Author     Speaker     Trainer     Teacher     Coach     Consultant

​

I'm lucky. I discovered in college exactly what I wanted to do with my life. And I figured out how to get pretty good at it. After taking a public speaking class, I was offered a job as a tutor for other students enrolled in speech. I loved it! Not only did I love giving speeches, but I also loved helping others who were giving speeches. I admit the first few times I did it, I was nervous. But then I discovered a secret to overcoming the nerves. It wasn't easy and it wasn't obvious. But after doing the work, things got much better. Making these discoveries and my interest in how I could use them to help others led me to choose a major in Communication at U.C. Santa Barbara. There I also became fascinated by the processes of how small groups function. After graduating with honors, I went on to graduate school at the University of Southern California (go Trojans) at the Annenberg School of Communication. At the time (mid 1990s) I was studying this new technology called "the internet." I was interested in how groups and organizations could use these new technologies to communicate and connect people better.

 

After taking my third teaching position at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo I began to study a new field of Cognitive Psychology. What interested me the most, was how our brains functioned to influence communication. You see, I had taught thousands of students, and some just never could get past their fear of public speaking, no matter how much they practiced. 

 

I began to realize that communication was not just a skill. You have to understand, I had spent my entire adult life studying communication as if it were just a skill. And I was being taught by people who prided themselves on teaching the Skill of Communication. So, I understand my ideas are a little radical. But emerging research (within the last 5 years or less) conclusivly supports my theories. And my own research does as well. 

 

So I have discovered that if we truly want to change how we communicate we have to change our brains. And if we can understand how other's brains work, we can better connect, influence, persuade and lead them too.