Latest / Calm Under Fire / Christine Perkett

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Christine Perkett · Calm Under Fire

• Col John: Well, welcome to Calm Under Fire. I'm Colonel John Boggs, and I am the president of Fortitude Consulting, and Fortitude Consulting is an executive leadership development and coaching firm. And today we have with us Christine Perquet. And Christine is an enterprise narrative strategist, a C suite advisor, a founder, board member, and communications leader who helps organizations communicate clearly during Moments of growth, transition, scrutiny, and change, how her work connects corporate narrative, investor relations, crisis communication, and emerging AI discovery strategy, while helping other leaders turn complex business realities into clear, credible stories that earn trust. Now today we're talking about leadership under pressure, especially when the market is watching. The message matters and trust can be strengthened or lost very quickly. So, Christine, welcome and thank you for being here. Christine: Thank you so much for having me, John. I'm happy to be here. Col John: thank you, thank you. Well, you know, leadership often begins with learning how words shape confidence. you've spent much of your career helping leaders find the right narrative during complex moments. So when did you first realize that communication is not just messaging, it's leadership? Christine: Well, I don't know if there was one moment in my career where I realized that, but I would say probably in my first communications job in Boston, I worked for a high tech PR agency. And when I began my career, I really thought of communications primarily as an external function, telling the world who you are, who your company is, what it does, for whom. But I quickly learned that internal communications is just as crucial. So a lot of what we do at the Nova method, which is my Marketing and PR agency is work on both an alignment of internal and external communications. What a leader says really affects how employees make decisions, how customers experience the company, and whether people believe in its direction and if it's credible. And every department represents the company. So what the company feels internally ultimately comes out externally. So that makes communication a leadership function because everything you do and say eventually has to be followed by action or Everything you say rather has to be followed by action. And if Col John: Yes. Christine: your actions don't support your words, you lose trust. So regaining that trust takes a lot more than just better messaging. Col John: boy. Well well how I'm gonna go back to that. But looking back, what what experience most shaped how you advise leaders today? Christine: gosh, again, it's difficult to identify just one experience. it's really grown over a couple of decades of work. So I've advised leaders through economic downturns, wars, difficult market conditions, leadership transitions, organizational crisis, and obviously a global pandemic, which was a new one for all of us. Col John: Mm-hmm. Christine: but those experiences taught me that the best leaders really share one universal trait and that is resilience. And that is a big platform of mine. I write a resilient leadership newsletter on LinkedIn. I'm always looking to learn how leaders stay poised, confident, and trusted during controversial times. But that doesn't mean pretending to be unaffected or simply enduring pressure. For me, resilience is the ability to absorb impact, recover, adapt, and help other people pivot and see a path forward when a situation has changed. to your podcast title, it it means remaining calm externally, even when you feel like a mess internally, because we are human. Leaders are human. so continuing to make thoughtful decisions and helping people understand not only what happens next, but why they should believe that recovery is possible. And I believe that resilient leaders don't need to have every answer immediately. That would be insincere and inauthentic, but they do need to create clarity, confidence, and momentum for people to keep moving forward and to keep believing in them when people are scared. And I see a lot of that right now with the advent of AI and what it's doing across all kinds of industries. So resilience is one of the traits that I believe differentiates someone who manages a business from someone who truly leads one. Col John: Wow, very good. I'm I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to go here. You said you said the magic word with me right now, which is AI. And are are you finding that the that AI affects the messaging? I mean how people use AI, how does how does it affect the messaging? Christine: So a lot of what we're seeing is a return to the importance of messaging and brand narrative as well as thought leadership from executives. AI is going to quickly surface if those things do not align across different channels. It will start to see that maybe what you have on your website is not what the world is saying about you. So if I am a prospective buyer and I go to ChatGPT or Perplexy or Gemini or any of the LLMs, large language models to ask a question. Know what is the best widget for this? And it's going to surface answers for me. And sometimes now is what we call zero-click search. customers aren't even clicking through to your website, they're just taking what an LLM is giving them as an answer. So your brand narrative, your leadership narrative, your leadership presence, including what you say publicly on any social media channel like LinkedIn or a podcast, is going to surface in those answers. And if it's inconsistent, it will very quickly show. And then