The top 10 best and worst communicators of 2011

Our top 10 communicators’ list is all about trust and vision.

We start with the 10 best, where those who communicate well also lead well. Unfortunately, those who dominate the worst list have garnered most of the attention in 2011 for lack of trust on the high end and deception on the low end.

The 10 best

1. Steve Jobs—perhaps the communicator of the decade, or century.

Steve Jobs is the rare one who creates and develops vision, communicates it clearly and colorfully, and then leads to completion. He’s made our best list four times, was No. 1 in 2005, and presented his iconic intro of the iPhone in 2007. He not only transformed technology and the way we live, but he also transformed the way businesses communicate.

For CEOs, speaking will never be the same. No more death by PowerPoint-he used few visuals and spoke from the heart. Perhaps his greatest speech was at Stanford University’s 2005 commencement. His message continues to be a model for not only business, but the larger world. We will miss him.