 Coaching, Consulting & Training
Yesterday I had one of those moments when you realize technology has moved quite a bit faster than you have.
I was scrolling through LinkedIn and came across a video from an executive we (Decker) coach. He’s a brilliant guy who runs a global company, but public speaking has never come particularly naturally to him.
So I started watching the video. And I was amazed.
His pacing was measured. His posture was relaxed and confident. His facial expressions were natural. His voice had warmth and energy. Everything we had been
working on was there.
I immediately sent him a note congratulating him. I told him the progress
was remarkable.
His response:
“That wasn’t me. That was my digital twin.”
I stared at the message for a moment.
Maybe this says more about my technological naïveté than anything else, but I had absolutely no idea. I had watched the whole thing believing I was watching him.
And then I noticed something interesting about my reaction.
At first, I was amazed. Then, almost immediately, I felt a little duped.
That feeling has stayed with me because I think there’s something important
in it for leaders.
When we watch a CEO speak to employees, or read a note from a leader during a difficult moment, we’re processing more than information. We’re making a very small act of faith. We assume that person decided this mattered enough to show up. They thought about what they wanted to say. They put some part of themselves into saying it.
That’s part of why communication creates trust.
Digital twins introduce a fascinating complication.
Yes, the possibilities are extraordinary. Imagine a CEO communicating with employees around the world, in twenty languages, almost instantaneously. Think about what that could do for access, consistency, and speed. There are going to be countless smart applications for this technology.
But there’s a line in there somewhere.
Because leadership communication isn’t only about transmitting information efficiently. Sometimes the fact that you showed up is part of the message.
If I’m hearing quarterly results, perhaps I don’t particularly care whether the person on my screen is the CEO or a remarkably convincing digital version of the CEO.
But if my company has just announced a major restructuring? If people are losing their jobs? If we’re going through a difficult transformation? If you’re asking me to trust you and follow you somewhere uncertain?
I think I want you.
Not the flawless version of you. You.
And maybe that’s one of the interesting challenges AI is going to create for leadership communication. For years, we at Decker have taught that authenticity is something leaders need to demonstrate. Increasingly, we may need to think about authenticity as something leaders need to protect.
Because the danger isn’t that the digital twin will be unconvincing.
As I discovered yesterday, it may be extraordinarily convincing.
The danger is that we become so good at scaling a leader’s presence that, somewhere along the way, we accidentally remove the leader from it.
Technology can scale your message.
But sometimes the most important part of the message is that you showed
up to deliver it.
The post The CEO Was Excellent. <br>Just One Problem: <br>It Wasn’t Him. appeared first on Decker Communications.
Content mobilized by FeedBlitz RSS Services, the premium FeedBurner alternative. | 
