Communication Is a Core Function | Stories With Traction Podcast

SHOW NOTES:

In this episode, Matt Zaun sits down with Joshua Altman of Beltway Media to talk about why communication is a core function of business, not an afterthought you bolt on three weeks before a product launch.

Joshua shares what happens when companies call him at the last minute, how poor (or excessive) documentation slows everything down, and why leaders must rethink how they use AI for writing. They also dive into interviewing as a leadership skill, the power of likability and relaxation under pressure, and simple ways leaders can sharpen their writing and thinking every day.

 

*Below is an AI-generated transcript, which may contain errors

 

Matt Zaun

Joshua, welcome. Thank

 

Joshua (Beltway)

It's in a lot, is companies are doing their thing, and now we're launching our product in three weeks. We've been planning it for 18 months.

We should have been brought in, your communication should have been brought in 18 months ago to really be part of that.

 

Matt Zaun 

Yeah, that's a really good point. I think it can be an afterthought, and then people try to catch up, right?

So when that happens, when they bring you in and it's three weeks to a launch, what do you even do in that regard?

What you even start? What kind of game plan do you put in place with a couple weeks to go when they should have been working on this for months?

 

Joshua (Beltway)

Look at everything they have, everything they've done. In a lot of cases, they should have started this 18 months ago, but we can work with something that they have.

Assuming they've been doing documentation, they've been planning, their meeting has notes, there are records that we can look at what's important, who have they been talking to, who's their target audience.

for this product, for this launch, this release. From there, we can start building something. It won't be as good as if we had started with them 18 months ago, because then you could really start building a foundation with your audience, with your customers for what matters.

Now, at three weeks out, there's a lot less time to do that. And it's rushing.

 

Matt Zaun 

Sure. Yeah, that's a really good point. You mentioned a word in there. mentioned documentation. I do want you to dive a little bit deeper into that.

I feel, as I'm sure you would potentially agree with me, that often businesses aren't documenting as well as they could.

And then months go by, and they're scrambling to try to figure out, oh, what happened in this one particular instance?

I kind of remember some of the details, but they're a little bit foggy because they didn't do a good job documenting.

So are there any tips or tricks or techniques or anything? Is that you would mention to an organization that they can do a better job of the documentation while they're in the moment?

 

Joshua (Beltway)

Well, I think there are businesses that fall into two groups with this. One that don't do it enough, and the other group that over-document, and then you get lost in paper.

And finding what's important becomes impossible. And the solution to both of these is pretty close to each other. What I always recommend doing is designate one person.

That's going to be the person who's keeping the record of this meeting. And you don't have to have an admin assistant there helping as an official minute taker.

Just someone there who you know takes really good notes. And they can send out an email to everyone after.

Now we have a lot of great tools with these AI note takers when we're doing virtual meetings. But they do come with privacy concerns.

It's for a lot of businesses dealing with sensitive information. come with concerns. They They They They So there's a trade-off.

But if you have someone designated, they can send out an email, then we know. You know who had the task.

You know where it was. You know the stage of it. And you can move forward from there. If everyone's doing that, if everyone is sending out their recollections, that's the other side of that problem.

And now you have too much. And sifting through it will be difficult.

 

Matt Zaun 

So I really like that piece on designating a particular person, almost like a documentation ambassador, right? The person that's responsible for bringing in the documentation.

Obviously, if they've done it enough, they should know what should be put in there, what should be kept out.

Because, again, you don't want to over-document. I think it's a really good point. So I want to talk a little bit about, I want to backtrack a little bit, and I want to talk a little bit about your background.

What positioned you to focus on this? And I always like to go back to the teen years. I think the teenage years could be really important for everyone.

And I think there are different things that we can learn. Learn from different teen years and how it positioned us to where we are today in our adult lives.

So if I were to ask teenage Joshua, let's say 13-year-old Joshua, what he wanted to do, what he wanted to be, what kind of response would I have gotten in return?

