Communication
Scenario Training
Here is something that does not get said enough: smart people are not always promotable. Clear, influential communicators are. You can have the best ideas in the room and still get overlooked if you cannot translate what you know into language that moves people.
That is what this section is designed to show you. These five scenarios are about how you communicate when it actually counts. Not in a rehearsed presentation, but in the hallway, in the leadership meeting, in the moment when someone important is watching and you have about 60 seconds to make it land.
Read each scenario and picture yourself in it. Pick the option that feels most like what you would actually do, not what sounds best on paper. Then tell me why. That reflection is where the real learning happens. There are no wrong answers here. Only honest ones.
- Read the scenario and picture yourself in it. Really put yourself there.
- Pick the option that feels most natural to you. Go with your gut.
- In the "Why did you choose that?" box, tell me your thinking. A sentence or two is plenty. This helps personalize your coaching.
- Hit "Get My Coaching" and get feedback tailored to your response.
- When you finish all five, you will get a personalized 70-20-10 development plan you can download and keep.
The 60 Second Answer
This scenario is about whether you instinctively lead with what matters, or whether you default to explaining everything you know.
You have been working on a cross-functional initiative for three months. Your VP asks you in a one-on-one: "So what is this project really about?" You have 60 seconds.
What do you say?
Beyond the Status Update
This scenario is about whether you translate your team's work into business language, or whether you lead with the effort and leave the impact for leadership to figure out.
You are in a leadership meeting and someone asks for an update on your team's work. You have two minutes. Your team has been heads-down solving a gnarly technical problem that finally got resolved this week.
How do you respond?
The Resistant Room
This scenario is about whether you try to win people over by arguing your case, or whether you let the work do the talking first.
You want to propose a new way of running your team's weekly meetings that you believe will save time and improve output. Your peer group is resistant. They have been doing it the old way for two years.
What do you do?
Reading the Room
This scenario is about whether you pick up on what is happening around you and adapt, or whether you stay on script when the energy shifts.
You are presenting a recommendation to a senior leadership group. Halfway through, you notice the most senior person in the room has gone quiet, stopped taking notes, and is looking at their phone. The rest of the room is still engaged.
What do you do?
The Unexpected Challenge
This scenario is about what happens to your composure when someone puts you on the spot in front of people who matter.
You are presenting to a group of VPs. Midway through, a VP challenges one of your core recommendations with a pointed question you did not anticipate. You are not fully sure of your answer.
What do you do?
You did the work.
Most people never stop long enough to really look at their instincts. You just did. That is not a small thing. Your personalized development plan is generating below.
Building your personalized 70-20-10 development plan...
Your 70-20-10 Development Plan
Communication Pillar · Luminary Method
What is the 70-20-10 Model?
Most development plans live in the 10. A course, a workshop, a certification. And while those things have real value, research tells us they account for only about 10% of how people actually grow in their careers. The other 90% happens somewhere messier and more real.
The 70-20-10 model was developed by researchers at the Center for Creative Leadership and has been a cornerstone of professional development for decades. Here is what it tells us:
- 70% of your growth happens on the job. Stretch assignments, high-stakes moments, decisions you have never had to make before. This is where capability is actually built.
- 20% comes from people. Feedback, observation, mentorship, and relationships with people who are a few steps ahead of you or willing to tell you the truth. Growth accelerates when you are learning from someone, not just alongside them.
- 10% comes from formal learning. Courses, books, workshops, and programs like this one. The 10 creates the framework. The other 90 is where you live it.
This plan is designed to work across all three. Not just to give you something to read, but to give you something to actually do.
Read it. Work it. Come back to it.
This is not a document to file away. It is a working tool.
Read it once all the way through without a pen in hand. Let it land. Then go back and pick one thing from each section. One experience to seek out, one relationship to activate, one thing to practice. Just one from each. The goal is not to overhaul how you show up overnight. It is to make one intentional shift at a time and notice what changes.
Come back to this plan in 30 days. What did you try? What worked? What did you avoid, and why? That reflection is part of the development too.
Experience: What to Seek Out
Relationships: Who to Learn From
Practice: What to Study and Try
Language That Works
These are not scripts to memorize. They are starting points. Language you can make your own and practice until it feels natural. Each one addresses a situation that comes up regularly for senior managers and directors who are building their visibility with leadership. Read them, try them out loud, and adjust the words until they sound like you.