The Skills & Mindset Needed To Grow In Communications

Host Tan Sukhera sits down with Keith Berman—an internal and executive communications professional whose career spans 20-person startups to Fortune 10 businesses—to explore the skills and mindset shifts that separate those who grow in communications from those who stagnate. Keith introduces the central nervous system analogy: communications doesn't just send messages from the brain (executive team) to the body (organization), it must be bidirectional, carrying signals back to leadership when something burns. His undergraduate psychology degree has been his superpower, understanding that people take action based on emotional response rather than logic, and creating the emotional connections that drive desired action. Keith describes going directly to CFOs asking them to teach him about EBITDA and business fundamentals, showing curiosity that builds strategic credibility and prevents proposing initiatives that would destroy revenue streams. He warns that AI, while useful for grunt work, averages everything to the middle and produces content that doesn't stand out—but more dangerously, it's removing the lower rungs of the career ladder where people learn why certain communications work, destroying the pathway from entry-level to manager. For communications professionals seeking growth, the message is clear: move beyond being the mechanism that sends emails, develop business acumen deliberately, leverage psychology to understand human behavior, think strategically rather than tactically, and maintain the human elements of creativity and emotion that AI cannot replicate.