Radical Communication: Transforming Connections in a Noisy World

Authors: Rakhee Verma (Tigris Consulting & Mediation) and Peggy Wynne Borgman (Ash Canyon Press)

As communicators, we are bracing for even greater levels of noise in 2025: faster and increased volumes of messaging, fiercer competition, heightened complexity, and diminishing truth. This trend has been evident since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Yet, many organisations continue to communicate as they did a decade ago.

If you have not radically adapted your approach to focus with laser-sharp precision on forging meaningful connections, you may already be losing ground to competitors. Whether due to reluctance or uncertainty about how to progress, your communication efforts need greater focus, intentionality, and planning to deliver better results.

So, what is radical communication?

Radical communication is a concept we have developed to challenge traditional norms. It champions bold, human-centric approaches that embrace innovation, simplicity, and resilience against misinformation.

How do you build a communication strategy and infrastructure that is radical, and yet guards your brand reputation?

1. Radical Simplicity

Radical simplicity involves distilling your messages to their clearest and most impactful form. While many stakeholders gravitate towards complexity and technical jargon, worried that their audience needs all the details, you do the opposite. You strip away the non-essentials,  creating clarity that resonates.

Simplicity demands that we:

• Strip back: Focus solely on stakeholders’ true needs and expectations to avoid overwhelming them with extraneous details.

• Reframe language: Translate complex terminology into fresh, simple, accessible language that validates and clarifies stakeholder concerns. 

• Forge clear paths: Use radical simplicity to eliminate confusion, reduce conflict, and maintain market relevance. Think short, powerful explainers. 

• Prioritise core messages: What truly matters? Are we saying the same thing in more than one way? Consolidate. 

• Move to action: Through use of simplistic language, you can avoid endless discussion loops and move more swiftly to actionable steps, measurable results, and clear deadlines.

2. Radical Creativity

Radical creativity means breaking free from convention and crafting messages that captivate and inspire. It’s about finding new ways to stand out in saturated spaces.

Here’s how to ignite creativity:

• Experiment with new processes and methods: Explore fresh creative collaborations, brainstorming techniques, or unconventional mediums. 

• Tell unique stories: Identify narratives no one else is addressing, and present them in innovative ways. Resist the temptation to follow industry trends blindly. Don’t be afraid of a vivid metaphor or simile if it concisely communicates an idea.

• Take calculated risks: Stay true to your brand values while daring to experiment with new formats, visuals, or tones.

• Reject hierarchies and status: focus on unassailable value and key outcomes, regardless of who gets the credit.

3. Radical Honesty

In an era of scepticism, trust is fragile. Radical honesty is not about oversharing but about being ethical, transparent, and delivering on your promises.

Key principles of radical honesty include:

• Own mistakes and uncertainty: Acknowledging errors or admitting that we don’t have all the answers fosters respect and loyalty among stakeholders.

• Set clear expectations: Avoid overpromising or sugarcoating realities. Truth builds credibility.

• Speak with heart: Genuine, empathetic communication resonates, even when delivering difficult messages.

4. Radical Listening

There is no great communication without radical listening. Radical listening demands presence, attentiveness, and respect. 

• Engage regularly with your stakeholders: Talk to your clients, partners, and collaborators consistently. Whether through focus groups, webinars, workshops, social media, or client account reviews—each method provides the most valuable asset any organisation has: insights.

• Be radical in your dissection of target demographics: Each key audience demands you understand their unique needs in a nuanced way. Geography, class, and ethnic background are no longer the neat boxes they used to be. 

• Apply the '7 Habits' principle*, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Radical listening requires that you be open to hearing things you don’t want to hear, without defensiveness or reactive problem-solving. Radical listening requires that you are open to having your mind changed. 

5. Radical Adaptability

Communication is dynamic. Radical adaptability ensures you evolve alongside your audience, context, and platforms.

The biggest marketing and communication killer is not embracing change and being prepared to pivot based on feedback, trends, and new challenges. Identify what these are ahead of time and factor them into your strategy, so you’re not playing catch up. 

