Communication Confidence - Week 1 - Conversation Starters!
It was 2015, and I was facilitating a CEO forum with fourteen leaders who had gathered for what they thought would be another typical session. Instead, I gave them something unexpected: 30 minutes, a walk-and-talk 1:1 with a partner, and one question to explore together.
I offered them seven life-defining questions to choose from:
When those leaders returned from their walk-n-talks, something had shifted. The insights, the energy, the encouragement—it was electric. In thirty minutes, something profound had happened that rarely occurs in boardrooms: a genuine human connection. That moment birthed my first book, originally titled "Catalytic Conversations:," later published in 2016 as "The Conversationalist! Building Life-Defining Relationships One Conversation at a Time!
Here's what I didn't expect: my publisher and hundreds of readers told me the most valuable section was the 50 Questions of Conversationalist—simple prompts to spur discussion beyond news, weather, and sports. Teams used them for meeting kick-offs. Leaders for better one-on-ones. Families at the dinner table.
But over a decade of coaching, mentoring, and training leaders, I noticed something troubling. People weren't struggling because they lacked good questions. What they lacked was Communication Confidence—the ability to respond with clarity, presence, and conviction when it mattered most.
That realization changed my focus helping leaders communicate more effectively!
During my doctoral studies, I took an empirical approach to understand the social and psychological barriers keeping people from connecting authentically. Why do capable leaders freeze in crucial conversations?
What's happening beneath the surface when communication breaks down?
The answers I discovered in research and while working in the leadership lab training over 1,000 leaders across 100+ sessions, form the foundation of Aptly—a one-day intensive designed to help you respond with confidence in your leadership. We're bringing this program privately to organizations team and offering several open programs in 2026. Dates and details coming soon.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing six insights from this decade-long journey—from executives' walk-n-talks to doctoral research that revealed what's really holding us back. You'll discover why trust is the hidden foundation of every conversation, how to listen at a level most people never reach, and what it takes to move from knowing what good communication looks like to actually embodying it in real time.
But here's what I want you to know today: you don't have to wait for a training program to start making a difference. Right now, wherever you are, you can choose to be intentional with the people you meet.
Pause for a moment
Be present
Listen deeply
Ask a few timely questions.
You never know the impact it will have on your relationships at work or at home.
Next week, I'll share why even the best communication skills fail without one critical foundation that most leaders overlook. Until then, I challenge you to lean into one of the 7 Life Questions or one of the 50 that might be worth exploring in your next conversation?