Journal
Audience over speaker
The first golden rule for successful public speaking is, according to top speechwriter Simon Lancaster, an ability to bear in mind that the audience is more important than the speaker. The real indication of the success of a speech is not how good the speaker feels as...
When 1 + 1
makes 3
I am sometimes asked what the difference is, between counselling, or therapy, and coaching. The answer to this question could be long and detailed, but one of the fundamental differences is to do with perception. There is a general perception that the therapist is an...
Good leaders take time to listen
The American writer, poet and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou, famously said, ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ These words are often quoted, as there is an...
Aristotle’s Triad
When Aristotle wrote The Art of Rhetoric in 350 BCE, he described the ability of a speaker to convince and persuade the audience as being the result of three different, but interlinking, principals: logos, ethos and pathos. Considered in conjunction with one another,...
The power of the tricolon
When Barack Obama became the first black American to be elected President of the United States of America in 2008, faces in the Chicago crowd were wet with tears. He declared that change had come to America and his speech sought to break with the presidency of George...
How to have a Solutions Focus
The Solutions Focus, as developed by Paul Z Jackson and Mark McKergow, is a powerful approach to positive change and an approach to problem-solving that can be used with individuals, teams and organisations. It is described as being an ‘approach of radical simplicity’...