OUR WORK
Why Performance Skills Matter
Studies show that poor presence and communication skills cost teams time, money, and trust. Oral communication skills—including voice, presence, empathy, and clarity of delivery—can impact team effectiveness, and litigation and negotiation outcomes.
Our interactive performance skills workshops, tailored coaching programs, and high-impact consulting services improve outcomes by helping brilliant professionals get out of their heads, into their bodies and the space, and really connecting with others on a human level so that they can deliver when it counts.
Leadership & Team Effectiveness
-
Shaping effective communication skills is crucial for business success and teambuilding across industries, with patterns of communication (especially face-to-face communication with energetic conversations and gestures) as significant as all other factors combined in determining effectiveness. (Pentland, The New Science of Building Great Teams, Harv. Bus. Rev., 2012)
-
Executive presence—consisting of gravitas, communication, appearance, inclusiveness, decisiveness, and humility—hape how leaders are perceived and strongly influence who gets promoted, trusted with high-stakes projects, and chosen to represent the organization. (Hewlett, The New Rules of Executive Presence, Harv. Bus. Rev., 2024)
-
Corporate communication skills data shows that language used in corporate earnings calls can affect stock price movement by as much as 2.5%, and that voice, authenticity, confidence, warmth, clarity, and visual performance elements impact successful communication. (Abrahams, A Big Data Approach to Public Speaking, Stanford Bus., 2021)
-
Communication is no longer considered a “soft skill” among the world’s top business leaders. Leaders who reach the top study the art in all its forms – writing, speaking, presenting – and constantly strive to improve those skills. (Gallo, How Great Leaders Communicate, Harv. Bus. Rev., 2022)
-
Executive presence (including confidence, communication ability, engagement skills, and interpersonal integrity, among other core characteristics significantly influences successful leadership, impacting perceptions of authority and effectiveness. (Dagley & Gaskin, Understanding Executive Presence: Perspectives of Business Professionals, Consulting Psychol. J. Prac. & Res., 2014)
Negotiation & Persuasion
-
Effective legal negotiators exhibit assertiveness, empathy, flexibility, problem-solving, and social intuition. (Schneider, Shattering Negotiation Myths: Empirical Evidence on the Effectiveness of Negotiation Style, Harv. Negot. L. Rev., 2002)
-
Vocal confidence influences the success of persuasive communications, impacting listeners’ perceptions of the validity of their thoughts. (Guyer et al., Paralinguistic Features Communicated through Voice Can Affect Appraisals of Confidence and Evaluative Judgments, J. Nonverbal Behavior, 2021)
-
Attributes such as self-confidence, physical appearance, and presentation style significantly influenced juror decision-making. (Diamond et al., Juror Reactions to Attorneys at Trial, J. Crim. L. & Criminology, 1996)
-
Positive evaluations of attorneys’ evidence presentation and preparedness were significant predictors of favorable verdicts; jurors’ favorable perceptions of attorneys’ closing statements correlated with increased likelihood of winning the case. (Wood et al., The Influence of Jurors’ Perceptions of Attorneys and Their Performance on Verdict, Jury Expert, 2011)
-
Effective communication and courtroom leadership were pivotal in influencing jurors’ perceptions and verdicts, emphasizing the importance of attorneys' appearance, demeanor, and logical presentation. (Walters & Walston, How Jurors See Lawyers: A Report on Juror Observations of Attorney Advocacy in the Courtroom, Baylor L. Rev., 2007)
-
Favorable attorney vocal characteristics influence decision-making and are slightly more likely to lead to wins at U.S. Supreme Court. (Chen et al., Attorney Voice and the U.S. Supreme Court, Law as Data, 2019)
-
Jurors’ perceptions of attorneys were significantly influenced by their demeanor, perceived confidence, clarity, respectfulness, belief in their case, and ability to present arguments effectively. (Frank & Morera, Professionalism and Advocacy at Trial—Real Jurors Speak in Detail About the Performance of Their Advocates, Baylor L. Rev., 2012)