 

Joshua (Beltway)

A really nerdy one, probably. I was a journalism nerd from the beginning. I loved it. I went to journalism school, not at 13, a little later.

I thought that was what I was going to do for my full career. And that's what I went to school for.

I started my career in journalism. I left that, and now I do what I do now.

 

Matt Zaun 

Okay. Let's talk a little bit about journalism. How do you think journalism's changed from when you initially were getting involved in journalism to what it is today?

 

Joshua (Beltway)

I worked in video. I was a multimedia producer for The Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C. Video at a newspaper at that time, it was common, but still...

still relatively new. I was the video person. We had two to four during my time there. And we were doing little shows.

We were getting reporters out to hearings and events towards the end of my time there with their cell phones, trying to get good video.

But it was very much still a newspaper. Now it is much more integrated across publications. Getting video and doing visual first, interactive first, is now much more important.

The writing, still important. You know, one thing we talk about with all our clients is what matters is what people read, see, hear, and experience.

And that newspapers, especially a paper, the text to read was first. Incorporating all of those now is front and center.

 

Matt Zaun 

I appreciate I appreciate you mentioning that, too. Read, see, hear, and experience. So I know there are a lot of people listening to this episode that as soon as they hear read, they think, oh, we can utilize AI tools for that.

We can use AI for blogs, for articles, for social media posts. Give me the good and the bad with that.

So I'm sure you've seen some situations where companies have gotten in trouble, heavily relying on AI for that read piece.

What are some examples that you might point to that you would say, here's what you really need to be mindful of if you're going to use AI tools for that writing?

 

Joshua (Beltway)

At this point, I don't assume it's an if you're going to use an AI tool, it's you're going to use an AI tool.

And it's just that. It's a tool. Use it like a tool. Which means do not rely on it for your final product.

It can't do that. It'll produce something. It won't be very good. That is where You and your business will get in trouble.

You will get called out on it. You may get away with it once or twice or three times. It will become obvious.

Always have a person read it, edit it, review it. It's really good for creating an outline. It can, for certain things, do a passable first draft.

It's great for research. Show me ideas. If you put in a list of 25 competitors, it can tell you what their recent blog posts, their articles, their press mentions were, assuming you give it the right instructions.

That could give you ideas for what you should be writing about or what you shouldn't be writing about. But have a human do the edit.

It is only going to give you that outline.

 

Matt Zaun

Yeah, that's a really good point. So to tie those two things together on your experience with journalism and you personally writing.

 

Joshua (Beltway)

It's not getting you that great, memorable final product. It's not producing something that you want your investors, your customers, your clients, your employees to see.

That's the big difference. So if you were sitting there like, well, everyone could get to hear with AI, I spent all this time doing it, you're going to do a lot better because of your practical experience of doing it than someone who simply put in an AI prompt and takes what it spits out.

 

Matt Zaun 

Do you think every leader should have some type of writing exercises that they do outside of their work so that they can continue to sharpen the skill set of writing?

And if so, what would some of those ideas be? Would you recommend journalism? Would you recommend taking a certain prompt and just having people write so they can think more critically as it pertains to writing?

What would be some of the ideas that you would give on someone that might not?

 

Joshua (Beltway)

Because that's what you really need. Communications is a function every business should have, but not everyone can have every skill.

We work with developers. I've done some coding. I am not a back-end developer. But I have some of the basic understandings of what they're doing.

That's how I think of it when it comes to leaders and writing.

 

Matt Zaun

Sure. That's a really good point. And also, you had mentioned people writing a paragraph at the end of their day.

I'm sure that would help them understand how to document their experiences, especially you had mentioned a designated person, and they could pass that on to that person as well.

 

Joshua (Beltway)

And it'll be fresh at that time of day when you're still within that day.

 

Matt Zaun 

Absolutely. Absolutely. So you mentioned the journalism piece, and then you had mentioned part of your experience at the Hill, and you had mentioned video.

What are some other things that you might have learned at the Hill when you were doing video for them?

For sure. Yeah, want to talk about that interviewing piece because I think that that is an incredibly important skill set that everyone can use.

