Forbes Coaches Council

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council, February 2019 Think about the best leader you’ve ever seen. What made her compelling? Many of us would say, “She just had ‘it.’ Her charisma was off the charts.” It may be hard to believe, but “it” — that combination of confidence, authority and personality that makes an executive engaging and inspiring — isn’t necessarily an […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council, December 2018. One of our central tenets in teaching persuasive communication is to know your audience. Having an informed sense of your audience’s needs, concerns, and context (did the company just suffer a drop in the stock price, did the VP in the room just get a big promotion, […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council, December 2018. When we go into a meeting, we all usually have some sort of plan for what we want to say. But how many of us make a listening plan? Now, listening may seem like the simplest thing in the world to do, and the idea of taking a […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council, November 2018. When you speak to an audience — be it a room full of executives, a staff meeting, or a one-on-one phone call with a client — keeping a few key concepts in mind can help you get your message across persuasively and powerfully. Clarity, for example, ensures that […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council, October 2018. Not everyone is naturally a great communicator. In fact, almost all successful communication — persuasive, engaging, inspiring — is made, not born. It requires preparation, skill and practice. Of course, it takes time, and we all know how little we have of that. What helps is […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council, September 2018. As a coach, I see a lot of different kinds of speakers: those who are confident and controlled and others who are nervous and still figuring out how to get their point across. And I’ve had people ask, “Don’t you sometimes want to laugh at how bad some […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council, August 2018 It’s a fact of modern office life: We all have to conduct business remotely. And many of us have to bring together a team of far-flung colleagues or reports. We all know that absorbing information given to us over the phone or through video conferencing is much […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council, July 2018 Have you ever run a virtual meeting — over the phone or by video — and felt like no one was on the other end of the line? Have you ever asked a question in that situation and been met with what feels like an ocean […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council, July 2018. Meetings are a ubiquitous part of the modern office across all industries. Think of meetings as a company’s blood flow: When they are well-run, ideas and decisions flow through them like oxygen through veins, invigorating every aspect of the business, stimulating new ideas and pushing strategy […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council, July 2018. Showing your audience respect has a lot of great payoffs. It makes your audience feel engaged and positive, it can enable a culture of buy-in, in which people feel committed not only to execute a plan or implement a new product but to make it succeed, […]