Thursday, October 15, 2026
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Mike Klein, Editor-in-Chief:
This month’s Communication Leadership Summit in Brussels delivered something I’ve been working toward for years: an event that focused on making communication leaders own the potential impact our roles can create, and raising our confidence to seize the opportunities for magnifying it.
The unconference format—where participants shape the agenda collaboratively rather than endure predetermined presentations—was intended to start that process by having the participants live it, by leading, participating, challenging and connecting with each other.
This event was a dream for me. About eight years ago when we were talking with my fellow IABC EMENA board members about what the future shape of our conference would be—do we have an open space unconference or do we do lots of presentations and lectures—it took seven years since we did the first one, a partial unconference, but we finally won that battle and went all-in. And judging by the feedback we’ve received from other participants, it delivered on its intent.
It was a big win for the Unconference.
The Summit included 15 participant-led sessions. Here’s what hit hardest:
Ageism cuts both ways. Older professionals dismissed as “not tech-savvy” or “expensive.” Younger colleagues written off as “inexperienced” or “job-hoppers.” We need cross-generational mentoring and hiring processes that don’t use age-coded language like “digital native” or “seasoned veteran.”
Frontline workers remain unreached. Traditional cascade communication keeps failing, yet organizations keep relying on one-way announcements. The answer: replace messages with conversations, train middle managers to facilitate dialogue, and leverage peer networks among frontline staff.
We can’t speak the language of business. Too many of us still can’t connect our work to “the numbers”: revenue, strategy, or ROI. It’s not just about measurement—it’s about fluency in financial literacy and strategic planning. We need business learning embedded from day one and cross-functional rotations with finance and operations teams.
CEOs still see us as service providers. Getting respect from leadership means starting honest conversations through anonymous surveys, using third-party validation when internal voices aren’t heard, and volunteering for high-visibility assignments where communication proves strategic value.
The media landscape has fragmented beyond recognition. “Mainstream” means different things to different audiences. Traditional outlets no longer dominate, and what counts as credible varies by demographic and geography. We need to build owned media capabilities while maintaining journalist relationships across increasingly scattered channels.
AI raises questions we’re not ready to answer. Senior leaders aren’t prepared for AI strategy conversations. How do we protect sensitive data? How do we ensure junior colleagues build core skills instead of over-relying on AI? Who’s shaping how these tools get used in ways that consider human impact?
For me, the most compelling session tackled the central challenge facing communicators today: the gap between what organizations say and what they actually do.
But rather than treating this as a problem to be solved with better messaging, participants acknowledged a harder truth—these gaps are inherent to organizational life.
“We’re seeing a lot of overselling or over-promising that we ourselves know is not going to be achieved,” one industry association representative noted. “When one company fails to deliver, everybody blames the whole industry.”
The discussion moved beyond complaint to pragmatic analysis. Every commercial organization has a fundamental gap between input costs and selling prices. Everything done to justify that premium exists within that gap. The real question isn’t whether gaps exist, but whether they’re defensible and coherent, and how we can minimize them to the maximum extent possible.
The conversation turned toward actionable approaches: conducting regular audits comparing promises with delivery, positioning communication as truth-tellers who challenge leaders when messaging outpaces capabilities, and getting involved in operational decisions that affect credibility. One insight particularly resonated: we need to lead with actions in communication, shifting messaging away from lofty vision statements toward tangible evidence.
The conversations about AI reflected higher ambition than what we normally see in our profession’s social media chatter. Said one participant: “We as comms folks need to lead the conversation about AI and we need to take the initiative on this.”
The discussions addressed questions organizations are grappling with: How do we protect sensitive data? How do we ensure junior colleagues still build core skills instead of leaning too heavily on AI? Where is human judgment non-negotiable?
Participants discussed the need for AI governance protocols, clear boundaries about when AI is appropriate versus when human expertise is essential, and pause-and-reflect mechanisms that require human review at key decision points. The emphasis was on designing AI as an enhancement that supports human creativity rather than a replacement for it.
The group recognized that while AI accelerates certain tasks, human creativity remains central. As communication professionals lead AI transformation in their organizations, they need to map and articulate their unique human value: relationship-building, strategic thinking, and the judgment that drives trust.
A powerful theme emerged around communicators’ failure to communicate their own value. “We have to communicate about what we’re doing better. We are awful,” one participant admitted.
The argument crystallized around our role in ensuring that our organizations have a societal license to operate: “Without communications, businesses have no societal right to operate. That’s what we build, and that’s what we bring. So why aren’t we telling people?”
This connected to discussions about demonstrating value beyond profitability—moving past vanity metrics to show measurable impact on organizational health, trust, and stakeholder relationships. Participants discussed establishing meaningful baseline measurements and linking communication directly to organizational outcomes like employee retention or stakeholder advocacy.
The session on executive communication surfaced frustration with leaders who default to command-and-control messaging instead of creating genuine understanding. Leaders struggle to translate strategy into language that resonates, leaving employees unclear about priorities and actions.
The emphasis was on coaching leaders to explain what changes mean for individuals and teams, removing ambiguity from messages, and positioning leaders as path-lighters who communicate direction and context rather than trying to have all the answers.
Regional connections flourished throughout the day. Communicators from the southern Netherlands and Flanders recognized they’d been working in isolation and committed to collaborate. A Switzerland-based professional noted the isolation they’d felt in their market.
The overall diversity made the event particularly rich, with trade associations, corporations, NGOs, and agencies represented. First-time attendees particularly appreciated the format. One professional who hadn’t attended this type of event in a decade noted: “It was amazing for me to walk in here and not know anyone and meet you all.”
The summit prompted reflection on how communicators talk about the profession publicly.
IABC-UK and Ireland past president Eduvie Martin made a powerful call: “Can we all make a commitment that as we leave, we’re not going to talk about these ‘seat at the table’ conversations, which we can have in our own private quarters? We need to be those people up on LinkedIn telling people how awesome it is to be a comms professional.”
This resonated particularly with younger professionals entering the field who read industry discourse and think: “Have I made a mistake? Why is everybody moaning?”
Before we closed, I asked people for honest feedback: if this felt like “the same damn conversations we’re always having,” I needed to know.
One long-time professional offered an important observation: “Almost every single session at some point landed close to ‘seat at the table’ and ‘why do people love us less than we deserve.’ But having this kind of discussion for more than 15 years now—there is far less pain in this discussion, there’s far more self-esteem, there are very concrete answers. It feels like a definitely different time for this discussion.”
At the closing, I asked how many felt more confident about who we are, what we do, and what we need to do going forward. Virtually every hand in the room went up.
That’s when I knew this event did its job.
We’re bringing this back to Brussels next spring. The event, run in partnership with IABC EMENA, was generously sponsored by Speakap, BBN Agency X, and Corporate Diplomat, and I particularly want to thank Ruxandra-Laura Bosilca (IABC EMENA) and Natasha Plowman for creating a brilliantly delivered Unconference.
As participants headed to continue conversations over some excellent Belgian beer, it was clear we’d achieved something valuable: creating space where communication professionals could be honest about challenges, celebrate creativity, and build confidence in our collective capability to navigate an evolving landscape.
#WeLeadComms.
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