How would you rate yourself on your effectiveness as a communicator in meetings? Do you consistently add value? Or do you hang out waiting for someone to ask you for your opinion — never really getting the chance to participate? …

Last year I delivered a group coaching program for a remote team distributed across India and Colombia. After four sessions, they had shown tremendous improvement, but when it came to their delivery, they were still struggling. Their presentations felt like performances — not conversations, and they felt overly formal. They…

I get this question a lot from women I work with: In a meeting — especially when it’s a room full of men (virtual or in person), how do you actually get your voice in there? Women have been taught to be polite. We’ve been taught not to interrupt because…

When I was asked to design a workshop to empower team members to engage in healthy self-promotion internally at Google, I was already aware of the inherent challenges that keep individual contributors from raising their voices — especially women. My work with professional women has shown me first hand all…

Why it’s the Secret Weapon for Persuasion — “I need a story like yours.” I had just given a talk to a group of entrepreneurs in San Francisco where I opened the discussion with story, as I always do. A member of the audience approached me and said he wanted to transport his listeners the way I had…

One of the most important skills to have when running a remote presentation is the ability to get your timing right so you keep people engaged. People may show up with the intention to pay attention, but there are just too many temptations when working from home. We’re texting, emailing…

“Before you get to a new story, you have no story.” — Michael Margolis The last time I went to see my shaman (a.k.a. 21st century Northern California therapist), we spoke again about purpose. He told me I’d been circling mine for years like a moth to a flame, getting…

In previous posts I talked about why everyone needs to nail their elevator pitch. In this post I’ll continue with more reasons why getting it right matters. Career Switching A confident, personal elevator pitch can help you land a job in a new field. What many forget when preparing for an interview…