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Communicating with Executives

Intermediate 1 hours English Course Certificate
SkillsExecutive communicationBriefingConcise messagingInfluenceStakeholder management

Is this course right for you?

Our take
A short, sharp LinkedIn Learning course from LinkedIn's own COO, Dan Shapero, on a specific and surprisingly learnable skill: briefing senior leaders well.

Good for: Learning to brief and communicate effectively with senior leaders.

Skip if: You rarely interact with executives or want general communication.

It's about the things that actually matter in the room — leading with what they want to know in the first sixty seconds, reading their agenda, and communicating with impact — which makes it high-value if you present to or work with executives, and beside the point if you rarely do or you want general communication skills. Access comes with a LinkedIn Learning subscription (usually a free trial first; free via many libraries), and it adds a completion certificate to your profile — a learning marker, not a credential. Knowing how to brief the top of the house stays valuable throughout a career (as of 2026).

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About this course

Communicating with Executives is a short, focused course from LinkedIn's own COO, Dan Shapero, on the specific skill of briefing senior leaders: addressing what they want to know in the first 60 seconds, reading their agenda, and striking the right tone and precision.

Browse all Communication & Professional Skills courses Browse all LinkedIn Learning courses

Instructor

DS
Dan Shapero
LinkedIn Learning instructor

Dan Shapero is LinkedIn's Chief Operating Officer, sharing his own approach to executive communication.

Frequently asked questions

How to communicate effectively with senior leaders and executives — getting to the point quickly, leading with what matters to them, framing recommendations, and holding your own in high-stakes conversations. Executives have little time and specific priorities, so the course teaches how to package your message for that audience. It is about influencing upward and being credible with decision-makers, a distinct skill from general communication.

Professionals who need to present to, report to, or persuade senior leaders — managers, specialists, and anyone whose work depends on executive buy-in. It assumes no senior position yourself, so it suits people at various levels learning to communicate upward effectively. If your ideas or projects need leadership support, the techniques here are directly relevant to getting it.

It is short — typically an hour or two — as a focused LinkedIn Learning course. That makes it an efficient way to sharpen how you communicate with executives before a specific meeting or presentation, without a large time commitment. Applying the techniques in real executive interactions is where the value shows, so treat the runtime as the grounding.

Not by default — it runs on LinkedIn Learning, which is subscription-based — but a free trial is common, and many public libraries and universities give members full access at no cost. Check whether a library card or an institution you belong to already provides LinkedIn Learning before paying, since that quietly unlocks this course and the whole catalogue.

Yes, you earn a LinkedIn Learning completion certificate for your profile. Treat it as a signal of professional development rather than a formal qualification — communicating with executives is judged by how you actually perform in those interactions. The real value is the techniques, which show up in how your messages land with senior leaders far more than the certificate.
Paid
LinkedIn Learning subscription
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