Don’t confuse adaptability with reactivity. There is enough time to make the right choices and decisions. 

6. Radical Strategy

Every aspect of your communication needs a clear and cohesive strategy. Your starting point should always be your organisation’s overarching strategy. If that is not well-defined, all skilled Communication Directors will:

• Seek clarity: Engage with leadership to ensure a thorough understanding of organisational goals, priorities, and values. Without a clear strategic framework, communication efforts risk becoming fragmented and ineffective.

• Define success: Set measurable outcomes for your communication initiatives. Whether it’s increased engagement, improved brand perception, or tangible business growth, be clear about what success looks like. If it’s an ambitious goal, set success benchmarks to keep everyone engaged on the journey.

• Match your investment to your expectations: Don’t expect to become the next Apple with no budget, or expect social media alone to deliver sustainable long-term revenue. 

• Build flexibility into the plan: In a rapidly changing world, a rigid strategy can falter. Incorporate checkpoints to review and adapt your approach based on results and external factors.

• Foster cross-functional collaboration: Radical strategy is not created in silos. Work with other departments—sales, marketing, HR, operations—to ensure consistent messaging and a united voice.

• Reward openness. Don’t shoot the messenger! Radical communication is based on truth-telling. Reduce the inherent social risk of speaking up by demonstrating gratitude for truth-telling. Directly address your organisation's culture barriers, particularly in leadership. 

A radical communication strategy is one that is intentional, proactive, and deeply connected to your organisation’s mission. It enables you to not only cut through the noise but to make a lasting impact where it matters most.

The Radical Edge

Radical communication is not about extremism; it is about intention, innovation, and creating meaningful connections. By embracing the principles above you can break through the noise to truly be heard.

In a world where everyone is talking, radical communication ensures your voice stands out. How will you communicate differently today? Let’s begin the conversation.

*The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R Covey

Radical communication is an approach mastered by Rakhee Verma (Tigris Consulting and Mediation) and Peggy Wynne Borgman (Ash Canyon Press). To discuss your communication needs in 2025, email rakhee@tigrismanagement.com or pwbcreative@gmail.com

Peggy Wynne Borgman is a communication specialist and graphic facilitator who leads strategic vision sessions with companies and teams. A lifelong entrepreneur, Peggy was a pioneer in the wellness sector, where she trained management and leadership professionals for the international hospitality industry, including Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Shangri-La Hotels and Langham Hotels International. 

She later served as a mentor to start-up companies for a non-profit business incubator, advising ventures in ag-tech, fin-tech, retail, and NGO sectors on communication strategy. She draws on a deep business background, as well decades of creative services expertise to help clients make connections, expand on ideas, and identify new opportunities.

Graphic facilitation is her favourite method for group ideation and co-creation, utilising her skill in visual art and storytelling. It ensures that participants' contributions are heard, recorded, and integrated in real time, getting participants on the same page and moving forward together. 

She is the co-founder and creative director of Ash Canyon Press, an independent publishing company that enables busy professionals to tell their stories, write their books and change the world. 

Connect with Peggy on LinkedIn. Click here. 

​Rakhee Verma is a seasoned leader in sales, business development, marketing, and strategic communication, with over 15 years of leadership experience across the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors—including within PwC and the United Nations

Rakhee has cultivated and managed high-value strategic relationships with FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies and is frequently engaged for interim board-level assignments, where she leads transformative turnaround strategies and drives sustainable growth.

She is also a trusted business mentor and leadership coach, supporting senior executives to unlock their potential and navigate complexity with clarity and confidence.

An accredited mediator through CEDR, Rakhee brings a wealth of expertise in conflict resolution and negotiation. She has successfully coached leaders to enhance their communication, resolve challenges, and strengthen team cohesion.

Proficient in multiple languages and deeply attuned to diverse cultural contexts, Rakhee brings a truly global mindset and inclusive leadership style to every engagement.

Her culturally intelligent approach fosters authentic connection, drives strategic alignment, and delivers lasting impact across borders and sectors​.

Connect with Rakhee on LinkedIn. Click here.