by Martyn Barmby | 14 October, 2025 | Communication
When we talk to clients about communicating with impact, body language is a key building block. This starts with authoritative posture and getting rid of unnecessary tension. Once we’ve worked on these, we ask if there are any questions—and almost always,...
by Steven Maddocks | 31 July, 2025 | Clarity, Communication, Q&As
We work with our clients on questioning skills for various scenarios, including interviews, panels and fact-finding conversations. One of our top pieces of advice is to ask a single question at a time. This takes discipline. It is surprising how prevalent stacked...
by Steven Maddocks | 30 June, 2025 | Authenticity, Client Skills, Communication, Pitching, Trust
In a post earlier this month, I reflected on the dangers of communicating over-certainty about the future. Naturally, if we are selling our services or asserting our credentials, we want to gain an edge over our competitors. One way of doing so is to envisage the...
by Steven Maddocks | 9 June, 2025 | Authenticity, Client Skills, Communication, Trust
“My clients expect a degree of certainty from me that I am not always able to give.” If you work in an advisory role – for example, as a consultant, lawyer or investment professional – that probably sounds familiar. The future is by its nature uncertain. Yet many...
by Steven Maddocks | 25 February, 2025 | Authority, Communication, Leadership, Q&As
In Part 1, I discussed handling challenging questions. As an example, I used Boaz Weinstein’s interview with Investor’s Chronicle. This week, let’s flip the script and explore how to ask challenging questions effectively. Challenges of Asking Questions We often...
by Martyn Barmby | 13 February, 2025 | Authority, Communication, Leadership, Q&As
Fielding Tough Questions We are often asked by clients to help them prepare to deal with tough questions in high-pressure situations. Listening to two completely different interviews over the past couple of weeks has highlighted some key lessons on this topic – not...
