Gilbert Amelio, the President and CEO of National Semiconductor Corporation once said, “Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can’t get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn’t even matter.”

Being an effective communicator is a vital characteristic of an effective leader for the following reasons:

Workers / followers are inspired most potently by a vivid description of the vision the leader has embraced. The leader must be able to communicate that vision very well.

Great communicators are the best motivators.

A great conversationalist has the ability to recruit people one person at a time. A great communicator is capable of recruiting the masses through one great speech.

A leader will often be called upon to give reports to those above them on the flow chart as well as to peers. A leader can gain the respect of those they lead by simply communicating professionally and effectively. On the other hand, a poor communicator will lose the respect of those above them on the flow chart as well as their peers.