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Below, you’ll find my latest blog posts to help you do brilliant work without sacrificing your personal life – less effort, more impact!
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Snowboarding with family for my birthday, it struck me how giving presentations and snowboarding are alike. You may wonder in what way? Well, I remember just after my first snowboarding lesson at the age of 47, I happily started practicing on the easy slopes. Then, I...
How do you feel about receiving feedback at work? Depending on your organization, the frequency and depth of the feedback that you receive can vary. You might have a comprehensive 360-degree feedback meeting with your manager once or twice a year. You might receive...
Wahooooooo! I’m thrilled to be celebrating 200 episodes of the Sasuga! Podcast. I can’t believe I’ve released an episode every week since January 2019! Initially, I was talking about communication skills for listeners working in global business and now the...
Have you ever been on a workation? I’m just back from one in Guam and Saipan. I traveled on my own and thoroughly enjoyed the space and the peace to do some creative work while making the most of the beautiful beach, delicious local food, and opportunities...
You may have heard that I’m increasingly becoming known as The “Less Effort, More Impact” Coach. These days, my focus is on helping overworking women in Japan and beyond to take care of their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing and to expand their...
Can you picture a small child who’s upset and pointing at something? The mother says, “What is it? Use your words.” She desperately wants to understand, but the child’s finger is so shaky and she doesn’t know what he’s pointing to. Keep that image in mind as you read...
When you’re giving a business presentation to clients, colleagues, or a conference audience, you want to be clear, concise, and convincing, right? And you probably want to feel confident - whether you’re speaking in person or online. But you can’t do that when you’re...
Some years ago, I was coaching a Japanese CFO of a global company in presentation skills. Through our sessions, he gradually started to share with me his broader challenge - communicating effectively with his colleagues. The CFO was frustrated because he would...
My Japanese clients in global organizations are often concerned that they can’t convey what they want to say clearly in English meetings and presentations. They usually think it’s an English language problem and that they need to study English harder - get their...
Years ago, I was having lunch with a Japanese lady who was a regular commentator on a live weekend television show. After asking about my work as a coach, she said, “Actually, Helen, every time I’m on the show live, I’m terrified that I might not be able to answer a...
People often see me now as a successful businesswoman - a confident and skilled communicator. But, it wasn’t always that way... When I first joined the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, I felt surrounded by INCREDIBLY intelligent people. I hesitated...
– a conversation with Noriko Makino Villanti During her two decades in the corporate world, Noriko always worked hard, but it was only years later that she realized she didn’t have a goal for herself. She was always running, but didn’t really know where she was...