought leadership more important than ever.
High-Ability CEOs Communicate With Greater Consistency
New research examining thousands of climate-related corporate disclosures found that high-performing CEOs tend to communicate with greater consistency over time. Rather than constantly changing narratives, they establish disciplined communication frameworks that reinforce strategic continuity, signaling confidence and managerial control to stakeholders.
Implication: Whether discussing sustainability or corporate strategy, executives build credibility when their messaging reflects a clear, disciplined narrative over time rather than reacting to every news cycle.
Thank you for reading this month's The Board Report. Forward to a colleague, share feedback, and stay tuned for next month's research roundup.
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