How communicators can become more than mere messengers

Communicators are often viewed as expendable, interchangeable or eminently replaceable.

That’s a harsh reality, but it’s not your fault. Communication investment will simply never be as easy to defend as, say, the accounting budget. You’ll always have an uphill battle to earn your spot at the decision-making table—especially if you have a leader who doesn’t inherently “get” communications or understand its value.

So, what’s a communicator to do? How can you become more than a replaceable cog?

Outside of banishing boring copy, bland announcements, boilerplate emails and meaningless metrics, the secret lies in your ability to create—and maintain—genuine, emotional connections with colleagues and clients alike.

As Henri Ducard puts it to Bruce Wayne in “Batman Begins:”

Henri Ducard: But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can’t stop you, then you become something else entirely.

Bruce Wayne: Which is?

Henri Ducard: Legend, Mr. Wayne.