I recently sat down with a client who was frustrated with herself. She knew what she wanted to say to a colleague at work. She had feedback she wanted to give and real thoughts she hadn’t shared. But when they were together, she held back. Afterward, she kept trying to figure out how she should have said it. Have you ever left a conversation and immediately started having the real one in your head? You know the point you wanted to make. You may even find the words on the drive home or later...
9 days ago • 1 min read
I’ve been thinking a lot about time lately. Maybe it’s because I’m getting closer to 50 and realizing there may be more years behind me than in front of me. Maybe it’s because I’m splitting my time between two cities, building a new life and doing work I care about in Nashville while still coming home to Atlanta, taking care of my mom, and being present for my adult children and the people I love. There’s a lot I want to do, a lot I’m responsible for, and a lot I don’t want to miss. So I’ve...
15 days ago • 3 min read
Almost everything I write in this newsletter comes from a conversation, a personal experience or something I learned the hard way. Mistakes I made as I started speaking. A client working through a bio that finally sounds like them and captures their real value. A TEDx speaker who finally finds their voice in their talk. A question someone asks me in a coaching session that I end up thinking about for a week. That's where the material comes from. People talking to me, and me listening. So this...
30 days ago • 2 min read
This weekend, I went to a dance class. That probably doesn't sound like a big deal. But before the pandemic, dance and improv were two of the ways I reset. They got me out of my head, back into my body, around people, laughing, moving, making things up. Then life changed. Those things went away, and somewhere along the way I stopped making space for them again. There was always a reason. Work. Life. Caregiving. Being tired. Being busy. Having too much to do. And then this weekend, I went...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Last night, I went to support my friend Darryll Stinson at TEDx Cool Springs Youth. I’ve coached a lot of TEDx speakers and watched more TEDx talks than I can count, but these young people reminded me what happens when someone stops worrying about whether they are old enough, experienced enough, or important enough to have something to say. They had something to say. I learned. I laughed. I left inspired. One of my favorite lines of the night came from 17-year-old Abigail Goddard, already an...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
A few weeks ago, my feed was full of people yapping. Not performing. Not teaching a polished framework. Not delivering perfectly edited advice. Just turning on the camera and talking. The Yap Challenge, created by Jessi Jean, asked people to post a video of themselves talking every day. The concept was simple. The response was overwhelming. I do not think it took off because everyone suddenly wanted to become a content creator. I think it took off because more people are realizing that...
2 months ago • 3 min read
One of my favorite parts of coaching TEDx speakers is the journey. Some of them have been on stages for years. For some, this is the first time they've ever tried to share an idea like this in front of anyone. But even the ones who are completely at home under lights get caught off guard by this one. There's something about this particular stage that forces you to get really clear on what your idea is, even when you were sure you already knew. What everyone comes in with is their total lived...
2 months ago • 2 min read
My first draft wasn't too small. It was too full. That happened with both of my TEDx talks. I'd sit down thinking I had one idea to explain, and somewhere in the writing I'd realize I actually had twelve. Every sentence pulled another thread. This connects to that, which reminds me of this other thing, which actually explains the whole point better than what I'd already written. A TEDx talk gives you eighteen minutes (I recommend 9-12). And that constraint does something writing without a...
3 months ago • 3 min read
This week I kicked off another round of coaching for TEDx Buckhead Ave. It's one of my favorite times of the year. A group of brilliant people walks into the room carrying years, sometimes decades, of experience. They have stories, research, lessons learned, hard-earned wisdom, and a deep desire to share something that matters. And almost without fail, they all wrestle with the same thing. They don't have too few ideas. They have too many. You can almost see it happening as they begin to...
3 months ago • 3 min read