Certain patterns emerged that reflect the FINESSE Fishbone Diagram®: Frame, Illustrate, Noise Reduction, Empathy, Structure, Synergy, and Ethics.

When I frame uncertainty well, I’m not just saying “we don’t know”—I show what we know, what’s likely, and what to watch.

For my money, the top question is whether you trust executive leadership.

FINESSE is grounded in systems thinking and cause-and-effect relationships. Ethics is one of the seven bones and represents the tail fin.

A well-prepared communicator demonstrates competence naturally through clarity, relevance, and precision.

Extra breadth especially matters when you do not know the audience well or suspect hidden agendas.

Where most advisors lose the "trust" in "trusted advisor" is when they mix the roles of “advisor” with “decision maker.”

The most important aspect is understanding your ethical framework as you make decisions and communicate to others as a trusted advisor.

The time to develop a default ethical framework is before the action occurs. Spend some time studying ethics. More importantly, watch the...

Ethics are the way we make decisions. That’s why it is important to recognize the ethical standards of professionals do matter. As...

Does your senior manager wish you to bring them the facts to make a good decision? To do so, you must learn to be a good fact-checker....

Effective communication requires treating others the way you wish to be treated. Trusted Advisors Your duty is to provide all of the...

Fortune gets it right! In its annual publication of Fortune 500 companies, Fortune correctly used two-dimensional shapes (circles) to...

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" is attributed to Rudyard Kipling, although there is some debate over who...