To Speak Well, First Breathe Well Talking: most of us spend many waking hours (and even some sleeping hours!) pouring torrents of language out of our mouths. Have you ever stopped to wonder how your body manages this amazing feat? Unless you have some vocal training –...
The topic of breathing arises in practically every coaching session, masterclass and workshop we run at MSB Executive. You’d be forgiven for rolling your eyes at the thought of being taught how to breathe! Surely we already know everything there is to know? After all,...
A Great Teacher Without saying a word, the woman sitting in front of me clenched her fists, arched her back, opened her mouth as wide as it would go and yawned luxuriantly. As the seconds ticked by, I and my fellow students watched in amazement as she twisted and...
Apologies have been the centre of attention in the UK news recently. What is a real apology, a half-apology or a non-apology? It is a topic we sometimes discuss with our clients. When things go wrong, when is an apology appropriate and how is it best done? These...
Our Head of Coaching, Nicola Hainey, reviews Microsoft Powerpoint’s new feature: Presenter Coach. An AI tool to help rehearse presentations? In honesty, we were slightly sceptical. However, having reviewed Microsoft’s new Presenter Coach in Powerpoint, we do think...
3 Minutes of Embarrassment There’s a hilarious home video of a Nativity play in an English village church. It usually goes viral at this time of year. A four-year-old girl doesn’t so much sing as bellow her way through ‘The Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy’. The girl, now...
The relationship between the mind and the body has been the subject of philosophical speculation for millennia. Here at MSB Executive we enjoy a bit of chin scratching, and it is a favourite topic of ours. Many of our team have professional training and experience as...
We all know that sinking feeling when we’ve started the day off positively, only to open our diaries and see a flurry of colour blocks demanding every second of our day to be spent in front of our computers on calls. We see this frustration often at MSB during our...
If I were to ask you, “What part of the body do you use for listening?” most English speakers would emphatically shout ‘EARS’. Of course, that’s what gets drummed into us in our infancy. However, the Chinese symbol for listening embodies a far more complex and...
‘We can’t decide what to do about our backgrounds.' This question arose recently during an online communication workshop I was running for the senior team at a law firm. I cast my eye across the framed faces on my screen. Most people were evidently sitting in a home...
Though we cover a range of disciplines at MSB Executive, a few core themes cut across all our specialist areas. Stress is one. The subject arises wherever we work, from executive coaching sessions to communication workshops. So when Martyn, our founder, told us...
Lisa’s heart is racing. Her breathing is rapid and shallow. Her armpits are sweating, her hands are clammy, and her neck and face are red. Her legs are jittery, her mouth is dry and her teeth are clenched. Her brain is alternately racing, then going blank. She has...
