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Dominic Colenso is a former actor turned leadership, sales, and communication coach who has worked with tens of thousands of people over the past 12 years. He trained at Drama Centre London, acted on stage and screen, and is the author of Cut Through.
In this conversation, Dominic explains why the biggest communication mistake is making it about yourself instead of your audience, how to prepare in the five minutes before a big pitch, and the three ingredients of cut-through: simplicity, emotion, and "level eight" energy. He also covers whether charisma can be trained, why silence beats over-explaining, why AI makes human connection more valuable, and the fear he faced before leaving acting behind.
Find Dominic: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominiccolenso/
Builders & Doers is produced by Horizon Search.
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0:00 Intro0:49 Trained as an actor, now building a business around leadership, sales, and communication1:04 From directing and teaching at drama schools to "you know about storytelling, can you help our team?"2:55 What drama school teaches about human behavior that business school doesn't4:12 Superpower or manipulation? Why the communicator sets the intention5:11 Stanislavski and codifying the "emotional intention buttons" we press every day6:50 Politicians, confidence as a proxy for competence, and Helen Mirren in MobLand9:04 Everyone has innate confidence — what "presence" in great actors really means10:55 Living in an "AHA world": AI-focused, hyper-connected, always on12:03 How much of charisma is trainable?12:45 Switching it off — why stars slip past autograph hunters at the stage door13:41 Playing all the octaves: you're allowed to be more than one version of yourself at work14:28 The most common communication mistake: thinking it's about you, not the audience15:30 Less than two seconds to make a first impression16:25 Five minutes before the biggest pitch of your career: walk the garden, have a cup of tea18:05 Crying on cue — how actors learn to access and control emotion19:56 The drama-school song exercise21:50 Vulnerability as a superpower in the boardroom22:40 Why founders avoid sales, and the proximity problem that sinks good products24:29 Cut-through ingredient one: simplicity and the two-week rule25:45 Ingredient two: emotion — what should they feel when the Zoom ends?26:10 Ingredient three: energy, and why you should aim for level eight27:25 The behaviors that are hardest to change and why awareness comes first28:58 When your second and third thoughts keep coming: the problem of over-explaining30:58 Getting comfortable with silence32:07 Why "any questions?" gets tumbleweed, and what to ask instead33:15 Preparing with rigor: discover and distill34:27 AI, Hollywood, and billions of storytellers with studio power at their fingertips36:35 Why live, human-to-human experiences will be worth more39:09 Can AI measure executive presence?40:08 Performing to the test: will AI scoring reshape how we communicate?41:16 AI-written emails — "that doesn't sound like Bob"43:05 Why he won't let his 12-year-old daughter hand her homework to AI43:54 AI search summaries: a version of the truth, not the truth46:50 Imperfection as a way to connect47:40 Rehearsal is about failure, not perfection48:37 Jonathan Frakes, Sir Ben Kingsley, and asking to experiment after a good take50:43 The hardest reinvention: going all in and leaving acting behind52:57 Judi Dench and the lesson of not taking it too seriously55:00 Where to find Dominic and closing thoughts#through #communicationcoaching #leadership #publicspeaking #SalesTraining #executivepresence #storytelling #charisma #ai #ActingForBusiness #buildersanddoers #horizonsearch
