Why Repeating Your Story Isn’t Redundant—It’s Leadership

You’re Not Being Repetitive Enough

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a CEO say, “But I already said that.”

And here’s the thing: you may have said it—but that doesn’t mean your team heard it, understood it, or remembered it.

Leadership isn’t about one moment of clarity—it’s about consistent communication. If you want your team to align around your vision, internalize the strategy, and make the right decisions day to day, you need to repeat your story.

And not just you. Your direct reports, their managers, and every leader in the org must be telling the same story in different rooms. That’s how shared direction actually happens.

Repetition Is a Strategic Lever

A recent study found that leaders are nearly 10 times more likely to be criticized for under-communicating than overcommunicating. Nearly 75% of employees rated their managers as under-communicators, falling short of expectations for task-relevant communication.

Even worse? Under-communicators are seen as less empathic and less qualified. On a 1–5 scale:

• Under-communicating leaders scored 2.93 on empathy.

• Over-communicating leaders scored 3.64.

• Leadership ability was rated at 2.20 for under-communicators vs. 3.60 for those who said more.

You’re not going to annoy your team by repeating the same message—you’re going to build trust and credibility. When leaders communicate frequently and clearly, they’re perceived as more capable and more caring.

Repetition Builds Fluency, Truth, and Action

Professor Adam Galinsky from Columbia Business School puts it this way:

“You want to repeat it over and over and over again. It creates a sense of fluency, which increases understanding and truth, value and validity.”

In other words, repetition doesn’t just help people remember your message—it makes your message feel more true. That’s a powerful insight for any leader trying to build belief and alignment.

And if repeating yourself feels awkward? Good.

“We can train ourselves to repeat that message over and over and over again,” Galinsky says. “It’s just doing any type of exercise, like working out. I work out with a trainer and the first time I do an exercise, it feels totally unnatural to me and sometimes impossible, even that day. But over time, it becomes more possible the more that we work at it.”

You can train for repetition. You can build that muscle. And once you do, your message becomes part of the culture—not just a line in a slide deck.

Practical Ways to Reinforce Your Story

You don’t need to sound like a broken record. You need to sound like a leader who knows what matters. Here’s how to do it well:

Say the same thing, in different ways

Tell a story. Use a metaphor. Share a stat. Reference a customer. Show a visual. Bring it to life from different angles so it sticks in different minds.

Anchor every message to your core story

Project updates? Tie them back to the strategy. 1:1s? Connect the work to the mission. All-hands? Roadmapping? Repeat your values. Make your story the thread that ties it all together.

Make repetition a team sport

This isn’t just your job. Ask your VPs and directors to carry the message. Build a communication cascade where everyone knows the story and can share it consistently with their teams.

Watch for echo

One of my favorite moments when I was a consultant was when I heard someone else using my words, framing a decision with our shared story. That’s the signal that the message is working.

Conclusion: Your Message Isn’t Real Until It’s Repeated

You may think you’ve said it enough. Your team is still figuring out what it means.

If you care about being understood—really understood—say it again. Then teach your leaders to do the same. Build rituals around the message. Embed it in your stories. Repeat it until it becomes second nature.

That’s not redundancy. That’s leadership.

And the best part? The more you do it, the easier it becomes. Just like working out.

Ready to build that muscle? Say it again. And again. And again.