Donna Morea, president of CGI Group Inc.’s U.S., Europe and Asia business was kind enough to share her thoughts with me on how effective, personal communication by a CEO can make the difference between a successful merger and acquisition and a failed one. You’ll find Ms. Morea’s insights in the latest edition of my column in the Washington Business Journal, Speaking to Rise. (The full text may be locked for a week or two.)

Here’s a sample of what she had to say: “I think it’s mandatory that employees, clients and others hear the voices and see the faces of the executives involved. Interaction with our leadership team gives them the chance not only to hear the message, but to get a true sense of who our executives are and that we mean what we say.”

Almost every analyst agrees that a leader, in business or elsewhere, must inspire trust. But not too many folks go on to answer the next question: how can leaders create trustworthiness?

Roderick Kramer, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford’s Business School, does just that in a recent post to the Harvard Business School’s leadership blog, reviewing recent research on the topic.

First, he says, leaders need to credibly communicate that they are genuinely and diligently working for “the well-being and security of their constituents.” Sound obvious, but Kramer quickly adds that good intentions aren’t enough.

The second thing leaders must do is convince people that they are competent. We need to know leaders share our intentions, and they can deliver on them.

Third, leaders must be transparent to earn our trust. That is, “we expect leaders to be transparent about the procedures they use when reaching major decisions, and we expect them to be equally honest and forthcoming about the consequences of those decisions.”

Fourth, and perhaps most surprising, Kramer says  we expect “our leaders to be appropriately vigilant.” Former Intel CEO Andrew Grove liked to say, “Only the paranoid survive, ” because he knew that complacency and inattentiveness could be fatal.

Finally, Kramer says it’s a good thing that trust is fragile – hard to create and easy to lose. Leaders should have to work hard to get it and keep it.

The latest edition of my column in the Washington Business Journal, Speaking to Rise, focuses on the role of speeches and presentations by senior executives in the government contracting business. I interviewed Tim Dowd, the CEO of Input, which helps companies develop business with federal, state and local governments; and Kevin Parker, CEO of Deltek Inc., which provides enterprise software for project-driven businesses, including many of the nation’s largest government contractors.

Interesting observations, including:

“I can say things at staff meetings, but the organization tends to react more to things I say publicly than internally,” Dowd said. “The message often has more power when people hear me say it at a public event or see it in the press.”

Parker revealed that he’s not “a deep technical guy.”  “But one of the skills I do have”, he explained, “is the ability to take something very complex and distill it down. I can explain it in a way that will resonate with a large group of people so a complex idea becomes a compelling idea.”

The Washington Post’s “On Leadership” blog recently ran an interesting guest post from Roger Nierenberg, a conductor of word-class professional orchestras. He argues that “what helps on the podium can help in the corner office.”

That seems especially true when it comes to leading a skilled workforce. As Nierenberg says, “The musicians long for a leader as skilled in his craft of conducting as they are in their craft of instrument-playing.”

Nierenberg’s advice: “Translate your agenda into directions that can easily be understood and executed.” He notes that devising the right goals is no guarantee they will be achieved. “Only your workforce can accomplish that, and the leader and the worker will have vastly different understandings of the vision.”  The leader is focused on strategic needs, what the organization as a whole requires. But, like a skilled musician, the worker’s view is shaped by “the chair he occupies.”

The solution: “[T]he leader needs to translate the vision so that it makes sense from every chair. The workforce cannot act effectively until the leader expresses directions and assignments in the language they understand.”

Communitelligence’s John Gerstner was nice enough to interview me on BlogTalkRadio about the state of corporate communications, speechwriting v. screenwriting, and other topics. It’s part of the lead- up to Communitelligence’s conference, RETHINKING CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS: Delivering More Value in a Tough Economy,” Washington, DC, September 30 – October 1, 2009. I’m chairing a panel on How Corporate Communicators Must Change.

Listen in, and send me your thoughts and comments.