I’d never done it before. For the last eight years, I’ve been facilitating workshops and seminars for professionals and executives from different industries, but all in the private sector. I knew what to expect, and over time, I became quite comfortable with my interactions with them. But a few weeks ago, I was challenged. I was invited by the academic director of a double-accredited, globally-ranked business school in Africa to facilitate a public speaking session for senior executives. Only this time, the client was a government-owned organisation in the maritime industry, and the partici ..read more

It happened a few weeks ago. My first son, Jason C. Ossai, left us to begin a new phase of his life at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Boston, USA. He left the shores of Nigeria, the country he’d known for almost 19 years, for the land of his birth. On that Sunday, our entire family, including my mother, accompanied him to the airport in Lagos. We helped to check him in (after the usual chaos of transferring items into a third suitcase to adhere to weight limits). We saw him through the process, gave him a big group hug, and watched him head to the boarding gate. He was clad in hi ..read more

As is the norm when a year draws to an end, I take stock of my biggest communication lessons. In 2022, I was privileged to experience the following: Lectures delivered to executive MBA participants at a globally ranked business school in Africa. Seminars designed and delivered to corporate clients. One-on-one communication coaching sessions with executives. Coaching sessions to prep students for keynote speeches and industry report presentations. Communication sessions in a pro bono programme for some of the brightest young professionals in the country. Podcast appearances ..read more

I was looking forward to the industry report presentations of final-year MBA students from a globally ranked business school In Africa. The industry reports were a critical component of the business school’s annual Career Day event for the MBAs. It was a full day of networking, interviewing, and other activities where 30 top companies set up booths and interacted with MBA students. The business school meticulously planned the event to showcase the academic prowess, communication skills, and employability of its students. For the final-year MBAs who were to graduate in a few months, it was a ..read more

I saw the pre-programme brief, and I nodded. I was scheduled to deliver two sessions on nonverbal and interpersonal communication skills in a management development programme. Twenty-four mid-level executives from a leading health management provider in Lagos, Nigeria, had signed up for sessions and completed the pre-programme questionnaire. My eagle eyes zeroed in on one of the desirables for my sessions: managing the younger generation. With the insights from the prospective participants on the need to hone their interpersonal skills, I designed the programme to be relevant and interactiv ..read more

It seems counter-intuitive to use pauses in your presentations and speeches. By nature, presentations or speeches are oral. You’re selected/invited to share your thoughts with an audience, whether in person or virtually. So you’re required to speak. Pausing also seems risky. After all the hard work preparing your presentation/speech and rehearsing, the one scenario you don’t want is to appear unprepared and unqualified to speak. I get it. But consider that the best connection you can have with your audience is by being believable. And there’re two angles to this: Your presentation or spee ..read more

Last week, I was invited to facilitate some communication sessions for the Venture in Management Programme (ViMP) at a globally ranked business school in Africa. ViMP is an annual mini-MBA programme spearheaded by the nonprofit organisation Junior Achievement Nigeria, with the collaboration of the Lagos Business School and other partners.  It’s a week-long programme introducing promising graduates to crucial management principles and skills to prepare them for rewarding careers. Topics typically include entrepreneurship, business ethics, accounting and finance, strategy, negotiation, a ..read more

Unpopular premise: Communication coaching is not for everyone. In the course of my work as a communications trainer, facilitator, coach, advisor, and speaker, I meet driven professionals, many of whom are executives. They are ambitious, smart and have big goals — work their way through the ranks to the elite club of the C-suite in their organisations, or go down the entrepreneurial route. A few weeks ago, two executives contacted me separately after my lecture and requested coaching sessions. The requests warmed my little heart because those executives decided to take an extra step to impro ..read more

I remember the day I cried at work because my boss intimidated me. I was in my 20s, and it was my first job. I was fresh out of a master’s programme from the London School of Economics & Political Science — fully minted as a graduate with potential, and I was eager to make my mark in corporateville. After five years of university studies in the UK (including a year abroad in France), comprising my undergraduate and master’s degrees, I returned to Lagos, Nigeria. I got married two months later. So, there I was, an optimist who was fortunate to land an attractive job. Then I had to move t ..read more

I only recently came to respect this understated problem. And I should know how vital the appropriate tone is in emails. After all, some years ago, I wrote a no-fluff post about crafting powerful emails. It is now a recommended resource in the management communication module for executive MBA students at a globally ranked, double-accredited business school. I even updated the article a few months. Moreover, in my bestselling business communication book Influence and Thrive, I dedicated a comprehensive chapter to emails. Still, it was not until a few months ago, when a colleague in HR r ..read more