They don't need to be a reporter, you know, making money being a reporter. They could be interviewing in their day-to-day, right?

I work with a lot of C-suite executives that they have one-on-one meetings with their senior leaders, and I always recommend, like, utilize good interview skills, right?

You want the other person to talk as much as possible. You want to get down to – you want to get to the bottom of certain things.

So I just want to speak a little bit about interviewing in general.

 

Joshua (Beltway)

What are some good practices regarding interviewing that anyone – well, pretty much everyone should just be aware of so that they can have those good conversations?

Most people aren't going to be doing what we're doing now, a recorded interview. Most people are not going to be doing a sit-down live news interview.

They're going to be doing those one-on-ones that you I'm going with a conversation. We interview people all the time.

We call it talking. It's a conversation. Dive into things that are important, that interest you. Make the other person comfortable.

All the things we learn by living about talking with other people. That's a really good place to start because, again, you're not trying to get a gotcha moment on live TV.

You're there to learn information. So how do you go about that, a conversation?

 

Matt Zaun

Sure. I love that perspective shift. Go from thinking of it from an interview to just simply talking. It's really good because I think sometimes we get in our own head, and I think that a lot of people are so calculated as it pertains to the conversation that they stiff arm creativity and curiosity, and all of that leads to much better conversation.

So I appreciate you mentioning that. I want to talk about the likability piece because I'm sure you've seen this with what you've done in the political world, what I've done in the political world, what you and I have both done in business.

Likeable people seem to – they're almost like magnets, right? People are endeared to them. People gravitate towards them. And even if someone isn't as competent as maybe they should be, but if they're incredibly likable, they're able to connect with people better.

So can you speak to the likability piece in your experience with all the interviews that you've done in your life as well as the clients that you've worked with?

Can you speak to the likability piece and maybe some things that people can do to be more likable?

 

Joshua (Beltway)

Be more likable, that's a big one. To talk just more about what I've seen in business with politics and leaders in those areas, they're relaxed.

That's a big thing is they're – And part of that comes from repetition. Most of the time, if you're a business leader, if you're a political leader, people aren't going to see you in that one-on-one.

They might see you in an all-hands meeting, but most of those are not people who you're having your one-on-ones with.

So if you're relaxed in that one-on-one, but they only see you really uncomfortable at an all-hands meeting, that's how most people are going to know you.

We don't know Tim Cook personally, most of us, but we see Apple keynotes all the time. That's how we know him, and he's up there.

He's personable. They're cracking jokes. Sometimes the slides don't work. They laugh about it. That makes them much more relatable because who hasn't had a keynote presentation or a PowerPoint presentation that glitched at some point?

We know that. that. you. That's the persona they know. So if you come off as authentic, hopefully it is really authentic, that makes it a lot easier for people to like you in those big situations.

 

Matt Zaun 

That is a really good point. And that's something every one of us could focus more on, on that relaxation piece.

But I do find it interesting. I just want to go back to something at the beginning of our conversation.

You had talked about a company contacting you three weeks before launch and then you having to come in with you and your team and try to figure out and navigate the communication terrain and what they need to do.

So there's a lot of stress that goes into that, right? So it doesn't really – it doesn't exude relaxation, right?

So I want you to talk to, especially in these high-stress environments, whether it's politics, whether it's business, what are maybe some strategies or some things that you would point to?

Like how do people relax when there's a lot on the line, you know, they need to get this right?

The last thing that they may be thinking about is relaxing.

 

Joshua (Beltway)

Don't think about relaxing. If you think about relaxing, that will just be more stressful. I tell people, I work in live news.

We can't stress over everything because it's live. We have to roll with it. We just have to keep going.

Relax, breathe. That one second in the three-week window that you have isn't going to make the huge difference. If you take a second to breathe, relax there, make a joke, whatever it is that eases things along.

And when we come in, if they see that we're stressed, they will be more stressed in those three weeks, which is why it's important for us to, whether or not we are relaxed, to look relaxed because that makes them more comfortable, which makes the whole process move a lot smoother.

