I'm Cliff Atkinson.
For 20 years I taught leaders how to turn slides into a story, and lawyers to turn a courtroom into a campfire.
Now I realize that everything I had been taught about communication was wrong.
We are entering a new frontier of communication.
Twenty years ago, I wrote my first book Beyond Bullet Points that showed leaders how to turn slides from a boring teleprompter into a persuasive cinematic backdrop.
Then the trial attorney Mark Lanier invited me to apply the concept to a big trial, and we turned the courtroom screen into a campfire to gather 12 strangers and find justice.
He won a $253 million verdict, and Fortune magazine called our work "frighteningly powerful."
Since then, I've worked on 150+ cases, helping my clients win even bigger, including a $5 billion antitrust verdict.
After two decades working on high-stakes cases, I finally realize that much of what I had been taught about communication was wrong.
We are not machines attempting to put messages in other people's heads. Our brains are constantly predicting meaning of ourselves and others, before the message arrives.
This has profound implications for the way we communicate, and points the way toward a new frontier of communication that offers tremendous advantage for those who understand and apply it first.
I'm the author of works on communication, persuasion and human performance
Beyond Bullet Points: The visual storytelling classic, 125,000+ copies, translated into a dozen languages, named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon.
Freer Than You Think: My writing hub on Substack, featuring the latest on my thinking and projects. Visit here.
What clients say
"Cliff, I just wanted to say a big thank you to you. Your presentation was spot on and fantastic!" — Kristin G. Hamlin, Vice President, Wells Fargo
"Our members are still talking about the great workshop." — Christina Busso, Executive Director of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, DC
"Cliff is stinking amazing!" — Mark Lanier, Trial Attorney with $20 billion in verdicts
About Me
I hold a B.A. from Baylor University and an MBA from Richmond, The American International University in London. I served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, and have lived in 32 places across the world. I'm currently living between Dallas and Montreal with my husband, Louis.
Ready to talk?
Whether you're preparing for trial, building a high-performance leadership team, or curious about what I teach, let's have a conversation.
