Unlearn The Habits That Hold Communications Leaders Back

In this episode of The Piar Podcast, host Tan Sukhera sits down with Torod Neptune, a former CCO with more than 25 years of executive experience across Medtronic, Lenovo, Verizon, Bank of America, and major global agencies, who now teaches communications management and strategic leadership at UNC Hussman. The conversation opens with a question that sets the tone for the entire episode: communicators used to see themselves as the conscience of their organizations, so what happened? Torod traces the tension between pragmatism and purpose, acknowledging that the instinct to avoid controversy makes strategic sense but carries a real consequence for the long-term sustainability of the CCO's seat in leadership circles. He describes what it actually looks like when a communications leader moves beyond the press release department, framing the signal as the acceptance of a sharp, pointy, different perspective on business issues, even when that perspective wasn't invited. On the topic of decision-making under pressure, Torod walks through a scenario where every data point recommended silence, but judgment called for transparency, humility, and trust in stakeholders, a move that paid off precisely because it aligned with the organization's stated purpose rather than its data-driven instinct. He is candid about the role of hunches in communications, explaining that decades of experience produce instincts that are often sharp but can also close leaders off to alternative thinking, creating conditions where latent beliefs go unchallenged and bad decisions wind up on the front page. On team composition, he pushes back on the comfort hire, arguing that if communicators want to serve as agitators inside their organizations, they need to hire agitators too, even when that makes meetings harder. The conversation closes on the future of the profession, where Torod delivers a pointed assessment: AI has eliminated the entry-level competency layer that used to take three to five years to build, and that layer represents roughly 85 percent of what communications programs still teach. What remains once you strip that away is strategic thinking, critical reasoning, business acumen, and the ability to turn complexity into compelling strategic ideas. The 2020 syllabus, he argues, is training people for something that will not exist.