 

Matt Zaun 

We're ready have have go. Yeah, no, I appreciate that. I guess easier said than done, right?

 

Joshua (Beltway)

know there's a lot of people listening to this that are probably thinking that.

 

Matt Zaun 

But I think a lot of our minds go to these moments where something happened and it really hurt a business or it hurt a political career.

You know, those moments where someone's being interviewed, they say something, the wrong thing at the worst time, and it was just a moment.

So how does someone wrap their brain around that to not – because it is a big deal, right? If something is said that shouldn't be said, like it could negatively impact a business.

So what are some things, like some actual – maybe it's an exercise, maybe it's mindfulness, maybe – I guess it's different things for different people.

But when – how about I'll speak to you, Joshua. When you go into – let's say you go into a boardroom, there's a tremendous amount.

 

Joshua (Beltway)

The first thing I remember is in almost every situation, it is not as bad as everyone thinks it is.

In almost every situation, no one's life or health is on the line. we're dealing with numbers, spreadsheets, people. It matters.

But we are not trauma surgeons. We are not in the ER. We can take that second and think to breathe with our team, and no one is going to suddenly die on us like if we were ER doctors.

That's good to know. Think about that, breathe, and then start talking. Because that gives you a second.

 

Matt Zaun 

And almost none of them actually happen. And if they do happen, it's not near as bad as we were thinking.

So I think what you said is really important. We do need to breathe. We do need to recognize this isn't brain surgery.

Someone's life isn't on the line. And also to your point about you had mentioned someone on an interview and they might say something earlier.

I think that's important too that to give yourself a little bit of grace because sometimes we overinflate it in our mind.

And that leads to more nervousness. And when that happens, that's when we get into trouble. That's when we're so concerned about what we're going to say that we're doing ourselves the exact opposite of what we want, which is to try to relax and to be able to connect.

So I appreciate what you mentioned about that research piece. It also speaks to like we don't know everything. And that's okay, right?

If we have the ability to go find the answer or do the research. It's true. Find someone that knows.

I think that's important to not answer if we don't know what we're talking about. So I really appreciate you even mentioning, like, hey, I'll find the answer for sure.

So, Joshua, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for this conversation. I got a bunch out of it.

The three things that I'm going to have as clear takeaways that I want people to recognize is one of the first things that you said is you said people need to refresh.

How they view communication. Typically, we see this in a support role when this is actually a core function of business.

I'm constantly telling everyone I work with, all of my clients, like, you have to focus on the communication piece, not only externally, but also internally.

It's absolutely very, very important and core function, like you mentioned. I really also like you mentioned to designate a person for documentation.

I cannot even tell you how many companies I've worked with that they have great ideas. Ideas. They have great thoughts regarding different campaigns for whether it's a product or service or whatever the case may be, but they didn't properly document.

I think it's so important to designate a particular person. You can even call them the documentation ambassador, right? Someone that is actually taking those notes.

And you talked about that. You said there are two different businesses that you see. They don't do it enough or they over document and both of them can get us in trouble.

And then the third and final piece that I don't want people to miss is you mentioned different ways people experience us, right?

You said read, see, hear. That's all part of this experience that they have with a particular brand. And I don't want people to miss that reading piece.

And you talked about in the writing, getting different messages out in the world, why it's so important for people to, as an exercise, write.

It really, it beasts up those critical thinking skills. So, again, And I really appreciate everything that you mentioned, Joshua.

If someone wants to get more information on you, what you do, they want to reach out to you for your services, where's the best place they can go to get that information?

 

Joshua (Beltway)

You can check out our website, beltway.mediano.com. You could also email me, jaltman, at beltway.media, again, no.com. And you can find me on LinkedIn, linkedin.com slash in slash Joshua I.

 

Matt Zaun 

Altman. Perfect. I'll include all that in the show notes. So people could just click and go from there. Thanks again, Joshua.

Really appreciate your time today.

 

Joshua (Beltway)

Thank you for having me.