Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week’s question comes from a comms manager in California who asks: “Do you have any advice on how to get better at public speaking? I get so nervous even just doing a presentation in work, I especially feel worried about the Q&A that will inevitably come at the end because maybe I won’t know the answers. I’d love to figure out a way to get better at this and feel more confident when presenting. Any tips?” As a...
8 days ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week’s question comes from a communications manager in Calgary, Canada who asks: I’ve moved into a new role and I now run the company townhalls. The townhalls are okay but not great, they could use some improvement and I’d love to make it better. I’m not really sure where to start. What do I think about first, is it the format or the speakers or something else? Hey you’re in good company here and you absolutely...
15 days ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's question comes from an internal comms manager in New York who asks: I've been following you on LinkedIn for years and would love some advice on how to start posting on there. How do you do it? You're always at the top of my feed every day, sometimes I feel like a stalker! I am good at writing comms but seem to have a mental block about writing on LinkedIn, it feels sort of embarrassing if that's the right...
22 days ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's question comes from an internal comms manager in Boston who asks: "I work in a company with limited tech and tools, for example our intranet is on a very old version of Sharepoint and I have no email tool other than Outlook. I've asked for budget for a new digital platform to improve all of this but I've been told no. It was a pretty quick and firm no which left me feeling disheartened! How are other...
29 days ago • 7 min read
Hey Reader, Every week in this newsletter, I answer a question from a reader. Today’s question comes from a Head of Internal Comms in Edinburgh, Scotland. He asks: “I'm looking for a new role and I’m seeing so many job ads that require specific industry experience, for example they want 5+ years experience working in the manufacturing sector or at least one job working in finance etc. Should I not bother applying if I don’t have the industry experience they want?” Hey thanks for sending in...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's question comes from a Head of Internal Comms in Belgium who asks: "I've recently taken up a new role and it looks like the company has a problem with communication channels. There are so many channels and no one is clear what they're all for or when they should use them (or not use them!). I don't have a budget to hire a consultant to do an audit for me and I'm wondering if I could do it myself on top of...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. Today's question comes from close to home, from a reader in Dublin who is working as an Internal Comms Manager. "My leadership team has basically told employees that we're expected to 'use AI for everything' to save time and money. I get the efficiency argument, but it doesn't feel right to run our whole comms function through AI. Am I being a dinosaur, or are my instincts right? is there a real case for keeping some...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, When I was 11 years old, my teacher told us about a new train that was running between England and France. She told me it goes under the sea. Young-me was baffled. How was it going under the sea? Did it not leak if you opened a window? Could you pet fish as you went by? I think I was picturing something like this: My teacher was, of course, talking about the Eurostar train that was running through the Channel Tunnel, an incredible feat of engineering that enabled people to travel...
2 months ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Last year I went viral on LinkedIn for a post I flung together quickly on a whim, but that clearly struck a nerve: It talked about the absolutely suffocating, overwhelming and confusing environment most employees find themselves in, pulled from one platform to another and expected to navigate multiple tools and platforms simply to keep up to date with what’s happening in work. It’s exhausting, isn’t it? This kind of fragmented workplace has been a serious problem for years and I...
2 months ago • 6 min read