Can You Hear Me Now: Nathan Kievman Of CLEARLIGHT On Five Strategies Leaders Use to Diminish Distractions & Win in the Attention Economy

An interview with Karen Mangia

Executives need to know the work is getting done, and managers want to ensure time is being spent well. We faced a unique challenge with our full-time contractors, as they weren’t employees, so we couldn’t dictate their working hours — we could only ensure the job was completed.

We are all competing in an attention economy. From pings and dings to blinks and rings, companies and content constantly compete for our limited time and attention. How do great leaders turn down the noise and tune in to the messages that matter most? What does it take to be heard above the noise? And how do we create communication that cultivates community and connectedness in a distributed, distracted world? To address these questions, we started an interview series called “Can You Hear Me Now?: Top Five Strategies Leaders Use to Diminish Distractions & Win in the Attention Economy.” As a part of this interview series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Nathan Kievman.

Nathan Kievman, CEO of CLEARLIGHT, has led over 300 companies in securing more than 100,000 executive meetings, resulting in over $1 billion in new revenue. CLEARLIGHT has positioned itself as a leader in B2B sales, marketing, and lead generation strategies. With deep expertise in what Kievman calls “Executive Engagement Strategy,” his firm has executed more than 80 million outbound emails and millions of cold calls, making him one of the most trusted experts in capturing executive attention and driving business opportunities.

Thank you for making time to visit with us. Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. What is one of your most memorable moments, and what made it memorable?

One of the most pivotal moments in my life came through a near-death experience where I met God and had a choice to stay or go. During that experience, I realized that the most important things in life are the relationships we cultivate — with ourselves, with others, and with the divine. This profound realization gave me a deep understanding of the power of connection and relationships and how it is the true foundation of everything. I knew at that moment that my future would be dedicated to fostering those relationships in every aspect of my life and career. As I finished school, I committed to focusing on this, knowing it was my purpose to help others realize the transformative power of meaningful relationships. This experience not only shaped my personal journey but also became the cornerstone of my work at CLEARLIGHT Growth (formerly Linked Strategies), where I help businesses unlock growth through the power of executive relationships.

What is the most unexpected twist in your career story, and what did you discover from your detour?

The most unexpected twist in my career was how rapidly AI has transformed the marketing landscape. The speed of AI’s impact has brought both significant opportunities for optimization and new challenges to navigate. Combined with the “free curve” — the trend of information, data, and technology becoming more accessible and cost-effective — I’ve had to rethink the true value of the business I’m in.

What I’ve discovered from this is that the future lies in building infrastructure and offering done-for-you services that fully leverage these evolving tools. This realization has pushed me to focus on how to stay ahead of the curve and provide more powerful, future-proof solutions.

According to a recent Harvard Business School study, the most essential communication skill for leaders is the ability to adapt their communication style. How do you adapt your communication style?

I completely agree with the study. After sending 86 million emails to executives and scheduling over 100,000 executive meetings for both our clients and ourselves, clear patterns have emerged. We’ve observed that founders, C-suite executives, vice presidents, directors, and managers all communicate differently. Each group has its own language and style of speaking.

With the exception of some C-suite leaders and founders, most individuals tend to approach conversations from a perspective of risk aversion rather than goal achievement. This aversion isn’t just about business risks — it’s about personal job security. We refer to this as “executive speak.” I discuss this extensively in my book, “Engage Executives”. Each executive level has its own nuances, and even within each level, different titles come with their own distinct language. For instance, a CHRO speaks a different language than a CEO. While this may seem obvious, it highlights that even among C-level executives, communication varies significantly.

Understanding the general psychology and language of each title and department is critical for tailoring your message and truly connecting with your audience.

Clarity is critical as well. What lessons have you learned about how to communicate with clarity in our distributed world of work?

I have a lot to say about this. While clarity is often equated with brevity, especially in communication, it depends on who you’re addressing. Let’s focus on the C-suite, specifically the CEO.

A friend of mine, who worked as an aide in the White House under President Clinton, once shared an insightful story. She had completed a significant research project that took months, and her findings were crucial. She was excited to present her work, confident in the depth of her research and eager to share every detail.

When the time came to brief Clinton in a room full of people, she began explaining all the hard work, the extensive research, and the quality of her findings. Just as she was getting into it, Clinton stopped her and said, “Just give me the results, and if I need more details, I’ll ask.”

She was taken aback but complied, delivering her conclusions in just a few minutes. Clinton thanked her and quickly moved on to the next topic. While she had hoped to showcase her effort and the complexity of her research, all he needed were the outcomes — and only if necessary, would he request more details.

This story perfectly illustrates how we approach engaging executives, especially CEOs: start with absolute clarity, and only provide more information if needed.