people start to wonder, is this an authentic brand? Can I really trust what this leader is saying? Col John: Wha what happens to leaders w when they know investors, regulators, employees, customers, or or or the public are watching them closely. I mean looking for that consistency. W what what happens to leaders when when they know that? Christine: Well, I think it varies, right, depending on the leader. but in all of those events there's an enormous amount of pressure, and that pressure can make leaders feel as though they are personally responsible for producing every answer. So as I mentioned earlier, it doesn't mean you have to have every answer. Leadership is not a one person game, despite what people might think. for example, a strong CEO has built the right team for a reason, and if they're a good CEO and a good leader, they trust the people. They've hired to do the job they hired them to do. So the leader's responsibility is not to become the expert on every operational, financial, legal, or communications issue, but it is to activate the expertise around them that they've hired, establish clear accountability, that's a big one, and make sure the team is moving forward with the same objective. So I think pressure is what happens to answer your question. And then for someone who's either not a natural-born or well-trained leader, they might panic from that pressure. So learning to stay calm is how the best leaders know when to step forward, when to listen, when to let the right person lead a particular part of any response. And I think that ties back to the theme of your podcast. You know, what is calm under pressure? Calm under pressure Col John: Mm-hmm. Christine: is gathering the troops. l telling them what their responsibility and accountability is and then trusting them to go do it, not pretending that you have all the answers and you are the wizard of Oz who can fix everything. Col John: wow. Yeah yes, this the guy behind the curtain, right? Ignore him. It's it's okay. Christine: Right, yes. Col John: Well how do how well, first of all, how do you avoid overpromising w when it's your words? I mean you're basically saying is, you know, bec an and you said that earlier, you said, you know, your ba your words, your behavior. You can't say something and then not do it. how does overpromising and how does that help what does that do to their credibility? Christine: Well, it it it erodes trust, right? It erodes what feels or should be authentic, right? The authenticity of your brand, the authenticity of your personal brand as a leader. And it starts to raise questions that maybe you were hoping would not be raised. So you don't want to over-promise. You don't want to underpromise. You want to land somewhere in the middle. And I would say it's safer to underpromise just like anything in life. Like I'd rather have well, I guess this is the opposite of Thanksgiving. I like to have too much food rather than less food. But you don't want to you want to underpromise so you can move forward and move up. It's kind of like negotiating a budget, right? Or a vendor contract. You want to start high because you know there's going to be negotiation and you're going to have to come down. So if you underpromise, you can go up to make things better. But if you overpromise, you can't reverse that. Col John: You can't. Right. Right. What do leaders most often get wrong when when they get pressured in in the messaging? What do they often get wrong? Saying nothing. Saying nothing. Christine: saying nothing. in a lot of saying nothing. In a lot of crises we've seen deflection. we've seen it in all areas of government, business, politics, obviously, where They're not answering the questions. And so maybe you don't have the answer to every question, but you have to say something. You can't stay silent and assume that the situation will resolve itself. So the minute you disappear or you're deflecting, other people will begin to define what happened, and then they own the narrative and what your silence means. So you have to say something, and that's how an organization loses a narrative is when they don't or they deflect, and then it can become a more difficult loss to recover from. So again, the Response doesn't have to contain every answer. You don't have to promise the world, but it does need to show that a company or a leader is present, engaged, and that they're taking the situation seriously and moving forward to a resolution of some kind. It's very common to like a police briefing. If if A murder happens, for example, and there are people involved that they can't speak of. Maybe it's children. they can't talk about those things yet, but they want to let you know they're investigating, right? It's very similar to that. They give you a direction on which they're headed, but they don't give you all of the details because that's not a leader's job to give all of those details. And a good leader isn't going to be pressured into giving details that are not required. Col John: Is it okay for a leader to say, you know, I don't know? Christine: Absolutely. I think so many leaders are afraid of those words. And I think Col John: Mm-hmm. Christine: again, thinking about who you surround yourself with, I think it's okay to say, I don't know, but I will figure that out for you, or I will get back to you, or we're working on that. My team is helping me to find the answer. Because again, it's that's authentic, it's credible because you're bringing in the team that you've hired, which is so important as a leader. Again, it's not all about you, which is ironically our tagline at the agency. It's not about you. In this case for leaders, it's not all about you. You have to you have to hold