What do corporate leaders actually do all day? Ask them and they will talk about strategies, visions, and missions. Press a little harder, and you will likely encounter a strained silence as they contemplate what they really do. The heart of leadership is not the esoteric world of strategizing but something more mundane and, as a result, largely ignored by educators, commentators, and, indeed, leaders. What leaders really do is communicate. But even though they spend most of their time communicating with people inside and outside the organization, leaders are rarely trained in the nuances of communication.

What must executives understand about communication to make it work for them? What marks out the best communicators from the executive crowd? Having worked with many leaders - from CEOs to B-school deans - over the past decade, we have discovered that the most effective communicators master eight disciplines of leadership communication.