Communication Coach

Presenting to your boss can be terrifying. Here's how to calm down and step up your game. Even under the best of circumstances, it can be intimidating to make a presentation. Public speaking is a major source of anxiety for many professionals, whose worries may range from feeling underprepared, anticipating difficult questions, or assuming that

When your meetings go online, people check out--but it doesn't have to be like that. Here's how to make your virtual meetings engaging. As humorist Dave Barry once remarked, “If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word

Learn to communicate your needs with more firmness and less fear You don’t have to be a leader to wrestle with saying no. Regardless of role, responsibility, title, or position, many of us find ourselves wanting to decline a request for our time, but we don’t know how to say no assertively. Read the rest

There’s nothing worse than staring at a blank screen and wondering how you’ll begin to write a speech. Oh wait, there is something worse: Staring at a blank screen and wondering how to start your speech—while your deadline is hanging over your head. Add some pressure to a confused mind and a dreaded task and,

When it comes to telling a powerful story that sells, you need to tap into how your listeners' brains are already working. Storytelling is a powerful communication tool. It’s a way to build a memorable brand, create customer engagement, sell products and raise growth capital. Companies from Nike and Google to SAP and Cargill have

Don't deny, defend, or dwell on negative feedback -- unless you never want to improve your skills or advance your career. When it comes to giving and receiving negative feedback, most of us would rather have a root canal. In fact, many of us are so uncomfortable with negative feedback that we’d rather not even

How many of us gain psychological safety while sacrificing credibility at work As I have learned over the years, unlike helping leaders to simplify their message, build rapport with the audience, or manage tricky questions, helping female leaders sound less like girls and more like women is complex. Read the rest of the article

There's a dignified way to handle it that will showcase your self-possession, professionalism, and poise. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” As any seasoned business person knows, making blunders, having missteps and being just plain wrong at times is part of the

Performance feedback helps, unless it makes things worse. Here are five times to skip giving feedback until you have a smarter strategy. Perhaps your company still engages in traditional annual performance reviews. Or maybe you have ditched the formalities for “just in time” feedback. Or possibly, you have come up with an innovative, novel way

5 practical strategies for managing public speaking anxiety. As someone who speaks internationally, I have a lot of experience working with professional interpreters. So when a LinkedIn connection recently asked his network to share their most important tips for working with interpreters, I was curious to see what responses he got. I was struck by

Presenting as a team can showcase your talent -- or make you look unprofessional and uncoordinated. Here's how to make a team presentation work for you. You might think that having two or three other colleagues to co-lead your presentation, pitch or proposal with can cut the preparation and practice down significantly for each of

Your business needs collaboration -- but not everyone's a team player. Here's how to get an uncooperative colleague on board. Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” Nevertheless, not everyone in a company defines success as “working together,” nor is every team member interested in

How to use your next presentation to build personal and professional credibility If you’ve ever sat in the audience and listened to a speaker whom you didn’t trust, chances are you felt defensive, dismissive, or even insulted. You probably rolled your eyes, crossed your arms, bounced your leg and sent a range of body language