up your team as well. And that's why it's a leadership team. There's not a one leadership entity in most cases. For a reason. Col John: reason. Well, you you know, and this is this is a and I suspect you hear it all the time, and particularly from politicians, people will not answer the question. Rather, they they go to a they go to another you've asked me a question, but I'm answering something completely different. I mean so that was not Christine: Yeah. Col John: the question at all. Christine: There's a name for that in psychology, but that goes well beyond deflection. But yes, it's it is definitely a tactic. it it can be, I would say temporarily effective. sometimes you distract, but ultimately people are going to come back to like, wait a minute, I didn't get the answer to the question I was asking. In fact, I just saw that in an interview a few months ago with I think an NBC reporter, and she kept saying, But you're not answering the question, and I won't say who this. subject was that she was interviewing but that person just kept it was like a round a round conversation that just she kept asking the question and it kept not getting answered. All these other questions were being answered that weren't being asked but I it just erodes accountability credibility and trust and ultimately leaders I think leaders need to be trusted you know so Col John: Yeah, I think we both saw the same interview. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well w what what separates a corporate what separates a corporate narrative, a strong corporate narrative, from one that feels manufactured? Christine: A strong corporate narrative from one that feels manufactured, I would say again goes to action. So I actually wrote about something similar this week, which was Communications is the crux. Now, of course, I'm biased because I own a communications agency and that's been my career, but communications is the crux of every company, internal and external, back to the beginning of this conversation. And if you are not aligned, so communications or marketing could market and promote all kinds of things about your your services or your products, and you get me in as a customer. But if my experience does not reflect what you communicated to me, then the Communication breaks down, the trust is eroded, the accountability is then you know on shaky ground, and you don't trust the company that you you bought from. So the the product has to deliver or the service has to be what the communications promise, the sales team has to hold up the promises that communications said would happen. They have to have the same ethos, and I think a lot of companies. are fragmented from that perspective where a sales team acts says or delivers completely differently than what the public persona is and they really need to make sure that's aligned or the customer goes into a relationship either unclear or untrusting. Col John: How should leaders think about the relationship between being transparent, projecting confidence and trying to keep a long-term view, a long-term enterprise of your value, long-term view of your organization? How do they act can you pull all of that together? I suspect that's what your business does. Christine: I I should say I hope so. yes, I think you know long-term enterprise value is preserved when the stakeholders, whether it's media, analysts, partners, customers, employees Believe that the organization is credible, that the organization is well led, that it's capable of navigating complexity. And I keep using the words credibility, accountability, and I'm going to add transparency. So transparency supports that credibility, but I want to be clear that transparency does not require leaders to disclose every confidential detail, as I mentioned before. You're in the military or we're in the military, you understand Col John: Mm-hmm. Christine: that because we You can't give away all of our, you know, defense secrets, for example, but you need to know there's a plan. The world wants to know there's a plan, but they don't need to know the details. A lot of times in smaller organizations, leaders feel like they have to be so transparent that employees get to know every detail, and that's that's not what I mean by that. It means acknowledging material realities and accepting responsibility when appropriate, that accountability word again, and explaining how the organization is responding or moving forward. I think confidence comes from showing that the business has judgment, discipline, which I think you can appreciate, and that leadership is requ and that the leadership is in place that's required to move forward. And over time to your question, those behaviors build trust with the stakeholders, investors, customers, employees, partners, the market, and then trust becomes a form of enterprise value. So a company with credibility has more room to navigate in a difficult quarter if earnings are down, a leadership transition if a C-level executive is being let go or swapped out or replaced, a strategic shift or even a mistake. So a company that has repeatedly overstated, hidden, or contradicted itself or a leader that has done that has very little room to recover when pressure situations arise. Col John: what is the value of of how and when communication happens? I mean you have a you have an organization, they're growing. I mean they they want to communicate. You you I suspect you don't want to tell everybody everything up front, but so what how does the how and when play into communicating strategically so you're getting your message across? The way it needs to come across when it needs to come across. Christine: again drawing on even some military themes, and I have a a