Interestingly, despite the push for brevity, we found that combining short-form copy with long-form copy in emails yielded the best results over the past 10 years. In split tests between two-paragraph emails and those with seven or more paragraphs (when structured correctly), the longer emails consistently outperformed.

The key takeaway? Clarity is crucial, but it should be followed by accessible, in-depth information for those who want it. This approach has proven successful in sending 86 million emails and securing 100,000 executive meetings over time.

We often discover what works by experiencing what doesn’t. Tell us about a time when your communication didn’t lead to the desired results and what you learned from the experience.

Let me share an example when communication didn’t lead to the desired result and what I learned from it.

Many clients believe that short-form copy is the best way to engage their audience. To accommodate this, we would often test the short-form copy they provided against the long-form copy we created. After conducting thousands of split tests, the results consistently showed that combining short and long-form copy within a single email led to better performance in securing qualified meetings.

While short-form copy might generate more responses, it never resulted in more qualified meetings.

Let’s explore the psychology behind this. An executive’s most valuable asset is time. If you send a short email that piques their curiosity but doesn’t provide enough information, they have to go search your website or click on a link to learn more. In my opinion, this disrespects their time.

Now consider the alternative: you write a similar short-form introduction, then offer additional information by saying, “If you need more details to decide whether meeting with me is worth your time, here’s some further insight.” Below that, you answer common objections and questions before signing off. This approach offers brevity to spark curiosity while also respecting their time by giving them everything they need to make an informed decision.

What advice would you offer to other leaders who are struggling to have their messages heard and actioned?

Never give up. If you can add real value to someone’s life, you’re doing them a disservice if you don’t work relentlessly until they hear it.

I see it as our duty to ensure our market knows what we offer and the value we can add to their business. Today’s world is busier, noisier, and more crowded than ever. Every company has unlimited access to data, social platforms, email tools, and phone systems — but these are just communication vehicles.

What sets you apart is your message, your value proposition, and how you deliver it. That’s unique to you.

Executives think in terms of time, money, and risk, so it’s essential to communicate your message in a way that highlights your unique value within that framework. Keep testing and refining your approach until you find the right message-to-market match. If you’re truly adding value to the market, it’s only a matter of time before you find the message that resonates.

Leading a distributed team requires a different communication cadence and style from leading a team in person. What are five strategies any leader can deploy to improve communication and clarity when leading a distributed workforce? Please share a story or example for each of you can.

Over the past 14 years, we’ve had the privilege of working closely with over 300 organizations. What we’ve learned is that anything communicated without authenticity holds no value. People are smart and can quickly sense when someone is being genuine or not. The fastest way to destroy a culture is for leaders to avoid being authentic, transparent, and truthful with their teams. The truth always comes out, so why not start there?

The most powerful cultures we’ve encountered, both with clients and within our own team, stem from intimate, authentic conversations.

1. Authentic, Transparent Leadership

One example of this is when our organization faced restructuring during the COVID-19 pandemic. We lost 80% of our business in a single day. We were open with the team about the situation, being clear that we had no idea when things would turn around. The response was incredible — everyone was understanding, some offered to take pay cuts, and others volunteered to seek alternative opportunities if it would help the company. By being upfront and honest, we built lasting bonds, creating friends for life because of that authenticity.

2. Daily Check-Ins

Working in isolation can be tough, so for a remote workforce, it’s important to establish daily connections. These can be informal or formal, but even formal meetings should allow time for casual conversations. Human connection is essential for both surviving and thriving.

Our team created an open conference line where people could drop in and work together, almost like a virtual coffeehouse. It provided a way to socialize while working and check in with each other. At times, 5 to 10 people would be in the room, working together just to feel connected.

On a more formal level, leadership conducted daily check-ins with their teams, ranging from five to fifteen minutes. This ensured that everyone had regular contact and support.

3. Daily Focus and End-of-Day Wins

Executives need to know the work is getting done, and managers want to ensure time is being spent well. We faced a unique challenge with our full-time contractors, as they weren’t employees, so we couldn’t dictate their working hours — we could only ensure the job was completed.

To address this, we implemented a system where each team member would share their morning focus and provide an end-of-day summary of successes and wins. This accomplished several things: quieter departments like IT received more visibility, wins were celebrated more frequently, and executives gained real-time insight into whether teams were aligned with broader goals. This allowed for course corrections before a week of misaligned work could pass.

This was one of the biggest successes after implementing it across the organization.

4. Bi-Monthly Company Meetings to Reinforce Culture and Direction

In a remote workforce, it’s easy to get absorbed in the day-to-day busyness of work. We found that having a short meeting in the middle of the month to celebrate wins, followed by an inspirational meeting at the end of the month, was an effective way to foster deep engagement, higher retention, and a more motivated workforce.

