Pete CrosbyCEO, Revelesco · Ask me about delivering predictable, scalable, repeatable revenue.

The most dangerous communication mistake for CEOs in times of war, AI uncertainty and crisis

10 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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In this talk, Pete Crosby warns CEOs against the instinct to stay silent and wait for full clarity during fast‑moving crises such as war, AI uncertainty, or other emergencies. He presents a three‑principle communication framework: (1) say what you know, (2) say what you don’t know, and (3) say what you are doing about it. This structure should be applied to any audience—boards, teams, clients—to maintain credibility and momentum. Crosby then emphasizes the CEO’s role as a filter: they must separate signal from noise, helping the organization focus on what truly matters while discarding irrelevant chaos. The overall message is that transparency, even about unknowns, combined with decisive action, is the antidote to the most dangerous communication mistake—silence.

Chapters

The framework from where I sit, it's very simple. Typically the instinct is when things like this happen is to go quiet, to wait for clarity before responding, to have all the answers. That's the most dangerous move. And these storms are taking place, they're accelerating, they're not pausing. And so the framework has 3 principles. The first is say what you know, say what you don't know, and say what you're doing about it. And so that structure works for every audience, boards, teams, clients, just across every audience you might consider. The second is to separate the signal from the noise for your people. Now, your job as CEO is not to have all the answers. It's to help filter chaos from the organization so that your people within it have a clear picture of what actually matters and what doesn't matter.