49 Q UA RT E R _ 0 2 _ 2 0 2 6 Set the tone early with your team regarding how you want them to engage stakeholders. Take a balcony view to connect the dots between your leadership bench and the full spec trum of internal and external stakeholders you want to engage. We find the best CEOs take a system atic approach, enrolling (and reenrolling) the top team, scaling the reach of their message through ambassadors, and serving as both teachers and students of the craft of storytelling. Enroll (and Reenroll) Your Top Team The best CEOs can gain leverage through their top teams to activate stakeholder communications with greater speed, reach, and potential impact. Proactively create space to bring communication and engagement to the forefront of your top team’s mind. For example, at a two-day strategy off-site, a new CEO hosted a session entirely dedicated to nar rative development. As a group, the top team refined their collective organizational narrative, resetting their vision and strategy for the future. Each team member then developed a personal narrative. They presented these narratives to one another, provided feedback, and ultimately built shared understand ing and teamwide unity. Following the session, the top team kept communications and stakeholder engagement on the recurring agenda. Another CEO added rigor to their approach by developing an executive dashboard that tracks both quantitative and qualitative KPIs to measure each leader’s internal and external stakeholder engage ment, such as share of voice, customer or employee feedback, town halls hosted, customer sessions attended, and participation on panels. These exer cises demonstrate how leading CEOs treat the “soft stuff”—areas such as culture, talent, and communications— with the same level of rigor as the “hard stuff.” Reach Further into the Organiza tion and Identify ‘Ambassadors’ Deepen your bench of storytellers even further by identifying “ambas sadors” who can authentically project and cascade key messages through out your organization. Ambassadors can be found at all levels of the company but are typically rising or next-generation leaders embedded at the second or third level of the organization who share three characteristics. First, they are unifiers who can bring together disparate viewpoints and mobilize a team around a shared vision. Second, they have a deep following across the organization among both people who report to them and those who don’t. And third, they’re the people who lead ers call on to help solve the toughest issues. - - - - - - - - - An online version, with examples, exercises, and a checklist, is available on McKinsey.com Actively Teach and Continually Learn the Craft of Storytelling The best CEOs don’t just tell stories; they teach others how to tell them, too. They recognize the importance of proprietary language and themes in building shared understanding and convic tion. These soft skills are critical differentiators in today’s AI-powered world. As Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, puts it: “I have a BA in English litera ture, a minor in computer science, a JD, and an MBA. As CEO of Cloudflare, a fairly technical company, the most important has always been that English literature degree. To be able to write and communi cate effectively, easily, and quickly is the job.” Chief human resources officers also cite soft skills as the most important area for future leaders to develop. By role modeling and actively teaching the craft of communication and stakeholder engagement, CEOs can unlock latent potential in their teams and build sustained capacity. This method enables CEOs to deepen their bench and accelerate the growth of next-generation leaders. Over time, this creates a virtuous cycle of individual and institutional devel opment, creating a “leadership factory” filled with outstanding individuals who continually renew the institution and sustain impact across cycles. One CEO recognized that he needed to give his team exposure to stakeholders they wouldn’t otherwise meet, so he brought a designated “copilot” to the sessions he led. For example, his CFO would join him for relevant media interviews, and his chief administrative officer (often a functional role) would join him for customer sessions. Soon, this practice cascaded down and across the orga nization as the CEO’s direct reports began bringing copilots (often pre viously identified ambassadors) to sessions they were leading. It allowed them to apprentice future leaders in - - - - - - -