I am occasionally asked to speak to groups about personal branding. I understand why, as I teach executive presence, leadership and communications. But I’m not overly comfortable with the term. It feels less than genuine, smacks of crass self-promotion. It feels fake and Machiavellian. Typical advice for building your personal brand would include: make yourself […]
Whenever I get a request for executive coaching, one of the top objectives of the client is invariably to develop ‘Executive Presence’. My response is always, “Great, that’s what I do. What do you mean by executive presence?” And the response is typically along the lines of, “I don’t know what it is, but I […]
We’ve all been on a conference call and heard someone apologize for being on mute and ask to have the question repeated. This baffles me. There is nothing associated with being on mute that impedes an individual’s ability to hear a question. So, what are they really saying? That they weren’t listening. Why? Because the […]
One of the greatest obstacles to effective communications is boredom. We have a stunning capacity to render perfectly interesting ideas excruciatingly boring through our choice of words. Language carries an extraordinary amount of power. The life of your ideas is embodied in the words you choose. Quite often, the language we use will be the […]
A number of years ago I was conducting a seminar for around 80 or 90 people and in the middle of my talk, I decided to ask them a simple question: “How many of you can think of someone in your professional lives, past or present, who you would characterize as being an excellent listener?” […]
Many years ago, I was working with a client on how best to use Power Point. I suggested that she put a single idea at the top of the slide, rather than a subject header. She responded that she had already been taught this approach, but that the instructor she learned it from had gone […]
I landed my first professional acting gig at age 18. When I was 24, I started coaching executives on presentation skills. I deliver dozens of speeches, workshops and training sessions every year. My entire career has been about speaking to people, often from centre stage with big bright lights shining on me. I’m also a […]
The title of this piece is a slight alteration of a famous Blaise Pascal quote, but the sentiment remains the same. Clarity is the basis of brevity and clarity requires the time to properly formulate your thoughts. Alongside developing executive presence, becoming more succinct is one of my clients’ top objectives. Typically, the client is […]
I have spent the past 23 years as an executive communications consultant. I have a fairly niche market wherein I provide coaching and training to help people communicate more effectively. I help my clients articulate their points with clarity and I use my background in theatre to help them speak with presence. The by-product of […]
