#1 Tip to Conquer Your Speaking Nerves
Increase Your Impact as a Speaker and Presenter
July 10th, 2023Here’s my number one tip for controlling speaking nerves: Arrive at the venue the night before. It’s usually not practical, but that’s my preferred time frame. Forty-five minutes is the minimum. Doing so gives you more control over circumstances that can send even very experienced speakers into elevated stress mode. When I arrived at a […]
read more...#1 Tip to Conquer Your Speaking NervesYoung voices making waves
Uncategorized
May 10th, 2023“Women who get c-sections are pussies.” This mind-blowingly ignorant pronouncement was made by a Calgary high school teacher to his biology students. Not last century, but this year. Does thinking about a room full of impressionable young people hearing this claim made by an authority figure in the tax-payer funded education system enrage you? (Three days later, […]
read more...Young voices making waves4 word choices to increase your impact
Effective Communication
May 9th, 2023We use words every day to persuade, communicate, and form connections. By understanding the science behind language, we can tweak our word choices to influence people’s perceptions and attitudes. That’s why I frequently tune in to podcasts like Think Fast, Talk Smart for new insights. On a recent episode, Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at […]
read more...4 word choices to increase your impactWhat’s more important than who you know?
Effective Communication
March 27th, 2023You’ve probably been advised that the route to advancement lies not in what you know, but who. However, in my experience, what’s more important than who you know, is who knows you. Every significant career opportunity I’ve ever had has come about in part because of the public profile my thought leadership delivered. These have […]
read more...What’s more important than who you know?The ongoing commitment to ensure women’s voices are heard
Our Advocacy Work and Women in politics
March 15th, 2023Published in the Toronto Star Decades of research make clear that ensuring women’s voices are integrated into decision-making in every arena delivers better outcomes. Women are being silenced, violated and gaslit. And not just in Sarah Polley’s brilliant, Oscar-nominated film, “Women Talking.” In recent weeks, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Scotland First […]
read more...The ongoing commitment to ensure women’s voices are heardHow to stop using filler words in media interviews
Master Media Engagement
February 28th, 2023In recent months, I’ve been fortunate to interact with activist teens, graduate engineering students, aspiring journalists and international development researchers. Intelligent, industrious and energetic, they’ve left me inspired by their intellectual gifts and commitment to making the world a better place. I think many may also be extremely articulate, but that’s a harder call. Because […]
read more...How to stop using filler words in media interviewsHow to write an effective cover letter
Effective Communication and Improve your Writing
January 30th, 2023What’s the number 1 rule of persuasion? “Make it easy for people to do what you want.” A crucial corollary to that is “Craft your communication with the audience you’re trying to influence in mind.” Here’s what that means if you’re applying for a well-paid, senior level job that specifies the need for someone with […]
read more...How to write an effective cover letterWhat we can learn from Jacinda Ardern
Our Advocacy Work and Women in politics
January 30th, 2023Chutzpah and humility are a rare but precious combination. It takes the first to run for Prime Minister at 37. It takes the second to have the self-awareness to bow out after six years — despite earning international accolades for leading through a pandemic, mass murder and volcanic eruption — because you’ve candidly assessed your […]
read more...What we can learn from Jacinda ArdernOnline hate that targets women is a threat to democracy itself
Our Advocacy Work
January 10th, 2023Published in the Ottawa Citizen Women are now being subjected not just to insults and demeaning comments but to vicious lies, doctored images and sexual and violent intimidation. Elon Musk isn’t responsible for how unappealing public life has become for even ambitious women. But the billionaire’s ascension to Twitter’s c-suite and his reinstatement of some […]
read more...Online hate that targets women is a threat to democracy itself“Call out” versus “invite in”
Effective Communication
January 10th, 2023I’m in awe of #GretaThunberg. It was her climate activism that first got my attention, of course. But last week her masterful smackdown of the a**hole kickboxer now arrested on human trafficking charges cemented my hero worship: Her understanding of toxic masculinity…! Her wicked sense of humour…! Her economic use of language…! “yes, please do […]
read more...“Call out” versus “invite in”