“Either be silent, or say something better than silence.” From strategic silence to the concept of strategic non-talking

Purpose When organizations find their strategic communication efforts unsuccessful, two options seem to dominate: more communication or different communication. This paper challenges these widely accepted assumptions. It contends that the most fundamental alternative to strategic communication is neither to communicate more, nor differently, but rather to abstain from communication altogether. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper develops the concept and forms of strategic non-talki