Joel Schwartzberg
Sharpen Your Message & Make Your Words Matter
Joel Schwartzberg is a leadership communications coach whose clients include American Express, Blue Cross Blue Shield, State Farm Insurance, the Brennan Center for Justice, and Comedy Central. He is the senior director of strategic and executive communications for a major national nonprofit and previously held senior-level communication and editorial positions with Time Inc., PBS, and Nickelodeon. Schwartzberg’s articles on effective communication have appeared in Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, and Toastmaster magazine, and he’s a sought-after business and communications podcast guest and conference speaker. He is the author of Get to the Point! Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter, which Seth Godin calls “a manifesto for giving talks that make a difference,” and The Language of Leadership: How to Engage and Inspire Your Team (Berrett-Koehler Publishers; July 13, 2021), which Kevin Eikenberry says “will make your communication more purposeful, meaningful, and inspirational.” Learn more at joelschwartzberg.net.
Interview Highlights:
- THE IDEA: If you’re in a leadership role today, you surely didn’t get there by accident. You have vision. You’re confident. And you’re ready to offer support and lightning-quick responses. But if you don’t effectively communicate these qualities to your people, how will they know you embody them? Frankly, they won’t.
- THE WHY: Despite leaders giving themselves gold stars in communication, only 13% of U.S. employees say their leaders communicate well, according to Gallup research. And that’s a colossal problem: 93% of workers surveyed by the Brunswick Group report that “leadership that communicates directly and transparently” is what keeps them on the job, bested only by pay and the ability to move up.
- THE ACTION: You’ll learn 3 simple words that quickly reveal if you’re getting your point across
