After just finishing an intensive six-day stretch of executive speaker coaching and messaging strategy sessions with senior executives from Pepsico, I thought I’d share a simple yet powerful lesson on instantly improving one’s presentation/pitch/talk/speech to audiences of any size and background. 
Most executives who, charged with delivering a critical message to a particular target audience, step [...]

As communication coaches we not only help clients get their message across succinctly to an audience, we make sure they get heard, their message strongly considered and ultimately accepted. This requires the delicate balance of carefully selected content, expert timing and socially intelligent delivery, all presented with a clear focus on the audience’s specific objectives. 
And [...]

A recent dinner outing reminded me how closely connected Culture and Personal Branding are. 
Case in point, a friend and I recently had dinner at a spot in mid-town Manhattan that several people recommended for its delicious food with a French flair. To avoid making a short story long, the food was good from what I [...]

1. Careless Social Networking
Accept the reality that the internet is open to everyone, and pictures, video clips, online profiles and other personal information will be seen by people to whom you wouldn’t show them in the offline world. Particularly posting unguarded images and content on websites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube tends to inflict harm [...]

Here are my brief thoughts on dealing with hostile or negative commenters on blogs and digital articles etc.
1. Focus on the issue
Negative comments and ‘digital hostility’ can quickly turn personal. For the most part commenters enjoy virtual anonymity and don’t feel the need to adhere to standard rules of social conduct. While that certainly reflects [...]

As a speaker there is nothing more stressful than presenting in front of a hostile audience. Yesterday’s congressional debate on health care reform had its share of hecklers and emotional outbursts that consumed today’s headlines and national media broadcasts. The most offensive outburst came from Randy Neugebauer, a three-term member of Congress from Texas who [...]

The other day I received an early morning phone call from a fellow by the name of James Williams. He called from Sky News’ studios in London to see whether I’d be interested in being the on-air expert commentator for Britain’s upcoming high-stakes debates between the candidates and the incumbent for the election of the next Prime Minister of [...]

Wanted: CEO for Fortune 500 Corporation. White Males of at Least 6-Foot Height with Slightly Menacing Facial Features Preferred.
You think that’s politically incorrect?  It gets worse.
“Baby-faced African-American males with chubby cheeks, small noses and large foreheads will be considered over less cuddly black colleagues with linebacker resumes. Female candidates should be able to demonstrate [...]

About 10 days ago I posted the six-word story contest across 50 LinkedIn groups and your responses started flooding in. We received well over 2000 5000 submissions of your own six-word stories. And they keep pouring in. Thank you everyone for making this such a fun and interesting contest.
One thing became obvious; the concept of [...]

A tense exchange between Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Rep. John Mica (R-Fla) at today’s testimony at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s hearing on the bailout of AIG, had Geithner display certain nonverbal language that is better kept under control when one finds himself under attack and in vehement disagreement with a charge. In this video you [...]