brother who is retired from the army, so I'm I'm very familiar with a lot of that. he's also in the Michigan State Police. So I've watched him and his discipline in leadership. And I think that's part of the answer is is discipline on when the right timing is. are there shifts in the the mood the mood of the market the mood of the employees the mood of your partners the mood of your investors and really carefully thinking about which part of the narrative you need to share at which moment because it affects impact that's happening now so you know we're not You don't want to rush into something and say something just so you have an answer. It kind of goes back to your other question of is it okay to say I don't know? It's okay to say we're not ready to talk about that. Col John: Not ready to talk about that. Christine: It's still it's still saying something. It's not saying silent. Just say we're not ready to talk about that because we don't have all of the details or we are we will be addressing that at this date, etc. But again, not overpromising and not inventing things. Do not invent timelines or narratives that are untrue and inauthentic because they will it will always come back to you. Always. Col John: Is there a great is there is there any single great mistake people make when they communicate? Christine: Making it all about them Col John: Making it. Christine: instead of the person or the audience or the stakeholder that needs an answer. That you think about it from their perspective. What do they need in that moment from you as a leader? And how can you communicate it? Instead of because very often if you come at it from a perspective of yourself, you're you end up being defensive. And even if you don't mean to, it sounds defensive. So taking a Col John: Mm-hmm. Christine: deep breath. Stepping back and thinking what does this stakeholder need right now? And really coming at the communication from that perspective. Versus it's kind of like in a relationship counseling, right? They say start with how you feel, or you know, don't tell the other person like how they feel, respond to what they need right now. It's it's very similar, right? You want to give the other person what they need. So it's it's very easy to forget that because you really want to tell your story, you really want to make your statement, but is Col John: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Christine: that what this stakeholder? needs right now. What do they need? And starting from there and working backwards to what the communication should be. Col John: Okay, give what they need. Christine: Mm-hmm. Well, to the right degree, right? We're not going to give them all the details like we talked about. Col John: Right, not all the details. Christine: You're going to give them the reason that they don't have all the details, which could be a safety reason, right? It could be you know, it's it's detrimental to the company to share that right now. So we won't be doing that. And just to remain calm under pressure, as you say, it's such a great title. Col John: You know, that's the practically every leadership engagement I've I've ever had, we've always end up talking about communications. And Christine: Wow. Col John: I mean it's it's it's it's not even a sometimes, it's every time. Every leader I've ever worked with, we will always eventually talk about communications, how you communicate, Christine: I'm glad you hear that. Col John: what you're what you're talking about, who you're talking to. Christine: Mm-hmm. Col John: when I'm talking When I'm talking to my subordinates, I'm talking one way. And I'm talking to my seniors, I'm talking another way. And I'm talking to my peers, I'm talking yet another way. The the message changes three times. Christine: Right. Col John: but it's got to be the same it's got to be the same message. It's it's got to be the same thing, has got to come out for everyone. And that takes a little thought. No, Christine: Right. I'm glad that you said that. Yeah. Go ahead, sorry. Col John: no, go ahead, please, please, go ahead. Christine: I was just going to say, there's always there has to be the red thread, right? The connecting thread. But the you're exactly right. The different audiences, the different stakeholders need to be communicated to in a way that works for them and they're not all the same. So if I'm talking to an investor, that's probably different than if I'm talking to my business partner. you know, my business partner is probably going to get maybe a little bit more of the raw material and the investors will get more of the polished. in control material, for example. But it's Col John: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Christine: the same story, it's just the way it's delivered. I might be ideating with my business partner on on the story, on the communications, and by the time we get to the investors, it's more polished, for example. Col John: And yet it's this it's the same story. It's the same story, told three different ways, but it is the same story. That's yes. Yes. Christine: Yes. