by Steven Maddocks | 23 February, 2026 | AI, Communication, Public Speaking
At very short notice I was asked to give a short speech on AI at a networking event, after the scheduled speaker had to pull out. With little time to put something together, I decided to ask an AI agent to write a draft for me. In the office, we usually choose Claude...
by Steven Maddocks | 11 December, 2025 | AI, Authenticity, Communication, Presentation Skills, Storytelling, Trust
The Arrival of ChatGPT-4 The release of ChatGPT-4 in March 2023 marked the moment when AI shifted from a futuristic idea to an everyday tool. Less like a gadget and more like a partner, ChatGPT and other AI Agents (such as Gemini and Copilot) seemed able to reason,...
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...
