Best Laid Plans One of my favourite hobbies is triathlon. This year I was particularly excited, as I’d signed up to do an Ironman 70.3 (a Half Ironman) in Les Sables d'Olonne, in the west of France. The setting is beautiful and the course pleasantly flat. As we...
Simone Biles: Great Gymnast, Great Communicator
I have been watching the Netflix documentary Simone Biles: Rising. I am utterly awe-struck by this extraordinary and inspirational person. I could wax lyrical about her mind-boggling gymnastic feats or about the profound courage and determination she has shown in...
The Eyes Have It
How to Get a Job? An article in The Metro caught my eye this week. Under the headline ‘This Zoom trick could help you nail a job interview,’ the writer recommends looking at the webcam during an online interview. When an interviewee looked down (at the interviewer’s...
Clear Communication in Politics: Launching the MSB Executive Election Predictor™
It’s general election day in the UK, which means tomorrow we will have a new government and possibly a new Prime Minister. If opinions polls are to be believed we will wake up tomorrow with a Labour majority, and Keir Starmer will be heading to see the King to be...
The Power of a Sip of Water
‘Make sure you have a glass of water to hand.’ That is a piece of advice we always give our clients at MSB Executive when helping them to prepare for important presentations. Pausing to take a sip of water fixes a dry mouth, calms jitters, and buys you a moment to...
How Stories Inspire Action
The Setting South Warnborough is an idyllic village in Hampshire with a busy little shop at its heart. in 2001, kind, bubbly Jo Hamilton took over the shop. It included a Post Office counter, a vital service that many villagers depended on. Little did Jo know that the...
MSB Executive’s Filming Day: What We Learnt
MSB Executive’s filming day was long in the planning. We had decided late last year to video the team talking about our work. We felt this would be an excellent way to showcase our special combination of expertise and passion. With the possibility of shooting...
How to Feel Comfortable Communicating Assertively
Assertive communication – some people want it, some people fear it, other people overdo it! Life is too short to not speak up and be heard or to be so focussed on exerting control that you damage relationships along the way. It’s important to speak up, but how can we...
Dealing with Nerves when Speaking in Public – according to Chat GPT (Part 2)
In Part 1 of this two-part series, we gave ChatGPT a chance to write one of our blogs. How did it get on? The task for ChatGPT: Write me a blog on 'How to Overcome Nerves when Speaking in Public' Grade: ChatGPT recently passed its MBA exam at the Wharton School,...
Dealing with Nerves when Speaking in Public – according to ChatGPT (Part 1)
At MSB Executive we love writing our blogs. An interesting topic comes up in the office, and someone dashes off to write a blog to share with the the world. But very occasionally this doesn't happen. Sometimes we are all simply too busy running workshops or coaching...
Has a Dragon’s Den Start-up Found the Solution to Eye Contact at Online Meetings?
Here at MSB Executive, we’re big fans of BBC TV’s Dragon’s Den. Usually we find ourselves looking at the pitchers’ performance, but in one recent episode it was the product being pitched that grabbed our attention. The View-You Cam Pitchers Dan Baker and Jonathan...
Book Review: Smart Brevity by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz
Smart BrevityJim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy SchwartzLondon: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2023. Overview The premise of Smart Brevity is that business writing has failed to move with the times. In the smartphone age, anyone can easily and freely send their every...