Getting Communication Insight From Axios Is Like Getting Nourishment From Toilet Paper
September 13, 2023
Trying to glean useful info from an Axios newsletter about executive communications, one exec comms director said, "I was wondering if I was having a stroke."
My mother wouldnโt buy us Kraft cheese singles, because, she told us, โIt has all the nutritional value of a roll of toilet paper.โ
The Axios Communicators newsletter has the same amount of intellectual value.
I warned Writing Boots readers earlier this year about the Axios Communicators newsletter, and why it is โworse than nothing.โ Now I feel I went too easy.
An issue last week focused on our corner of the communication business, executive communication. “When I saw said Axios piece last week,” said an exec comms director I know, “I was wondering if I was having a stroke because the exec comms advice was such a nothingburger.”
The main story leaned like a drunk to a lampost on a brainless study of trends in executive speaking by a company that produces โevent management software.โ What would they know about executive communication? Things like this: โHalf of planners also say that attendee engagement is one of the three most important gauges for success.โ
The next story quoted inexplicably unnamed โexecutive communication experts Axios spoke with,โ demonstrating their magnificent grasp of the obvious: โEstablish expectations for every speaking engagement, conference or event before making a commitment.โ On second thought, no wonder they donโt want attribution.
And finally, the piece quoted Leigh Gallager, a senior manager at the management consultancy Teneo, as saying: โYes,
Gallager is implying that rather than hear a long, boring speech, audiences would prefer โauthentic moments,โ like โoff-the-cuffโ conversation.
And since Axios would never, could never, contradict one of its sources or even push them to defend their pink-slime bromides, itโs down to me to ask Gallager, rhetorically: Is it that audiences donโt prefer leaders who can share fresh points of view powerfully through sustained oratory? Or is it that theyโve been trained by experience to expect that CEOsโ speeches will be tedious parades of platitudes. In which case, yeah, theyโd rather see the executive shamble verbally without a net, than with one.
I like a fireside chat as much as the next conference organizer and conference speaker. Theyโre easy.
But the only ideas I remember after 30 years of organizing and attending conferences, came from great speeches. And I remember plenty.
โDo you remember that brilliant panel discussion, back in 2003?โ said no one everโadding, โDo you remember that meaningful article, from Axios?โ