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What I've actually been up to this year
Published about 3 hours ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader,
This newsletter has covered a lot of ground in recent months: illness at work, grief, phone etiquette, communication etiquette, dealing with difficult people, workplace civility, multigenerational communication, device etiquette, identity, belonging, human connection at work, and so much more.
Today I wanted to step back and share something different: a look at some of the training I've actually been doing out in the field this year.
Not every client lets me bring a camera in. These are the ones who did, and I'm grateful for it, because it's probably the clearest picture I can give you of what working with me actually looks like.
CPA Ontario - Leadership Exchange I was engaged by CPA Ontario to facilitate their Leadership Exchange, a leadership and networking event for a room full of internationally educated professionals working toward their CPA designation. We worked through real leadership scenarios CPAs navigate daily in Canadian workplaces, inclusive leadership in diverse teams, collaborative versus hierarchical leadership models, and paired it with cultural workplace insights so participants understood not just what to do, but how Canadian workplace culture shapes leadership expectations in the first place. Check out the video here.
CIBC - "Where Are You From?" I stood in front of nearly 1,000 professionals at CIBC's International Professionals Network and asked the question I'd been told never to ask. One attendee told me it was a pivotal moment in how she talks about her own heritage. I share a framework in this one for how to ask that question, when to leave it alone, and how to receive it with grace if you're the one being asked. Check out the keynote here.
Eye Contact - What Most People Get Wrong Eye contact isn't universal: what reads as confident in one culture reads as aggressive or disrespectful in another, and for many autistic individuals or trauma survivors, sustained eye contact isn't a sign of engagement, it's genuinely painful. I had participants try blind contour drawing, sustained eye contact the entire time, no looking at the page, and the debrief afterward said more than any lecture could have. Check out the video here.
Agency - "Show Up Like the Expert You Are" This session came out of something their team told me directly: client calls were occasionally slipping out of their control, going off-topic, losing the agenda, deferring to senior leadership the moment things got tough. So we built a session on holding the room without having every answer: how to lead a call independently, respond to a hard question with composure instead of deferring, and stay the authority in the room even when the strategic instinct isn't there yet. The charisma card sort, breaking presence, power, and warmth into behaviours teams could actually name and practice, was one piece of a bigger conversation about what it takes to be trusted in that seat. Check out the video here.
Verity - The Art of the Business Table This session transforms business meals from casual encounters into strategic opportunities. We covered dining etiquette, hosting protocols, how to actually hold a conversation over a meal, and the mindset shift that changes how people see you at the table. Check out the video here.
Hello to Sold - Networking & Sales I partnered with Paul Doucet of Sandler Systems to run a morning workshop for business leaders on turning connections into revenue, without the awkward card-swapping version of networking. We covered how to work a room with purpose, how to move a conversation toward a real sales outcome, and why giving to your community before asking for anything back is the whole strategy. Check out the video here.
New Episode of Boosted: A Foot in the Door
Analisa Allen messaged me on LinkedIn because she recognized my last name, she remembered a girl with the same surname from a hospital room in Trinidad, decades ago, and figured it couldn't be a coincidence. She was right.
That connection turned into this episode. Analisa moved to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago in 2018 and rebuilt her career from scratch, including taking a role well beneath her experience level on purpose, just to get a foot in the door. We talk about the moment a hiring manager recognized her name and background and decided to bet on her before the interview even started, and what it's actually like to answer "where are you from?" at work, sometimes as genuine curiosity, sometimes as something else entirely.
This is the kind of thing my training sessions are built around - the etiquette and human connection behind everyday workplace scenarios, not just the obvious stuff like emails and handshakes. If you're curious about bringing training like this to your team, just reply to this email and we can set up a time to talk.
Subscribe for tips on handling workplace challenges, building communication and social skills, and exclusive course updates. Hear success stories from professionals, perfect for young professionals and leaders aiming to sharpen their skills and foster respect.
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