Strategy, Story & Stakeholders
May 31, 2026 · 44 min · 11 segments
Traditional corporate fluff doesn’t fly in high-performance, high-stakes environments. In this episode of Strategy, Story & Stakeholders, host Max Forsyth sits down with Caroline Vasquez, Chief…
Caroline VazquezGuest
Max ForsythHost
Um, so in my work at Comsearch, I spend a lot of time talking to CEOs about what I call the credibility gap.
So at a private, highly technical firm like DRW, how do you personally partner with the leadership team to build that credibility with stakeholders without necessarily seeking the public limelight?
I mean, I think there's a, I think there's a couple of things at play there.
One, communications comes in service of credibility, but it doesn't give you credibility in my mind, right? So credibility to me is about doing what you say you're going to do, um, and whether that's what you've told employees you're gonna do, whether that's what you've told your investors you're gonna do, whether that's what you've told clients, counterparties, customers you're gonna deliver.
Um, so what I really push on in meetings where we're talking strategy or big messaging is how are we going to make sure we're delivering against what we say? Before we go out the first time and talk about a plan, do we understand the steps we're gonna take, the milestones we have to hit to be successful there? Um, and I think that's the role really of communications, and it happens earlier than a lot of us I think are brought into the conversation.
I think that's one of the things that this function has been really working hard and I think has made some good progress at, which is getting the seat at the table that means as the strategy is being debated, you have the marketing and communications person there saying, "Okay, great.
If that's your end goal, what are we ready to start talking about today? What are the proof points we're gonna be ready to show the market or our employees six months from now so that they can see we've done what we're going to say we do?" I mean, that was one of the best lessons I think my parents gave to me, which was your word has to be impeccable.
Um, if you are out doing a lot of talking and not delivering against the actions, I think that's actually where the credibility falls down.
What, what is it we wanna do, and then what are the things we're gonna talk about that demonstrate our progress towards that objective?
And have you found that you've had that, you know, that you've been given that credibility from day one or, or is that something that you've had to work on within organizations?
But, you know, I've joined multiple organizations that I would say were more in the evolving state of being more public facing.
What, what was different, what was better because we were in the room? And part of that is that you have to also spend the time being really curious about the actual business.
Because if you're not able to marry those two things, if you don't understand how the tactics in your communications toolkit or your, you know, marketing, um, set of strategies are actually driving business results and you can't talk to the rest of the C-suite about how those marry, that is I think where we then get pigeonholed into that's a communications thing.
Just like you need your CFO to understand why the numbers matter in support of the strategy and where you're investing in your business growth, I think that, you know, it's this two-way street, and comms just has to go first, of having the acumen to understand the business, and then the business inviting the communications team to participate in those conversations, not just as recipients of, "Let me give you the strategy and now you take it and execute it," but also what do you know, what has your experience shown you that we can learn from as we're preparing this so that it is as powerful as possible as we take it out to the various stakeholders? Um, and I'd be curious, I mean, I think from my seat, that's something that I see more and more companies doing as I talk to my peers.
Um, so in my work at Comsearch, I spend a lot of time talking to CEOs about what I call the credibility gap.
So at a private, highly technical firm like DRW, how do you personally partner with the leadership team to build that credibility with stakeholders without necessarily seeking the public limelight?
I mean, I think there's a, I think there's a couple of things at play there.
One, communications comes in service of credibility, but it doesn't give you credibility in my mind, right? So credibility to me is about doing what you say you're going to do, um, and whether that's what you've told employees you're gonna do, whether that's what you've told your investors you're gonna do, whether that's what you've told clients, counterparties, customers you're gonna deliver.
Um, so what I really push on in meetings where we're talking strategy or big messaging is how are we going to make sure we're delivering against what we say? Before we go out the first time and talk about a plan, do we understand the steps we're gonna take, the milestones we have to hit to be successful there? Um, and I think that's the role really of communications, and it happens earlier than a lot of us I think are brought into the conversation.
I think that's one of the things that this function has been really working hard and I think has made some good progress at, which is getting the seat at the table that means as the strategy is being debated, you have the marketing and communications person there saying, "Okay, great.
If that's your end goal, what are we ready to start talking about today? What are the proof points we're gonna be ready to show the market or our employees six months from now so that they can see we've done what we're going to say we do?" I mean, that was one of the best lessons I think my parents gave to me, which was your word has to be impeccable.
Um, if you are out doing a lot of talking and not delivering against the actions, I think that's actually where the credibility falls down.
What, what is it we wanna do, and then what are the things we're gonna talk about that demonstrate our progress towards that objective?
And have you found that you've had that, you know, that you've been given that credibility from day one or, or is that something that you've had to work on within organizations?
But, you know, I've joined multiple organizations that I would say were more in the evolving state of being more public facing.
What, what was different, what was better because we were in the room? And part of that is that you have to also spend the time being really curious about the actual business.
Because if you're not able to marry those two things, if you don't understand how the tactics in your communications toolkit or your, you know, marketing, um, set of strategies are actually driving business results and you can't talk to the rest of the C-suite about how those marry, that is I think where we then get pigeonholed into that's a communications thing.
Just like you need your CFO to understand why the numbers matter in support of the strategy and where you're investing in your business growth, I think that, you know, it's this two-way street, and comms just has to go first, of having the acumen to understand the business, and then the business inviting the communications team to participate in those conversations, not just as recipients of, "Let me give you the strategy and now you take it and execute it," but also what do you know, what has your experience shown you that we can learn from as we're preparing this so that it is as powerful as possible as we take it out to the various stakeholders? Um, and I'd be curious, I mean, I think from my seat, that's something that I see more and more companies doing as I talk to my peers.
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