It’s Probably Not What You ThinkHere’s what I’ve realized after 30+ years of teaching, speaking, and – let’s be honest – procrastinating: My persistent “Yes, but…” isn’t fear of failure. It’s not laziness. It’s not lack of motivation.It’s boredom. It’s rejection. It’s frustration. It’s awkwardness.For most of my career, I’ve been saying some version of:

Why You Keep Avoiding the Work That Actually Matters

Image credit: IrinaKashaeva”We’re going in another direction this year.”Seven words. One email. A gig I thought was locked in, gone. Blurgh.I stared at my screen. Felt that familiar tightness in my chest. The one that whispers, “You’re falling behind.”2025 wasn’t catastrophic, but it wasn’t great either. Inquiries came in, but momentum? That disappeared somewhere between

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗠𝘆 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗦𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻 (𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜’𝗺 𝗗𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻 2026)

Avish, his son, & his wife at the CSP award ceremonyThe year was 2012. Ten years into my speaking business and my bank account looked like a zip code. And not like the zip code for Ketchikan, Alaska either (look it up). I’m talking about one of those New Jersey zip codes that starts with

Transforming Decades of Struggle in Just 6 Months

Image Credit: madgoochYour smartest employees are avoiding the change you need them to embrace. And it’s not because they don’t understand it.I realized this when I caught myself doing the exact same thing last week at the National Speakers Association annual convention, spending time with fellow professional speakers who are brilliant, hilarious, and generous –

Four Ways to Get Your Team (and Yourself) to Embrace the Change They’re Resisting

Image credit: robeo123In my experience when most people face change, they respond in one of two ways: Power through it (which often leads to burnout and missed opportunities) Freeze up and avoid it (which leads to stress and missed opportunities)But there’s a third option. One that unlocks better decisions, more innovation, and surprising clarity:Curiosity.Not just

The Most Overlooked Tool for Navigating Change? Curiosity

I’ve been keeping this under wraps for a while, but I’m finally ready to share something I’ve been building behind the scenes…As you probably know, for over 30 years, onstage and off, I’ve explored one deceptively simple idea:Yes, And.It started in improv comedy, but over time, it became something bigger.I’ve seen it transform how teams

A sneak peek at what I’ve been building…