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You know, I worked I had a a credit union for a client once and lots of regulatory issues there that have to be navigated. But the hardest part for them was the internal communications with the with the staff. And so there was a lot of work in the C-suite to take what they really wanted to say and polish it in a way that it could be received by the employees and not have them be scared or nervous or you know, there were a lot of questions and the C-suite didn't always want to answer those. So we worked a lot on how to navigate that dichotomy between people need answers, you don't want to give them all the details. Here's where we land. So Col John: I have well I again I say it to just about not just a hundred percent of my of my senior leader engagements has always been how you communication is the one thing that everyone thinks they do well. This is now Christine: No. Col John: I I don't know what has been your experience in my experience, people particularly senior leaders. Now this is gonna sound crazy, it's Christine: Mm-hmm. Col John: The more senior the leader, it's almost as though their communication goes the further up the chain they go, the further down their ability to communicate goes. And and the Christine: Interesting. Col John: I've I've seen it's it's such an inverse correlation. I mean, it just go up, you go down. Christine: do you know why that is? Do you have any experiences that would give you an indication of why that is? Col John: part of it is when you it's it's all one of the myths of leadership is that I have to have all the answers. Christine: Right. Mm-hmm. Col John: And so we get crossways with our communications. Christine: Yeah. Col John: And when you realize you don't have to as you said, you don't have to have all the answers and you don't Christine: Right. Col John: have to answer right now. Christine: It's interesting that you said senior leaders because I actually see that with a lot of younger leaders because they're new in their roles and they feel like they have to be authoritative more than collaborative. And there are Col John: Just. Christine: times where you have to be authoritative, but I would say for the majority of your working relationship with others, you need to be collaborative with direction. Right, people are relying on you to direct them and lead them into whatever situation is coming, but they also want to chime in, right, and give you their two cents. And I always welcome that, but but then remind them the leader will be making the final decision. So we've taken into account what you have to add to this, we appreciate it. I think people need that, otherwise Col John: Mm-hmm. Christine: we're in a dictatorship and nobody wants that. Col John: Yes, yes, very that's well said. Well said. And and on on the other side of that coin with the senior leaders, they they feel they have to know. They know everything. And when I say something, Christine: Yes. Yes. Col John: it is so. Well, no, it's not. And if Christine: I feel like it's kind of like Parenting, you know, you you lead by example, but you don't always have all of the answers, and your children can sometimes teach you things if you listen. So I feel the same way with employees. I I personally lead my life by what can I learn today? I I know I don't know everything, I would never claim to know everything, and that's the beauty of working with people and having the opportunity to lead them, is you get Col John: Mm-hmm. Christine: to learn too if you're willing. If you're willing. Col John: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. Wow. Wow. So What have you learned about yourself over the years of doing doing the work you do? What has that taught you about you, about your leadership ability? What has that taught you about yourself? Christine: so much. I need to stop and listen more before I react. And that has been a great lesson for me. I tend to my I'm a leader with ADHD, so I have a million things going through my mind at once and I bounce from idea to idea. So that's something I've had to learn to manage when I'm leading and listening to my executive team or my employees or my clients. I need to listen and take a deep breath before I respond. So that's probably one of the bigger things. The other is, and this is so old school, I've been saying this for 30 years, but it is so true and I've had so many incidences that have backed this up, which is I need to trust my gut. I need to trust myself. If I don't trust myself as leader, how can I expect anyone else to? So that's that's a bigger one. And I've made mistakes where I ignored it and I I did say to everyone, give me your two cents, and then it got very convoluted, and I didn't make the decision that I should have made in the first place, and bad things happened that made it more complicated, and I had to recover from a different problem. So trusting trusting yourself as a leader. and always learning like we just talked about so that you can better trust yourself. Col John: Yes, yes. And that that leads me right to this. Actually, qualities, leadership qualities that that matter most for organizations as they navigate, more public, more digital, I mean i the environment it will scrutinize everything today. So Christine: Right. Col John: w understanding that, what advice would you give leaders today who have to undergo all this scrutiny with How they communicate. Christine: get a good team in place. Surround yourself with good people. Col John: And get a good team in place. Christine: Surround yourself with good people, don't micromanage, be willing to listen and learn on the journey because it will make you a better leader, but be strong enough to say the buck stops with me, this is where the decision is made. I think as I've mentioned probably at the beginning of this conversation, authenticity, it is it will be more quickly than ever revealed if you are not an authentic brand, company, or leader. Is making sure of that, which kind of sounds ironic because people are distrusting because of AI, but it's actually It's actually keeping us in line to some degree with what we say in the world and what we put out into the world because it's going to pull it all back and say, here's what we know to be true. We fact-checked, right? Faster and more deeply than a human can. We