Last month, inside the Strategic Communicators Collective, we spent an hour with futurist and business strategist Marvin Dejean of Gilead Sanders.
We dove into what the future business landscape will demand from leaders and, importantly, from us as communicators.
Big takeaway: AI isn’t a tool you simply “add on.” It’s becoming the operating system on which business runs. And that means our role as communicators must expand.
Here are the shifts communicators should be considering now:
✨Reimagine your role as that of a “strategic intelligence analyst”. Go beyond delivering messages to key audiences to connecting the dots across the business, scanning the environment, and anticipating stakeholder sentiment before change is rolled out.
✨ Make communication the engine of transformation. Digital or otherwise, no strategy takes root without clarity, trust, and transparency.
✨ Double down on human connection. As automation rises, our greatest advantage is what cannot be automated: context, counsel, and care.
✨ Embrace the “E.P.O.C.H.” framework Marvin shared with us: Empathy, Presence, Opinion, Creativity, and Hope. Keeping these qualities at the forefront of our work will allow us to complement AI with the uniquely human elements of leadership and storytelling.
If you’re advising leaders right now, here are two questions worth asking them:
- Where will AI most reshape our stakeholder experience in the next 12–18 months?
- Which signals suggest we’re ready (or not) for that change?
This forward-looking session with Marvin was a reminder that while the pace of change can feel overwhelming, it also creates new opportunities for communicators to step into our most strategic, trusted roles.
If this sparked some ideas for you, let’s turn them into action. My work centers on guiding leaders and communications teams to align messaging with mission, strengthen trust across stakeholders, and lead organizations through change with clarity.
How I’m Helping Leaders and Teams Today
- Strategic Messaging for Leaders & Teams: A cross-departmental session that creates messaging alignment across the business so that what you communicate is consistent, clear, and designed to drive results. LEARN MORE->
- Step Into Your Moxie®: An interactive workshop experience rooted in improv, role-play, and vocal empowerment to help people speak up boldly about the issues and ideas important to them and their companies and move people to take action. GET MORE INFO->