Before you press SEND....

We have all heard of the leader who has annouced job losses through a text or a meticulously and carefully worded email (often written by some well meaning HR professional and checked endlessly by lawyers and marketeers). It's easy to shy away from giving bad news.

Conversely it's easy to rely on your finely tuned prose to convey a positive message for the future, or to deliver a call to action, or sell an idea or course of action.

In almost all cases, without the personal delivery, the act of being there, the effort of standing up in front of people, or even travelling half way around the world..... the content falls flat because the real message is "I do not care", "I could not be bothered" or "your are not that important".

The message here is that content is only half of direct communication. Care, emotion, warmth, being in the room etc. comprises the other part. .... and actually poor content can be rescued by great delivery, energy, empathy and care. Conversely, great content can fall flat because of lack of good delivery.

Moreover, lack of real physical presence, means that messages cannot be tailored or flexed by feedback received, questions raised, body language read. You cannot listen, really listen, if you are not there.

CARE (or close cousins RESPECT and INTEGRITY) are frequent inhabitants of corporate value statements - and yet how many times do we see that the day to day behaviours of leaders fall short of these values?

So, before you write that email, or send that announcement, of sign off on that important pitch to a prospect, or tweak the offer to convince your next VP to join you..... and certainly before you press send.... think about delivery, being there and emotion as much as the content of the message. Because presence is a compelling indicator that you care and something is important to you.... and therefore should be to those who receive your message.