fact-checked this narrative. Here's what backs it up. Here are the credible pieces that back that up. So authenticity is more important than ever. And in the past maybe brands could get away with being a little bit inauthentic. I don't think that is going to be the case anymore. And if they are inauthentic, it's going to create problems. So authenticity, it matters because people are increasingly skilled at recognizing language that is manufactured. We're all reading it every day. Language that is overly rehearsed, language that's disconnected from reality. Consistency is another one, consistent messaging, as I talked about before, across every department, across every channel. And that matters because trust is not built through one strong speech or one. Successful interview, but it's built when people repeatedly see alignment between a leader's words, their decisions, and the company's actions. Resilience, as I mentioned, I'm a big fan of resilience because I think we all need to have it. Some people are better attuned to it than others. Leaders definitely need it because they need to make consequential decisions in environments that are changing faster than the certainty is. Curiosity. And that matters because a leader, again, always learning, but they can rely on entirely on what worked five or ten years ago. They have to be willing to learn. They have to be willing to learn publicly because they're leaders. They have to be willing to ask better questions, and they have to be willing to remain open to possibilities that they might not yet understand. And I see a lot of that in AI. It's a constant conversation daily in my work. People are afraid of what they don't understand. Well, guess what? Everyone is in the same boat right now with AI and not understanding exactly the long-term impact. So you have to be curious and not ignore it. It's here. And then accountability. So accountability matters because greater visibility creates a longer record. so again that consistency over time of what leaders say, what they publish, what they promise, will now be discovered and can be discovered, compared, and interpreted interpreted not only by people but by AI. And the patterns can very quickly be surfaced. So proof of impact will matter more than polished claims in my opinion. Col John: Wow. Wow. Christine, thank you so much. I mean, thank you. This has been absolutely superb. for for the folks that are listening in, and for those of you who particularly those of you listening in who've been clients of mine, you know the level of importance I put on communications. And I will tell you this: it is the single greatest tool you have as a leader, is your ability to communicate. So I'm going to ask Christine right now. Christine, could you stop for a moment and tell us a little bit about your organization and how do people reach out Christine: short. Col John: to you should they like like to get more on communications, which clearly I'm I'm telling you, it is the single greatest tool you have as a leader is how you communicate. So please you go right ahead. Christine: Can I quote that on our website, John? Col John: But it is the it's the single greatest tool and don't don't get this wrong, folks. So Christine, please t tell us how do we reach you, how do tell us about your organization and how do we reach out to you? Christine: First of all, thank you for those kind words. I really appreciate it. Communications is important across all aspects of life, right? And I feel like we can all always grow the way that we do it to do it better. The easiest, well, first my organization. So I'm a co-founder and the CEO of the Nova Method N-O-V-A, and our website is thenovamethod.com. We work with clients all around the world, and I personally work with executives on their thought leader. And presence for both internal and external communications, and my team does a lot of the brand work in terms of communicating to the rest of the world what the value is that the company offers. So we help companies connect business strategy, corporate narrative, marketing, public relations, executive thought leadership and narrative, and AI visibility so that when an organization says it is aligned with what it does and with what its stakeholders actually experience, those are both aligned. So that's a lot of work that we do. a lot on AI visibility and authenticity in that reign vein rather sorry. The easiest way to find me is probably on LinkedIn. I'm the only Christine Perquette, so P-E-R-K-E-T-T and Christine with a C H. So that's the easiest way to find me, or Christineperquet.com, although that website is being updated shortly. So and I'm happy to speak with anyone and happy to sit down and I'm very happy that you invited me on your podcasts. So I appreciate the conversation and it's it's always inspiring to meet with other leaders who are as you say, you know, coaching and and teaching not only the next generation but the existing generation how on how to pivot because that's an important you know, being able to pivot with grace and dignity and authenticity is an important part of leadership too. Col John: Christine, thank you very much. And thank you very much for being here today. I I can't thank you enough. This was absolutely fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. And for those who are listening in, leadership is too important to get wrong, folks. And remember the greatest tool you have in leadership is your ability to communicate. And Christine, it will be a huge help to that, should you need it and you know how to reach her, the Nova the Novamethod.com. That's that's it right there. And you can find her on LinkedIn. All right, folks, until next week. That's it. Out here.