⏱️ Chapters
00:00 In person in Toronto (finally)
04:54 Workshop's 73% email benchmark
11:44 The $450K CCO and the C-suite power grab
16:15 Culture Amp's 40-point leadership gap
21:30 Are headphones rude at work?
28:10 What we're freaking out about
📧 The email benchmark that argues with your habits
Workshop's 2026 report (186M emails, 580 companies) puts the median internal open rate at 73%. The headline isn't the number, it's what cuts against instinct: small targeted sends beat mass blasts, plain text beats image-heavy email on click-through (even though 97% of emails still include an image), and SMS clicks run nearly 3x higher than email. So who are we really designing these emails for?
💼 The CCO's seat at the table got expensive
A Wall Street Journal piece tracks the rapid rise of the Chief Communications Officer, now reporting directly to the CEO in nearly half of organizations, with base pay climbing past $450K. The catch: workload satisfaction is cratering, and the role increasingly absorbs reputational risk that used to belong to the whole leadership team. Is "chief truth teller" a promotion or a liability?
📊 Leaders think work is great. Their teams don't.
Culture Amp analyzed 1.7 million employees and found a 40-point sentiment gap between the C-suite and individual contributors. The bigger takeaway: one leader's quality ripples through performance, attrition, and trust at every level below them. Cause or correlation?
🎧 The headphones debate
Coworkers judge each other for wearing headphones at work, not based on what's actually playing, but on the story they invent about your intent. Jenni and Chuck do not agree on this one, and it turns into the most spirited (occasionally competitive) stretch of the episode.
🔗 Links
Chuck's work and ICology membership: https://www.joinicology.com/
Work with Jenni on leadership credibility and internal comms: https://thejennifield.com/
📰 Articles mentioned
The Internal Email Benchmark Is Now 73%
Workshop — 2026 Internal Communication Benchmarks & Best Practices
https://useworkshop.com/blog/internal-communications-benchmarks-2026/
Comms Chiefs Stormed the C-Suite. Now They're Overwhelmed.
The Wall Street Journal — The Revenge of the Publicists
https://www.wsj.com/cmo-today/the-revenge-of-the-publicists-how-comms-execs-stormed-the-c-suite-28bc8cb3
Leaders Think Work Is Great. Their Employees Disagree by 40 Points.
Culture Amp — The Leadership Advantage
https://www.cultureamp.com/resources/reports/leadership-report-2025
Your Headphones Are Sending a Message You Didn't Write
Harvard Business Review — What Message Are Your Headphones Sending Your Coworkers?
https://hbr.org/2026/05/research-what-message-are-your-headphones-sending-your-coworkers
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