Prashant Chaddah is the Head of Digital and FAO Delivery at eClerx, leading its Manila and Coimbatore delivery centers across large-scale operations for clients. With over 3500 employees under his care, it is a priority to ensure streamlined efficiencies, cultural alignment, and career growth for the teams. We interviewed Prashant on a matter close to his heart: performance excellence and personal growth.

You’ve spent years leading and developing large teams across locations. When you look at team leaders today, where do you see the biggest gaps?

I’ve sat in hundreds of leadership meetings over the years. I’ve seen brilliant people struggle to get their ideas across, and relatively inexperienced leaders hold a room with just a few sentences.

Leaders often know their subject extremely well, but that doesn’t always translate into a message that is easy for others to understand or act on. This becomes particularly important as leaders move into more senior roles, where the expectation is more about communicating across teams, sharing important updates with stakeholders, and deciding what needs to happen next.

The difference lies in their ability to make their message relevant, clear and actionable.

What do effective leaders do differently when communicating with senior stakeholders?

One of the biggest lessons I have learned is this: When speaking to senior leaders, your job is not to tell them everything you know, but to lead with the headline.

Early in my career, I would often start with the background. I would explain what happened, what we had analysed and what the team had discovered. I believed I was being thorough, but thoroughness doesn’t always mean clarity.

Senior leaders usually want to understand the conclusion first: Here is the issue, here is why it matters, and here is what I recommend.

It’s a simple structure that works remarkably well: Headline → Why it matters → Evidence → Recommendation

Don’t make the listener work through your thought process to discover your conclusion.

Does that become even more important when the message isn’t positive?

Absolutely. In fact, I think one of the clearest indicators of leadership maturity is how a leader communicates bad news.

If something has gone wrong, say it upfront. Don’t spend ten minutes explaining the circumstances before acknowledging that you missed the target.

Here’s an effective way to be direct: “We missed the target by 12%. Here is why, and here is what we are doing about it.”

Leaders can deal with bad news. What they don’t like are surprises.

Transparency, especially when the news isn’t good, is one of the fastest ways to build credibility.

How important is it for leaders to admit when they don’t know something?

Very important. There’s tremendous strength in being able to say “I don’t know“. Pretending to know something is far more damaging to credibility.

You can say something like, “I don’t have that number with me, but let me confirm it and get back to you” or “We don’t have enough data to be certain yet, but based on what we know, this is my current view.”

Leadership isn’t about having every answer, but it IS about demonstrating judgment, honesty and ownership.

You work with leaders across different locations and at significant scale. What distinguishes leaders who continue to grow from those who struggle to make that transition?

It comes down to whether they know that leadership is not just about delivering results through their own team. True leadership comes from creating clarity for others, making good decisions that align with company goals, taking ownership, and developing the people around them.

As leaders grow, their impact increasingly comes through other people. That means they have to communicate differently, delegate effectively, and create an environment where their teams can perform and grow.

A mature leader remain open to feedback, and is willing to adapt how they lead as their responsibilities change. That makes the difference between those who grow and those who don’t.

What is one thing you would encourage leaders to do before walking into an important meeting?

Always know what you want from the meeting. Before entering a meeting with senior stakeholders, ask yourself, “What do I want to be different when I walk out of this room?”

Do you need a decision? Approval? Investment? Alignment? Support?

Whatever it is, know it. And don’t wait till the end to make your ask clear. You can even start by saying, “These are two decisions I need from you today.” This gives the meeting purpose and direction, and allows the senior stakeholders to evaluate while the conversation continues.

At the end of the meeting, close the loop: “So we are aligned on X, you will approve Y, and I will take Z forward by Friday.”

This kind of clarity makes meetings more productive and creates accountability.

After managing teams at this scale, what have you learned about leadership communication?

The most important lesson is that executive communication is less about speaking and more about thinking.

If your thinking is clear, your communication becomes clearer. If you know what matters, you don’t need ten slides to explain it. A perfect presentation may not get you the answer you want, but if they believe that you understand the issue, have thought through the implications, and can be trusted to tell them the truth, they will believe in you.

For any leader, that’s what I would advise: Don’t focus on making yourself heard. Focus on making your message matter.