If you have aspirations to be a CEO you will need to be both a strong connector and a strong communicator.

Both were cited by the “2013 Chief Executive Study” by Strategy&. The study also noted tomorrow’s CEOs will be increasingly female. CEO’s also will travel globally and be comfortable with technology.

Connecting and communicating are powerful skills to have no matter what position you hold. Here are some tips to enhance your skills in both areas.

Connecting

1. Join a professional group and get to know the members. Share your knowledge with others just as you would hope they would do.
2. Make a list of influential people within your sphere whom you should know. When possible, meet them at conferences or see if you can schedule coffee or lunch with them.
3. At conferences, connect with others. Don’t simply collect business cards. Make a point to get to know the person’s areas of influence and something personal about them. Following the conference, if you come upon an article or item of interest that relates to them, share it with them.

Communicating

1. One communication skill that many communicators should polish is their presentation skills. Consider taking a course in presentation skills. Lynda.com offers a monthly subscription for $25, and you can take all of the online courses you want, including presentation skills. Or, pay attention during a particularly good or bad presentation. What worked, what didn’t? Be sure to apply what you learn in your own presentation, whether it’s formal to a group or informal as you persuade your boss about a potential project.
2. Use social media. USAToday holds Social Media Tuesdays in which staff can only share their stories on social media platforms. The purpose is to get the reporters to think like their readers, who are increasingly getting their news through social media sites and not the home page or front page, according to a July 14 article in The New York Times.
3. Join Toastmasters to develop your public speaking skills. Public speaking usually occurs in a more formal setting with limited visuals. Presentation skills as noted above use PowerPoint or other visual aids to support your key messages.

Are you grooming yourself to be CEO of your own company? If not, you may want to enhance your connecting and communicating skills.