Unspoken messages are sometimes the loudest

As leaders we sometimes neglect to pay attention to the unspoken messages we send to our people. 

True story #1: At a company-wide celebration event, where staff at different offices gathered at their respective meeting rooms for cake and light refreshments (this was before COVID-19), the CEO called in to give her speech via video conferencing, instead of being present in person. What does this say about the importance of this event to her? 

True story #2: At an online training involving participants across multiple offices, the Manager Director dialed in too from the start of the session and stayed connected (with video off) throughout the training, even though he was not a participant. At the end of the session, he gave a short speech touching on a few key learning points of the session. What does this say about what he thinks of the training session? Without explicitly saying it, he is communicating that he takes the training very seriously and expects all attendees to do the same.