My work as an accent reduction and public speaking coach is all about habits: helping people to form good habits, and let go of unwanted habits, when it comes to their speaking.

I wanted to see how my coaching practices measure up against the teaching of the bestselling expert on habits.

I'm pleased (and relieved!) to find that there's a lot of overlap between James Clear's thinking, and the methods I use in my coaching to get speakers into new and better habits

In 2026, go for simple, not complex. Speaking is simple — especially speaking confidently at work. But many smart professionals find simplicity hard. They’re comfortable with complexity, so they over-explain, ramble, and make listeners work too hard.

People find speaking difficult, because almost from the minute we learn to do it, we are taught not to value it as a skill. ‍ So why do so many high-status, high-stakes jobs require you to be an excellent speaker?

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When people come to me for public speaking coaching, they often say something along the lines of: “I want to sound more confident and charismatic when I speak.”

There’s a high demand for charisma out there, which is why you see so much clickbait about the sort of ‘hints & tips’ that will help you be more charismatic.

Billy Connolly has probably the most famous Scottish accent is the world (ask your parents, Gen Z) and it's not the mildest accent, by any means. And he was still a global success. Do you have to tone down your accent to get ahead?

If you're reading this, I'm guessing you're a mid-career professional, exploring ways to improve your public speaking or reduce your accent, and you've been thinking about this for a while. You've likely come across many coaching options. How do you decide who to trust with something as personal and impactful as your voice?

I'm famous! I was featured in the Guardian last week, in an article about voice coaching for politicians and how developing effective public speaking skills can enhance leadership communication.

Imagine being taken on a guided tour of a magnificent palace.

Each room you enter offers a unique experience: from grandiose ballrooms that leave you in awe, to intimate parlours designed for the warmth and comfort of just a handful of people.

A well-crafted presentation should feel like a similar journey, in both the content and the delivery.

January is my busiest time of year.

This is the month when many people decide it’s finally time to soften their accent, or improve their public speaking and communication skills.

Unconfident speakers, especially those nervous about public speaking in front of even a small audience, often focus heavily on their content to avoid addressing their delivery. This common public speaking challenge highlights the importance of balancing engaging content with confident presentation skills.

 This week I've been developing a tailored program of public speaking and personal impact coaching for the sales team of a big corporate client.

Chris Packham is a professional communicator with decades of experience of speaking on and off camera. The bar is high.

But I'm especially fascinated by the speech as an example of all the things I encourage speakers to do, when I talk about 'doing the listeners' work'.

Most of what the internet says about hand gestures in public speaking is BS. Read my insightful thought leadership (ie. marketing) on the subject. Then click through to the BS, naturally.

The highlight of your presentation is not your slides. It’s not even your content. The highlight is YOU

Anyone on the internet can show you what to do, and pronounce the sounds for you. But coaching means you have an expert to listen to you and guide you.

What we can learn about how to work smarter, based on how we feel and behave in speaking situations where we don't deliver

This post is all about me. No really, it is all about how it’s all about ME

Using tongue twisters to gauge whether someone is too drunk to drive is just another way of telling us what we already know: people judge our competence based on how easy it is to understand us

This week I was featured in an article in the Daily Telegraph, one of the UK's main national newspapers, to talk about politicians' voices, and whether it’s possible to tell if they’ve had public speaking coaching.