Dean Brenner

Have you ever noticed that when people are making a business presentation, very often, they make the story sound super complicated? Have you ever noticed that once they sit down, and it is over, and someone asks simple questions, they can give simple, coherent answers? Have you ever listened to something they say in Q&A and […]

Speaking well can be pretty hard. Speaking in a way that captures attention, and helps you achieve your business goals can be intimidating for lots of people. It is hard, in many ways. But the keys to success can also be pretty simple, if you think about it the correct way. So let me make this easy […]

We all want to be leaders. Our corporate culture wants us to want to be leaders. We seek out training, we dress the part, we jockey to take the helm of a project or a team. No one wants to admit to being a follower, and few people ever talk about the essential qualities that make […]

This is the third in a series of posts where I will share my business lessons learned (thus far) from the global health crisis. How long a series will this be? Not sure… the lessons are still percolating, and the crisis is far from over. This could be a long series… In my first post […]

This is the second in a series of posts where I will share my business lessons learned (thus far) from the global health crisis. How long a series will this be? No idea… I am still figuring out the things I have learned. And no one knows how long this whole thing will last. So […]

The last five months has been the longest decade of my life. At least it has felt that way. And I say that while acknowledging that many people have had a much harder experience than I and my colleagues have had. But from a business perspective, this has been the worst experience of my lifetime. […]

Olympic sports have been a big part of my past professional life. I served as the Chairman of the US Olympic Sailing Program for 8 years, which means I led the organization responsible for all aspects of Olympic sailing in the United States. It was a big job, and one I enjoyed greatly. I recall a […]

According to some sources, more than 30 million business presentations are created each day. And you know what? Most of them are terrible. We’ve all sat through the proverbial terrible presentation with no purpose, nothing memorable, no clear action items, too many slides, the monotonous drone of the boring presenter. There is a reason business presentations […]

Earlier this month, we published a blog post that was popular with our readers, with some tips for boosting your resilience and recharging your “inner battery” when aspects of life get difficult. Those tips can be found here, as well as in the latest edition of The Message Makeover Minute below. Enjoy! For more episodes […]

Building connection and relationships with our clients is the coin of the realm in business. There are lots of important inputs that lead to business success. But our clients and the relationships we build with them are the most important input of all, by far. It’s not even close. And as we all now know, […]