Leading Out Loud: A Guide for Engaging Others in Creating the Future, 3rd Edition

Appendix A

The Choice and Use of Evidence in Leadership Communication

In the text, I stress the point that leadership communication is both clear and deep. Because generally, we are better at communicating the clear part than the deep part, I’ve said little about evidence in the text. But there are some principles of evidence that, when followed, can add immensely to the understanding and receptivity of others.

Chapter Six includes an example from a speech by John Adams. The evidence he uses about the need for corporate emphasis on family issues was clear:

Fewer than 22 percent of married-couple households consists of a male breadwinner and female homemaker. In the 1950s, the figure was 80 percent. Fifty-eight percent of mothers with children ...