Communication
Communication is at the heart of all my work, whether as a consultant, a coach, a writer or a speaker. Helping my clients to persuade an external audience is typically just as important as developing the analysis in the first place.
Consultant and Coach
Specific communications assignments have included the following (click on them for more details):
- Developing report writing skills for accountants and others
- Finding an effective means for a firm of risk management consultants to present their services to prospective clients
- Heading-up external relations for the Actuarial Profession
- Training the next (and current) generation of actuaries
Author: I learned to write
In 2020, I launched a new website called I learned to write. As the title suggests, it’s a story about learning to write. Not as a 5-year-old, forming letters and words. But as a 25-year-old business consultant, a 35-year-old writing in the Financial Times and a 55-year-old teaching in business school.
The site is a helpful practical tool for people who want advice on writing or on public speaking. I had immense fun creating it and so I did my level best to ensure that readers can have at least as much fun reading it and watching the pop-up videos on the site. Video content includes material from Jerry Seinfeld, Greta Thunberg, Rachel from Friends, Tony Blair and a dance coach who prised his way onto the site through sheer force of his personality.
Writer and Speaker
Writing and public speaking are a pastime and a passion for me and I enjoy exploring different audiences. I have written for a range of professional journals, including New Law Journal, Accountancy, The Actuary and The Expert. I also publish on this website a commentary on topical matters.
Someone stuck a knife in my neck last week. Fortunately for me …
Blog 19 October 2009
The Financial Times is a medium that I have returned to several times, having written for their legal page in the 1980s and 1990s and their accounting page in the current millennium. In between, I enjoyed a regular guest spot in the FT Weekend’s In the Pink column writing about a range of financial topics that piqued my interest (or the editor’s).
A recurring theme over the years has been exposing a lack of clarity in conventional thinking where I believe it exists. Subjects that have received this treatment include pension costs (not least Being Actuarial with the Truth), Microsoft’s anti-competitive behaviour and David Beckham’s first sending off in an England shirt!
I enjoy public speaking, addressing both lay and technical audiences on a range of topics (click for examples).