Boost Academy of Excellence Blog

I spend a lot of time writing and talking about how we show up for the people around us. Communication. Consideration. The way we treat others in professional settings and beyond. But I’ve been wanting to say something honest about that for a while now. None of it comes from a place of having everything […]

Last night at our monthly Gen Z professionals meetup in Toronto, we tackled something I’m genuinely passionate about. We started with the uncomfortable truths – what leaders say this generation struggles with. Weak interpersonal skills. In-person communication challenges. Difficulty with conflict. Lack of confidence in professional settings. But here’s what I knew: The solution was already […]

When CIBC’s International Professionals Network invited me to speak at their Signature Event – in front of nearly 1,000 professionals, in person and online – I knew immediately what I wanted to explore. And then I spent weeks trying to talk myself out of it. Because the topic was controversial. Nuanced. The kind of subject […]

Last week I was invited to speak at an event hosted a friend of mine in Toronto – a room of CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business leaders. When my friend reached out, he made one specific request: make it relevant not just to the business owners in the room, but to the parents too. So I […]

Think you know business dining etiquette? This 15-question quiz tests your technical knowledge, emotional intelligence, and understanding of the rules most executives get wrong. 3 minutes. Instant results. Quick question: What do you do when a toast is given in your honour at a business dinner? If you hesitated, you’re not alone. Last week, a senior […]

There’s a moment I love in every workshop I lead. It’s the moment when a room full of people who walked in anxious, arms crossed, convinced they’re “not the networking type” – starts to shift. You can feel it. The energy changes. The questions get bolder. The laughter gets louder. And by the end, they’re […]

Ask ten people to define “professionalism”, and you’ll get ten different answers. Ask ten people from different generations, and the gap gets even wider. This isn’t a new observation. But it is a common source of workplace friction – one that plays out in small, daily moments that quietly erode trust, damage relationships, and leave […]

I was speaking with a senior leader recently – someone who manages a large, talented team across multiple client accounts – and she said something that has stayed with me ever since. “They’re good at their jobs. Really good. But the way they communicate makes me question their judgment.” She wasn’t talking about attitude or […]

We spend a lot of time in the professional world talking about communication skills, executive presence, emotional intelligence. We send people to workshops. We invest in coaching. And yet some of the most quietly powerful professional skills – the ones that determine whether a client feels genuinely welcomed or merely processed, whether a meeting feels […]