MY

Method

If you take lessons in Lion taming from a lion, you will quickly be eaten

Anyone who has suffered through corporate media training knows the drill. The PR firm schedules a half day session, at which they wheel out a vaguely famous former newspaper editor or TV reporter. A camera is set up on a small tripod and for the next several hours the journalist plays the part of interviewer, firing questions at you. Eventually, a humiliating post mortem is conducted, in which the journalist reveals what the answers should have been, gameshow style. Finally, you are forced to watch your own performance, in a scene reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange.

If I had to design a way to undermine someone's self confidence and teach them to avoid the press at all costs, that would be it. And yet I have witnessed it happen over and over again.

Worse still, most journalists are journalists at heart and they understand the interview dynamic only from their side of the table. By reverting to type, they are setting you up for a fall.

Which is why you need a ringmaster, not a lion.

I don't train, I teach

Public performance is a learned skill, not a natural ability. No one is born good at it. Behind every great public figure is someone who taught them how to do it.

There are rules to handling a media interview and a set of principles which can be followed. Most media training never reveals what these are, but I do.

Not only do I show people how to answer difficult questions, I help them to use those questions to deliver the message they want to convey and get the headline they need.

The same is true of public speaking. It is the only type of performance art in which people are expected to be naturally talented, rather than receiving formal training.

Instead of just watching and analyzing, I actively teach people how to tell a story in public, from command of the room, to content, timing and delivery.

Media training

I teach:

the three rules of interview technique;

the five ways to answer any question;

the three attributes of a great interview; and

I arm people with flexible phrases to give themselves time to think.

Public speaking

I teach:

the six tools of the human voice box;

how to use your own body language to build confidence;

the four techniques for winning any crowd; and

I develop people's speaking style based on their personality type.

Organizing the nonobvious

I provide training behind the scenes in order to make you confident and talented in public.

This is organizing the nonobvious.

Sometimes an external advisor can offer perspective which you cannot get from within your corporate culture. And sometimes you need to prepare outside of the pressures of the organization you lead.

I provide both.

But having headed corporate affairs at major companies, I also work to support the company's in-house team as they work to support you.

After an initial consultation, each session is carefully tailored to your needs and designed within a plan to make tangible improvements over time.

Each session is followed by an assessment document analyzing your requirements and progress.

Everything I do has one goal: to help you build your personal leadership brand.