You've put it in the all-hands, the strategy deck, the team email. You've said it in meetings, in 1:1s, in the hallway. Yet, others still seem like they're hearing it for the first time. It makes you question whether the problem is your team’s attention span, limited bandwidth, or something harder to pinpoint. But Kellyn Smith Kenny, Chief Marketing and Growth Officer at AT&T, has a different diagnosis for why messages fail to land, and, importantly, why it often has less to do with the team than leaders think.
When Kellyn joined Virtuosi League's LEAP Essentials program as a Professor, she opened with a question that was met with immediate recognition across the room: had anyone ever communicated something—they thought, clearly, repeatedly—only to have someone act like they'd never heard it?
Kellyn has seen this disconnect play out repeatedly during moments of organizational change: new priorities are announced, leaders move quickly into execution mode, and teams are expected to adapt just as quickly. But while leadership may already feel aligned around the direction, many employees are still processing what changed, why it matters, and what it means for them.
The insight she unpacked is the heart of the third LEAP Leadership pillar, Clear the Path. While leaders often interpret this pillar as removing operational obstacles, Kellyn reframes it more fundamentally: one of the biggest sources of friction inside organizations is the gap between what leaders think has been communicated and what teams have actually absorbed.
Kellyn's framework draws equally from cognitive science and marketing practice, translated into a model she calls the Rule of 3-5-7-9.
The Rule of 3: Simplify ruthlessly
Distill your message to three things—priorities, takeaways, or actions—and your team has something more tangible to hold.
The Rule of 5: Repeat before you assume alignment
For something to move into working memory—for example, for a team member to surface it in a meeting two weeks from now—it needs to be heard at least five times.
The Rule of 7: Build familiarity through multiple surfaces
This is where teams stop asking "what is this about?" and start integrating it into how they work. Reaching seven exposures requires deliberate multi-channel communication: team meetings, emails, slide decks, 1:1 conversations, reinforcement in real decisions—no single channel gets you there.
The Rule of 9: Stay with it until they carry it forward
At nine exposures, a message has become internalized and operational. Team members can repeat it in their own words and explain why it matters; they use it to make decisions; and they advocate it to others.
The 3–5–7–9 rule is deceptively simple. What makes it useful is the mindset shift underneath it: communication is less about announcing a direction and more about bringing people along with it.
As Kellyn explains: “We move through the change curve very quickly as leaders. We understand the problem, we know what needs to be fixed—we’re already at acceptance. While the vast majority of the team is still asking: ‘What just happened?’”
The point isn’t repetition for repetition’s sake. It’s creating enough clarity and consistency that people can internalize the direction, apply it within their own spheres of influence, and reinforce it across the organization themselves.
If teams still can’t clearly articulate the priorities, why they matter, or what success looks like, it’s often less a reflection of engagement and more a signal that the organization is still moving through the communication arc.
Kellyn Smith Kenny is Chief Marketing and Growth Officer at AT&T, leading the company’s efforts to accelerate customer acquisition, increase customer
lifetime value, and strengthen AT&T’s position as a premium customer-first
brand. She oversees all aspects of marketing including brand strategy,
advertising, media, digital growth, customer intelligence, insights, and
strategic partnerships.