In this Proteus Leader Show episode, host Erika Andersen interviews Dr. Rick Brandon, author of Straight Talk: Influence Skills for Collaboration and Commitment. The conversation frames communication not as a “soft” or peripheral skill but as a hard, measurable capability that directly impacts an organization’s bottom line, innovation, employee retention, and psychological safety. They explore why communication often fails—blocks such as time pressure, mindset, self‑talk, and cultural attitudes that treat dialogue as fluff. Brandon introduces the FIT mindset (Foster business goals, Identify patterns, Take the challenge) as a framework for mental fitness in communication. Practical tactics are shared, including seeking two‑way dialogue, checking understanding through paraphrasing, avoiding mind‑reading expectations, and explicitly securing commitments. The episode also references the broader context of the Great Resignation, examples like Kodak and the NASA shuttle, and promotes Brandon’s book (159 actionable tips) and his website for further learning.
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You're listening to the Proteus Leader Show with Erika Andersen, where you'll get practical tools and insights for leading, managing, and staying ready for the future. Erika is the founding partner of Proteus, a firm that focuses uniquely on leader readiness. A nationally known executive coach and bestselling author, you may already know her as one of the most popular leadership bloggers on Forbes.com. Ready for something you can use today? Here's Erika.
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Proteus Leader Show. My guest today is Dr. Rick Brandon, my longtime friend and colleague and author of the new book, Straight Talk: Influence Skills for Collaboration and Commitment. Rick is the founder of Brandon Partners, a training firm that helps leaders build world-class communication skills. To improve results, build accountability, reduce stress, foster innovation, and enhance engagement and retention. He supports them to build these skills within a framework of organizational savvy, an understanding of how to navigate company politics and power dynamics with integrity. So welcome to the show, Rick.
Grazie. Thanks so much, Erica. It's so great to be back doing our dance together as we have for years ago.
This is so exciting. I mean, we've, we've known each other for— I figured it out the other day— over 35 years, which just seems insane. And I've always loved your combination of humor, hope, and kind of can-do practicality, you know, when it comes to interpersonal organizational skills. So I thought that that combo would be particularly helpful to our listeners, most of whom are managers and leaders in organizations. So You ready to go? Sure.
Ask you my question. Yes, I am. You bet. And I— let me just say that it's interesting you mentioned the organizational savvy. And of course, the new book is interpersonal savvy. And I see them as going together. So maybe we can jaw a bit about that, how they, how they tie together, if you're interested.
Well, so in the new book, you say, and I love this, that thoughtful changes to communication can create ripple effects across teams and organizations. I love that sentence. And I'm And I'd love to just hear more about what you mean by that.
The whole issue of communication, I think people underemphasize. They don't think of the impact on organizations, teams, leadership success, because they view it as— I view this as a dirty word— soft skills. The soft skills, right? It drives me nuts. And I know it does for you too, because we've been teaching this stuff for decades. But I think they're hard skills. They're hard skills to learn, and they're hard skills to achieve hard results. It's about bottom line. And I really believe the rippling effects include giving people a competitive advantage as an individual contributor, a manager, a leader, and the organization. Because if you think about it, a few things come to my mind. What's— what are the effects? One, it's about bottom line, because communication is how we get agreements that are two-way dialogue rather than compliance. That's not commitment.
Right.
So it's about getting agreements and holding people accountable. It's about opening up the communication. So what happens to innovation if there's not communication? communication, and people are stifling, feeling stifled. And then the whole issue of the cost of faulty communication in terms of time waste, chipping away at morale, atrophying teams and engagement. Because if— I don't know about you, but I think of people who tell me they're leaving their company. And of course, we have the great resignation. What was it? Have you heard these numbers from SHRM, Society of Human Resource Managers, that in '21 there were 3.5 million people leaving their companies? Every month. In '22, they said they estimated— I think it's hit at 4.5. And I don't know about you, but the people I talk to, sure, sometimes that's money or a better opportunity, but a lot of times it's, I'm pissed at my manager, the communication around here sucks. So, so they quit and leave, or worse, they quit and stay. They, they stay physically, but they're gone emotionally and mentally and motivationally. So what do you— do you find that? Do you talk to clients who have that? Is it the biggest issue?
It's a big issue. And it's— and I completely agree with you that good, thoughtful, consistent communication really, you know, is a huge factor in creating the kind of environment that people want to stay in and grow in, where they feel safe and comfortable and able to be who they are. So yeah, I really agree with you. I love, I love what you're saying. Well, so then, then what gets in the way? You know, what are the main things as you look at an organization that get in the way? of good, clear communication.
Of course, it depends on what level. Are we talking top-down management, strategic communication of announcing issues? And there are consulting firms, as you know, including you, that work on communication in times of change. And so I think an issue from a top management downward in that strategic change initiative, as you talk about the inner game, the change from the— that would be a great title for a book, Change from the Inside Out, don't you think? So yeah, but I do think it's partly self-talk, and, and, and that's around change. But also, I think the issue of time, and you, you talk about this too, time management. And people are freaking out and scurrying to implement a change. And so top management may undercommunicate when, if anything, what's needed is to overcommunicate. So, but my long-winded way of saying, I think time is a block.
Yeah.
I also think people's, um, attitudes and self-talk— we both have worked with the issue of self-talk, and Proteus does a lot In fact, that popped up on, on, on my welcome to the, to the webinar, to the, to the, to the Zoom meeting. It said, we work with self-talk. So I think people don't have their mind in the right place, and they view communication as fluff, as touchy-feely, as charm school. So again, they throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Yes.