These consistent meetings helped the team feel connected to the executive leadership and like they were part of something bigger than themselves.

5. Monthly Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs)

PIPs are crucial in both remote and traditional workforces. They provide an opportunity to review what’s working, identify what’s not, and develop a plan to address any issues. PIPs allow team members to course correct, develop skills, and ensure they are adding value to the company while growing personally and professionally.

This accountability helps ensure everyone is moving in the same direction, aligned with company expectations and output.

What are the three most effective strategies to diminish distractions when there is so much competing for attention?

1. Clearly Understand and Know Your Top Three Focus Areas: Identify the three most important priorities that will drive the biggest impact in your business or personal growth. Everything else is noise. When you have absolute clarity on what matters, you can direct all your energy toward those key areas.
2. Say No to Everything That’s Not Aligned with Those Focuses: Once you’ve established your top three focuses, get comfortable saying “no” to anything that doesn’t support them. This is how you protect your time and avoid getting pulled in too many directions.
3. Align Your Teams to Support These Three Focuses: Make sure everyone on your team is aligned with these top priorities. When your teams are fully focused on supporting the same goals, it ensures that all efforts are moving in the right direction, minimizing distractions across the board.

What is one skill you would advise every leader to invest in to become a better communicator?

Building powerful relationships is the most essential tool for any executive or leader because relationships are the foundation of influence, trust, and long-term success. Here’s why:

Trust and Influence: In leadership, people follow those they trust. Building strong relationships fosters that trust, allowing you to influence others more effectively. Whether you’re driving strategic initiatives, negotiating deals, or leading teams, trust is what makes people believe in your vision and act on it. The more solid your relationships, the more credibility and influence you have across your organization and industry.

Collaboration and Innovation: Powerful relationships create an environment where collaboration thrives. When you foster meaningful connections with your peers, teams, and stakeholders, you’re able to break down silos, encourage open communication, and create a culture of innovation. Ideas flow more freely when people feel connected and comfortable sharing their perspectives. This leads to more creative problem-solving and stronger business outcomes.

Access to Opportunities: The saying “your network is your net worth” holds especially true for leaders. Building strong relationships opens doors to new opportunities, partnerships, and insights that you might not otherwise have access to. A well-nurtured network of powerful connections can accelerate your personal growth, expand your influence, and create opportunities for your organization to grow and evolve. This access to resources and strategic alliances can be a game-changer in competitive markets.

Crisis Management and Support: In times of crisis, your relationships are your greatest asset. When challenges arise, whether personal or professional, having a network of trusted individuals who can provide support, advice, and resources is invaluable. Strong relationships allow you to lean on others for guidance, navigate uncertainty more effectively, and build resilience in the face of adversity.

Talent Retention and Development: For executives, cultivating relationships with your team is critical for talent retention and development. Employees who feel valued, heard, and connected to their leader are more likely to stay engaged, loyal, and motivated. Strong relationships with your team foster a sense of belonging and commitment, making it easier to attract and retain top talent while also helping to mentor and grow future leaders within your organization.

Building powerful relationships is not just a soft skill — it’s a strategic tool for leaders. It amplifies your influence, drives innovation, opens new opportunities, supports you in times of crisis, and strengthens your team. For any executive aiming for long-term success, mastering the art of relationship-building is essential.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

A movement I would encourage for all corporations, organizations, and companies around the world is to prioritize relationship development over traditional business development. By this, I mean placing relationship-building at the core of their business operations.

This involves encouraging every individual in the organization to develop stronger relationships on multiple levels:

• With themselves: fostering self-awareness, personal growth, and emotional intelligence.
• Externally: building meaningful connections with customers, associates, team members, and executives.
• Spiritually: nurturing a relationship with their divine creator, whatever that may mean to them personally.

A company that focuses its energy on developing these relationships will not only survive but thrive. It will consistently grow and create lasting value for all its stakeholders. Such a shift in focus could genuinely change the world.

How can our readers stay connected with you?

Send me an email at natek@clearlightgrowth.com

Message me on LinkedIn www.LinkedIn.com/in/nathankievman

Or opt in at our website at www.clearlightgrowth.com

Thank you for these great insights! We wish you continued success.

About The Interviewer: Karen Mangia is one of the most sought-after keynote speakers in the world, sharing her thought leadership with over 10,000 organizations during the course of her career. As Vice President of Customer and Market Insights at Salesforce, she helps individuals and organizations define, design and deliver the future. Discover her proven strategies to access your own success in her fourth book Success from Anywhere and by connecting with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.