Susan DrummCEO Advisor & Executive Coach | Leadership Change Agent

Want Better Conversations? Start Like This #shorts

11 Aug 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:34

A short YouTube monologue by Susan Drumm advising listeners to make their intentions explicit at the start of conversations. She demonstrates reframing a narrative (‘here’s what happened’) into a clear request for input or outcome (e.g., ‘I’d like to get your opinion…’), arguing that telling people what you’re listening for increases the chance of getting the desired support.

Chapters

It's surprisingly easy to make your intentions clear. When one of my C Suite clients starts a diatribe, I tell them to stop and say, please tell me what I'm listening for so I know what to pay attention to. It's surprisingly easy to make your intentions clear. Just share what the outcome is that you're hoping to achieve. So instead of starting with here's what happened, say I'd like to get your opinion on how I should handle conflict on my team. So I'll start with some context. Here's what happened. Do you see how much clearer that is? And you're much more likely to get the outcome and support you need. When people know what they're listening for.