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Ignite your power to communicate.

We coach people to make a fundamental shift in the way they understand their own power to communicate.

We help people feel seen and heard so that they can do their best work.

If you could learn a physical skill by reading about it…

If you could learn a physical skill by reading about it, you would already know how to do it. This seems obvious, right? We all know we can’t just read an article about how to fly a plane and then go be a commercial (or even private) pilot. No, we have to log a lot …

How Can I Handle Competing Intentions?

I got to spend some time last week with a wonderful team of people doing incredibly cool work. We were talking about my favorite topic: intentional communication! This team has chosen to really engage with the idea of intention, and to work it into their culture. In fact, they begin meetings by asking what intentions …

A Celebration of Uniqueness!

I want to take this space today to celebrate Ignite CSP senior coach Neela Munoz—it’s her birthday! In honor of this special day, I’m sharing a video Neela created to help our clients stop underselling one of their most unique attributes–their names! Happy birthday, Neela! We love you!

The Goldilocks Zone

How do I make my speech for everyone? You don’t. You can’t. First, you don’t know everyone in the audience. You may have a general idea of why they’re there, or what they would expect to receive from a talk with the same title as yours. But you don’t know what kind of morning they’ve …

The Question Underneath the Question

About six months ago, one of my long-time clients left her corporate job to set out on her own as a freelancer. Now, every time my client talks to her mom, she gets this question: “How many hours are you working this week?” Mom-questions can have a way of getting under a person’s skin, and …

Are You Hiding?

There are great reasons any speaker might have notes, slides, or a podium to speak from. But in each case, these should be tools to help the speaker deliver their message, not a way to hide from the audience. Do you rely on your slides to carry the bulk of your talk? Are they loaded …

Create an Insider

I heard a great phrase last week: “create an insider.” A leader at an organization was addressing a group of up-and-comers, and he exhorted them to “create insiders.” As he explained it, when you find yourself in a place where you already know people, where you have friends, it’s worth it to take time to …

To Be, Rather Than to Seem

Esse quam videri To be, rather than to seem This is North Carolina’s state motto, and I’ve always liked it. Realness and authenticity, rather than posturing. What’s at the heart, not on the surface. The motto speaks to trustworthiness and truth. I hope I won’t sound too grand when I say that this Latin epigraph …

Bad Feedback

When we ask the nearest person for their feedback, there is no guarantee that they are knowledgeable about the things we want to know about.  Usually, they will still agree to weigh in.  This is how bad advice gets traction in the world. Here were a couple of things I heard recently that this blog …

Grab a Stopwatch.

Many organizations ask various team members to report out at meetings. “On Monday, bring us up to speed on this project, you’ll have ten minutes in the agenda. Oh, and leave time for questions.” Y’all. If a presentation like this is on your to-do list, please do this one thing: time yourself. Grab a stopwatch …

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