Every leader wants to communicate with more impact. But here’s the truth: most of us are fighting an uphill battle.

We’re competing with 5,000 commercial messages a day and an average human attention span that’s now shorter than a goldfish’s—just 8 seconds. If you can’t capture attention quickly and hold it with purpose, your message gets lost in the noise.

So how do high-impact leaders actually break through?

They do three things consistently:

1. They Know Where They’re Going

Before you open your mouth (or your laptop), ask:

At the end of this interaction, what do I want my listener to do?

Not what you want to say. Not what you want to accomplish. What do you want them to do?

That outcome is your destination. And just like planning a trip, you need to be clear and specific. “Go west” isn’t a plan. “Arrive at 123 Main Street, San Diego, California” is.

Clarity creates confidence. And confident listeners take action.

2. They Know Where Their Listeners Are Starting From

Every journey has a starting point. The same is true in communication.

Ask yourself:

Who are they?
What do they care about?
Why aren’t they already doing what I’m asking them to do?

Too often, leaders assume their audience is at “base camp” when really they’re still sitting at home, wondering if they even want to climb the mountain.

High-impact communicators take the time to walk a mile in their listeners’ shoes. They speak to their motivations, their fears, and their realities.

3. They Know How to Move People from Here to There

Once you know the destination and the starting point, you need the right vehicle.

Sometimes it’s urgency. Sometimes it’s inspiration. Sometimes it’s story. But always—it’s about creating a clear path forward.

And here’s the formula to keep it simple:

“Doing X will give you Y benefit, despite Z risk or cost.”

Example: “Approving this budget will give us the extra staff to finish the project 18 months faster—despite the short-term cost.”

This approach does three powerful things at once:

Tells people what you want them to do.
Shows them why it matters to them.
Acknowledges the elephant in the room.

That’s how you keep people engaged for the whole “road trip” instead of losing them halfway.

A Simple Recap

High-impact leaders communicate by:

Determining the destination → What do I want my listeners to do?
Identifying the starting point → Where are they now, and what do they care about?
Mapping the journey → Why should they care, and how will I move them?

When you combine these three, you stop “dumping information” and start moving people.

Here’s my challenge to you:
Think about three upcoming conversations this week. Write out one sentence for each:

“At the end of this interaction, my listener will ___.”

Do that, and you’ll start communicating with more clarity, confidence, and impact—like the kind of leader people actually want to follow.