“Great communication isn’t what you say. It’s the gap you close between what you intended and what they experienced.”
— CLEAR PACE, Chapter 10, LeaderWired
A 9-element system for leaders who are tired of being misunderstood, misquoted, or met with silence when they need engagement.
Developed by Anna Barnhill, MCC, through 16+ years of coaching Fortune 500 leaders. Featured in Forbes Council.
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The five-step architecture for every high-stakes message.
Set the frame before delivering content. Before you speak, establish why this conversation matters, what’s at stake, and what you need from the other person.
Understand where the other person is starting from. Most leaders launch into their message without checking where the other person already is. Listen First means asking before telling.
Demonstrate understanding of their perspective. This isn’t soft — it’s strategic. When people feel understood, resistance drops and receptivity rises.
Say what you mean directly. Strip away jargon, hedging, and corporate padding. The clearest communicators are the most trusted.
Check what was received. Close the loop. Communication isn’t complete until you know what landed. Ask: “What are you taking away from this?”
CLEAR is what you do. PACE is how you do it.
Most communication frameworks stop at the message. CLEAR PACE goes further — calibrating the communicator, not just the communication.
The internal operating system that determines how your message lands.
Full attention, not distracted or hurried. When you’re mentally elsewhere, people feel it. Presence is the foundation of trust in every conversation.
Speak from your genuine perspective. Leaders who perform a version of themselves erode trust over time. Authenticity doesn’t mean unfiltered — it means aligned.
Adjust to the person and context. The same message delivered identically to different people will produce different results. Calibration is the skill of reading the room and adapting in real time.
Monitor both your state and theirs. If you don’t know your own emotional state, it will leak into your communication. Emotional awareness means tracking both signals — yours and theirs — throughout the conversation.
Three real-world leadership scenarios where communication breaks down — and how CLEAR PACE prevents it.
A CEO announces a restructuring. Employees leave confused and anxious. What went wrong? The CEO skipped Context (no framing of why) and Listen First (no pulse-check on the room). The message was clear, but the delivery was tone-deaf.
Missing: Context + Listen FirstA VP delivers what she thinks is developmental feedback. The direct report shuts down and disengages for weeks. The VP had genuine intent — but skipped Articulate Clearly (too indirect) and Request Response (never checked what landed).
Missing: Articulate Clearly + Request ResponseA quick Slack message about deadline accountability spirals into a team conflict. The leader wasn’t monitoring their own frustration (Emotional Awareness) or adjusting for the medium (Calibration). The message was accurate. The delivery was destructive.
Missing: Presence + CalibrationEvery leader has experienced it: you said something with one intention, and it landed with a completely different impact. A leader intends to develop someone — but the other person feels criticized. A leader intends to create urgency — but the team hears panic.
This disconnect between intent and impact is the single most common communication failure in leadership. It’s not a character flaw. It’s an operating system problem.
CLEAR PACE was designed specifically to close this gap. CLEAR structures the message so it’s received as intended. PACE calibrates the messenger so the delivery matches the intent.
The result: leaders who communicate with precision, empathy, and impact — even under pressure.
Anna Barnhill, MCC, first introduced elements of the CLEAR PACE framework in Forbes Council. After testing and refining through 500+ executive coaching engagements, the complete 9-element system was published in Chapter 10 of LeaderWired: The AI-Era Leadership Playbook.
CLEAR PACE is now used by Fortune 500 executives, leadership teams, and executive coaches worldwide.
CLEAR PACE is a 9-step executive communication framework by Anna Barnhill, MCC. CLEAR is the Engagement Sequence (Context, Listen First, Empathize, Articulate Clearly, Request Response). PACE is the Calibration Rhythm (Presence, Authenticity, Calibration, Emotional Awareness). Together they close the gap between what a leader intends to communicate and what the other person experiences.
The disconnect between what a leader intends to communicate and what the other person experiences. A leader may intend to develop someone but the recipient feels criticized. CLEAR PACE closes this gap by structuring both the message (CLEAR) and the messenger’s internal state (PACE).
Most communication frameworks address only message architecture. CLEAR PACE is unique because it addresses both message architecture (CLEAR) and the communicator’s internal state (PACE) simultaneously. This dual-strand approach is why it works under pressure when other models break down.
Anna Barnhill, MCC, an ICF Master Certified Coach (top 1% globally), Professional Fellow at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and author of LeaderWired: The AI-Era Leadership Playbook. The framework was developed through 16+ years and 500+ executive coaching engagements.
CLEAR provides a 5-step engagement sequence for structuring high-stakes conversations. PACE provides a 4-element calibration rhythm for managing your internal state during communication. Together, they ensure communication lands as intended — in boardrooms, town halls, feedback conversations, and crisis situations.
Chapter 10 of LeaderWired: The AI-Era Leadership Playbook by Anna Barnhill. Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Read Chapter One of LeaderWired free — and discover how CLEAR PACE transforms the way leaders connect.
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