How Communication Becomes Chaos

To start, it is important to understand how simple communication can become chaos!

All too often, communication turns into chaos simply due to a lack of clarity and lack of an organized thought process. Stated simply, sometimes people just don’t think before they speak (or write!). In terms of leadership communication, random communication that does not provide clarity can result in destructive outcomes, as you will understand more clearly after this lesson.

In a straightforward example, take Mike Jeffries, former CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch, in his interview with Salon.com (Denizet-Lewis, 2006). You may recall the impact of his words. Mr. Jeffries stated that the retail chain’s clothes were exclusively for thin, attractive "cool kids." The negative backlash toward such an unprofessional communication was near-catastrophic for A&F's bottom line.

Also, with the awesome, yet problematic, world of social media, it is important to understand that all of our communication is public domain, like it or not! Deliberate sensitivity toward what we say and how we say it must be at the forefront of our communication strategy. We will talk more about the public “conversational” way that we present information, as well as the issues that we must consider as leadership communication becomes more visible in the virtual world that we live in.