Be Understood, Not Impressive: Your Communication Guide for 2026

It's the second week of January. The new year energy is still here, but let's be honest—how different are you really feeling?

If you're like many of the leaders I work with, you might be mapping out goals wrapped in elaborate strategies, sophisticated frameworks, and all the impressive jargon you can muster to articulate them.

But here's what I want you to consider: what if all of that is getting in your way?

The Power of Clear Intention

After two decades of coaching leaders, I've noticed something fascinating. It's not the people with the cleverest plans who create the most impact. It's the ones with the clearest intentions.

They ask themselves one beautifully simple question: What do I actually want to achieve here?

And then they focus on that. Everything else becomes background noise.

For me, my intention is straightforward: helping talented professionals be their best selves, whatever the pressure they're under. Once I got clear on that, everything else—all the complexity, the impressive language, the elaborate frameworks—fell away as unnecessary.

Clear intention became my compass. Everything else was just noise.

The Clarity Gap for Women in Leadership

This matters particularly for women in leadership, and I see it play out in my coaching practice every single week.

So many of us have been conditioned to communicate in ways that undermine our impact:

We over-explain. We add layers of justification and context because we've learned that our ideas need more defense than others'.

We justify our presence. We feel the need to constantly prove why we deserve to be in the room, at the table, in the conversation.

We use overly complex reasoning. We've absorbed the message that sounding sophisticated equals sounding credible, so we wrap our perfectly good ideas in unnecessary complexity.

But here's the truth: this approach doesn't make us more credible. It makes us harder to understand. And when people can't easily understand us, they tune out—no matter how brilliant our ideas are.

How to Choose Clarity Over Complexity

What if, instead of all that noise, we chose clarity?

What if we gave ourselves permission to:

Say what genuinely matters to us. Not what we think people want to hear, or what sounds most impressive, but what actually drives us and what we truly want to achieve.

Use direct, honest language. Simple doesn't mean simplistic. Clear doesn't mean dumbed down. It means respecting your audience enough to communicate in a way they can immediately grasp and act on.

Know what we stand for and communicate it confidently. This isn't about being aggressive or pushy. It's about having the courage to be understood.

This choice applies to everything: your communication style, your goals for the year, how you show up as a leader.

From Impressive to Impactful

Here's the shift I want you to make this year: aim to be understood rather than to be impressive.

Think about the leaders who've had the biggest impact on you. Chances are, they weren't the ones using the most sophisticated language or the most complex frameworks. They were the ones who communicated with clarity, who made you feel like they were talking directly to you, who cut through the noise to deliver a message you could actually use.

That's what clear intention does. It strips away everything that doesn't serve your core purpose and leaves you with communication that lands.

Making This Your Year of Clarity

So what's your clear intention for 2026?

Not your five-year strategic plan with quarterly objectives and key performance indicators. Not the vision board with twelve different focus areas.

Your one clear intention. The thing that, if you achieved it, would make this year feel meaningful and successful.

Once you have that clarity, let it guide how you communicate, how you set boundaries, how you make decisions, and how you show up as a leader.

The Perfect Time to Start

One of my clients said it perfectly last week: "January's the perfect time to start my coaching - new year, new me!"

She's right. There's something about the beginning of the year that makes us more open to change, more willing to do the work, more ready to let go of what's not serving us.

If you're ready to work on bringing more clarity to your communication, to stop over-explaining and start being understood, to lead with confidence instead of constant justification—now is your moment.

Because the world doesn't need more impressive-sounding leaders. It needs leaders who can communicate with clarity, conviction, and genuine impact.

It needs leaders who know what they stand for and aren't afraid to say it clearly.

It needs you—at your clearest, most confident, most impactful.

Ready to make 2026 your year of clear, confident communication? Let's talk about how coaching can help you get there. Contact me to schedule a conversation about your communication goals.

About Vermillion Coaching

Vermillion Coaching helps talented professionals develop clear, confident communication skills that create real impact. Through personalised coaching, we work on everything from public speaking and executive presence to difficult conversations and authentic leadership communication.