This month we're talking about a simple but powerful communication principle: when emotions are high, speed should be low. We might rush to respond when we feel frustrated, defensive, embarrassed, or criticized, not because the situation is truly urgent, but because we want relief from the emotion.

We'll discuss how creating space between hearing something and responding can lead to better thinking, clearer communication, and better outcomes. Slowing down doesn’t mean avoiding conflict, it means choosing a response guided by intention rather than reaction.

Next time you feel the urge to respond immediately, ask yourself: “Is this actually urgent, or is it emotionally urgent?” Sometimes, the most effective communication starts with a pause.

AI is helping us write emails, summarize meetings, build presentations, and even prepare for difficult conversations. But as these tools become part of our day to day, are they slowly weakening one of our most valuable skills?

In this episode, we explore where AI enhances communication, and where it can unintentionally create problems like generic messaging, tone mismatches, overconfidence, and less critical thinking. We also discuss why human judgment, relationships, and context remain impossible to automate.

Most importantly, you'll learn practical ways to use AI as a communication assistant rather than letting it become your communicator. If you rely on tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Grammarly, or Claude, this episode will help you communicate with more clarity, authenticity, and impact.

In this episode we're discussing the speaker is the presentation, not their PowerPoint slides.

While your slides should aid you and your talk, your audience's sole focus shouldn't be on the visuals, otherwise you've lost them.

We'll discuss:

• Why dense slides can hurt your talk
• How to simplify dense slides (which can mean different things to different organizations)
• The real purpose around slides and how great communicators interact with them

The slides are there to help guide your audience, give them something else to engage with, and be your speaker notes, but they shouldn't be the main show.