We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christopher Peck a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Christopher, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

I spent decades in the theatre—as an actor, playwright, educator, and most importantly a professional stage director with an MFA in Stage Direction from Baylor University. I grew up a shy, bullied child; but for whatever reason, when I stood on stage, I felt empowered and safe behind the character I was responsible for portraying. It didn’t take long to embrace the immense satisfaction which came from directing and teaching other actors to exploit their own courage, power, and creativity through storytelling and performance.

At the height of my career, I was teaching at a state university in southern Alabama. I was contributing regularly to multiple academic journals, was the co-artistic director for a local theatre company, and adapted and directed a production of Henrik Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People” which earned an award for excellence in directing from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

I was also teaching primarily non-theatre major students in the department’s Introduction to Theatre courses. What came up again and again were students discussing their public speaking class. This was a hybrid course I learned only met in-person a handful of times per semester when the students were required to present in front of their classmates. I know how vulnerable, naked, and insecure a performer can feel onstage. I’ve been there myself and directed hundreds of others. It was only through some remarkable directors, teachers, and mentors, I was able to harness the power of public speaking and performance through some incredible theatrical skills and technique. These students had none of those skills, none of this equipment, and were expected to perform confidently and capably in front of an audience of their peers. And to magnify that challenge further, their performance wasn’t some fictitious character to hide behind—it was their apprehensive and exposed character of self.

Why don’t stage directors teach public speaking?

It was a question which ultimately led to a major pivot. In 2016, I moved to Denver, CO, and began my career as a communication coach and consultant. If this was the level of public speaking education offered to these students, how many business professionals in varying stages of their careers were also lacking foundational skills to help them present boldly, intentionally, and influentially? I’ve spent the better part of a decade refining a process and approach to public speaking and interpersonal communication which takes theatre training and makes it accessible and applicable to business professionals.

Christopher, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I like to say every speaker needs a stage director—it doesn’t matter if your audience is thousands or just one. You need someone who sees communication as something more than the transference of information. Communication is everything—as complex and nuanced as people themselves. It is influential, emotional, performative, motivational, seductive, verbal, and non-verbal. It builds relationships and communities, activates audiences, and can cripple an organization or help it stand out and thrive. It is the most important thing human beings do. So, what reason would you have for not wanting someone in your corner who understands performance and communication holistically? Your own personal stage director who can provide valuable and specific presentation feedback to ensure alignment between the intention behind your messaging and its impact on your audience. It’s why I work with keynotes, TED and TED X presenters, workshop facilitators, sales teams, and call centers. If you have a specific intention motivating your communication, you need a professional director to guarantee that intention is clear. You need someone who understands how to shape your idea into a vision and how to take that vision and turn it into the ideal performance for your ideal audience.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I love this question! Because it sums up my first five years as a coach. First, there’s no such thing as a “non-creative.” Everyone is creative. When I hear someone say, “I’m not creative,” I hear an old script or tape. Someone told that person they’re not creative, not allowed to be creative, or their “creativity” wasn’t good enough. However, that kind of binary thinking—people are creative or not creative—posed significant challenges to my early work. I found myself influenced by business leaders I respected who felt I needed to tone down the creative, tone down the theatre, tone down the performance because it wouldn’t resonate with corporate non-creatives. It resulted in a real branding crisis for me. I am deeply creative and wanted desperately to lean into what I knew would help communicators the most, which is approaching communication and public speaking as something undeniably creative and performative. Once I turned that corner, and allowed space to be my creative, theatrical self, I started seeing more success in my business. I still get pushback. A lot of people are afraid to “perform” because they haven’t divorced that word from “pretend.” The authenticity movement of the last decade has created a lot of fear and doubt around showing up inauthentically. I’m here to tell you that you’re always performing and you’re always authentic. My job is to ensure that you’re also intentional. Because just like those scripts telling you that you’re “not creative,” you have old scripts resulting from past people and circumstances holding you back from the intentional experience you want to create as the person you are working to become.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I know this book is going to feel so obvious to many—Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” is to date one of the most significant communication resources available. It’s a little dated, but the information is timeless. When I read this book for the first time, I was blown away by how applicable it was even in 21st century context. I saw myself and my own areas of deficiency—specifically in interpersonal communication—and I saw the world around me in desperate need of the skills presented. These concepts are foundational to my work.

And then last year I learned something amazing. In the 1930’s, my great-grandparents owned a horse stable in Forest Hills (Queens), New York. Stabled at that facility was none other than Dale Carnegie’s horse. Over time, Carnegie and my great-grandparents became good friends. At least good enough that when they were expecting a little boy, Carnegie happily agreed to be the godfather. On September 1, 1933, Dale Campeau Peck was born. Yes, named after Dale Carnegie. Carnegie went on to open a savings account in my grandfather’s name. I have a letter written by Carnegie to my grandfather, and a signed copy of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” he sent to my grandfather when he was ten years old.

I know without question I have the skills, passion, and experience to succeed in this work. But I’ve never been so certain of my path as the moment I discovered this piece of my family’s history.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.speakintoactioncomm.com
• Instagram: @chrisspeaksup
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-peck-ba7927147
• Youtube: @christopherpeck9559
• Other: https://creativemornings.com/talks/perspective-with-christopher-peck/1https://www.preferredhealthmagazine.com/5-communication-skills-to-master