Instead of realizing, wait a minute, I need— I call it being mentally fit. F-I-T. The F is F is to foster the business goals. They're blocked because they don't realize the business goals, some of which I just mentioned. Then the second, the I of FIT, F-I, is they don't know, they don't have awareness to identify what's their usual pattern. Do they tend to be aggressive, passive, borderline aggressive or passive, and with who? Or are they assertive? And then the T, F-I-T, is to take the challenge. And that's what I mean to take the straight talk challenge, I call it in the book, to hold myself accountable for being part of the solution rather than part of the sucky communication problem. And that's hard because we start to make— we start to make excuses. Too tired, my time, I just got upset. So, so I think that the mindset is a block and time is a block. And then there are blocks to specific skills like listening we can perhaps talk about, or blocks to being clear when I'm trying to get you to do something. There are specific blocks there.
Yes.
But how's my clarity on what we're talking about so far?
Good, really good.
He said, he said, demonstrating the checking skill.
Yes, exactly. I, I love how you're talking on the organizational level of like the cultural mindset of the organization, how they see time, whether or not culturally they see communication as important. But I love how you then brought it down to individual people, like what, how are they thinking of communication? How are they overcoming their own hesitation and fear to say important things that might be challenging? all that kind of stuff. And I think that's right. I think the impediments exist both on the organizational level and on the individual level. I agree with that.
Yeah. Have you seen that study that talks about that part of the self-talk block of innovation is people are afraid to express their ideas? And I guess the story is that Kodak used to be ahead of the competition at the top of the heap, and then they atrophied because of people afraid to speak their mind, stopping themselves, but also receiving stifling comments. And so I don't want to say my idea. Or the worst example, of course, is the NASA shuttle example. There were scientists who knew there was a flaw. Yeah, tragic.
Yes, I, you know, it's tragic. Over the last, um, I don't know, decades, psychological safety has become such a big phrase for people. And there have been so many studies that show how important it is to teams and to innovation. And, and I think what you're saying, and I agree, is that a lot of psychological safety is how we communicate with each other. When you say something either challenging or new, how is that received? Is it listened to? Is it— do people follow up with curiosity or do they shut it down? So yeah, I completely agree with that. I think a huge part of psychological safety is how communication is offered and received. Yeah, yeah.
And that individual block that happens not just in my head, But what I do when someone doesn't hear me—
Yes.
What's stopping me from asking you if you're my boss and you don't have the skills? You're still a good person. But so can I say, hey, Erika, just a minute before you tell me your reaction, what's your understanding of what I'm—
Yes.
What I'm trying to say? So we can teach other people to be better communicators by not criticizing them, but by inviting them to be aware. Wait, I'm not sure you were tracking me on that. Can you feed back to me your understanding? Or at the end of an agreement conversation, can we have the other person summarize the agreement rather. Okay, got it. Got it. Okay, good. They didn't get it.
So, so I love where you're going, because that's exactly, you know, because we talked about this beforehand. My third question is, you know, kind of practical takeaways. What are some things our listeners can start doing, like now today to improve their communication, their influence skills, and you were already starting to go there. So just keep going there, you know?
Sure. Sure. Let me give you the first 40. So obviously we're constricted by time. Let me rattle off a few thoughts I had. So one is that FIT mindset, F-I-T, to think about the business goals, to identify, are you assertive and with who? Who do you tend to get triggered by and be maybe a little borderline sharp and aggressive and passive? So that's the mindset. Secondly, with, with my getting commitments when I'm trying to speak, so here's the speaking block, I can handle that by realizing When I'm trying to get a commitment from someone, do I have faulty expectations? Do I just expect people to be mind readers? So one tip is don't expect that. Have communication and have agreements more than you normally think is needed. Oh, she should know that. It's her job. Well, cow cookies. She doesn't know it. And so let's put our— especially in times of change.
And then Not expecting—
the biggest issue is, is it two-way? Is it really a conversation, or is it a dialogue or a monologue? So to do that checking and paraphrasing like you've been doing with me along the way to make sure it's not a monologue, but it's a dialogue, and there's commitment rather than otherwise compliance. Do it because I said so. So those are a couple of things. Wonderful. Thank you. There's a few more, but I don't know what our timing is.
So you let me know. So I always promise my listeners that we'll keep this, you know, kind of short and sweet around 15 minutes. So, and, and, you know, I mean, we could keep talking for hours. So we won't, we'll stop. Okay.
Of course, there's 159 tips in Straight Talk Influence Skills for collaboration and commitment. Operators are standing on call.
Precisely. So that's, that's exactly where I was going to direct people. So this is just kind of the tip of the iceberg. And I really encourage you to buy Rick's book. And if you want to find out more about his work and to get a copy, figure out how to get a copy of Straight Talk, just go to brandonpartners.com. Right, Rick? That's where they should go.
Or brandonpartners.com/straighttalkbook. But they can see it if they just go to brandonpartners.com. I really had a blast. I could do this for 15 hours, not 15 minutes. Thank you.
You're so welcome. It's been lovely. And listeners, if you want to find out more about how Proteus supports leaders to be even more effective in these wild times, you're welcome to go to proteus.com, click on topics— sorry, proteusleader.com, click on topics and choose Change from the Inside Out. So thank you, Rick. And thank all of you for listening. And until next time, here's to creating the life you truly want.
We hope you're feeling better equipped to create the career, the business, and the life you want. For more insights and tools for leadership and management, join us at proudestleader.com. Have an excellent day, and thanks for listening.
