A Curated Core

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Build conversational competence and confidence.

People communicate every day through formal and informal discussions, each one an opportunity to increase engagement, facilitate collaboration and innovation, and build trust.

Having effective interactions that strengthen relationships and result in better outcomes can prove challenging, especially in today’s fast-paced and distraction-filled environments.

Fortunately, we can learn behaviors to improve our conversations, which in turn improve so much more.

Master the message. Move the audience.

Ideas compete for attention, so the ability to speak compellingly can set leaders apart.

Giving strong presentations or interviews turns knowledge into influence. Leaders can maximize that with experience and tools to connect with the audience, convey ideas effectively, and adapt to dynamic situations.

The message matters; deliver it meaningfully.

Create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Within and across organizations, leveraging the capacity and creativity of all involved leads to impactful outcomes. Strong collaboration skills allow groups to turn friction into fuel for innovation, and workplaces become more productive, respectful, and energizing.

More than “team building,” developing collaboration skills requires things like self-awareness, shifting mindsets, emotional intelligence, and engaging complementary strengths.

Communicate complex ideas visually.

In communication, eloquence often means speaking and writing persuasively. Visual Eloquence (VE) adds the ability to convey complex ideas visually, by hand, through diagrams, sketches, and simple drawings.

Why does VE matter in the era of AI?

A leader’s ability to share their visions effectively, in fast, easy, and fun ways remains powerful. VE is not about artistry; it is about clarity in communicating concepts with simple graphic elements.

The value and impact of purposeful behaviors.

While other choices may feel limited, the choices around personal conduct remain with the individual. Learning how to recognize and effectively engage these points of choice has meaningful impacts.

Leaders who choose to show up with awareness, authenticity, and clarity creates conditions for others to do the same. This generates alignment with values and purpose, driving an environment of trust, confidence, and commitment.

Sharpen the power to envision and create new things.

How frequently is imagination used at work?

Everything we create was imagined first. For leaders to use uncertainty and complexity to their advantage, no human quality is more important than imagination.

Visionary leaders who want to turn vision into positive change will excel by developing their imagination and appreciating imagination in others.

Develop skills to understand problems in context.

Framing a complex problem is a mix of intention, intuition, and information. Ultimately, it is a function of the context in which the problem unfolds.

In our rapidly changing world, framing a complex problem once is never enough, because its context and circumstances keep changing.

Problem crafting is the dynamic practice of framing and reframing problems continuously, to get closer to their root causes and generate the best possible outcomes.

Understand the impact of our VUCA world.

To identify and reduce the impacts of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity), leaders must ask this question: what are we trying to accomplish?

Being comfortable with uncertainty is only part of the mindset. The other part is a willingness to change the status quo and see opportunities in obstacles.

VUCA environments require developing a strong imagination muscle and deeper understandings of adaptive and technical challenges.