Read the pages, then do the work. Real excerpts from Architecting Resonance, the field exercises I run with my coaching clients, and a self-assessment to map exactly where you stand today.
Eight columns hold up your presence — from the steadiness of your inner story to the congruence of your outward signal. Start here: raise each one and read your whole structure as a single skyline. This is a baseline — rate where you are today, not where you want to be, then re-measure in six months.
Score all eight columns 1–10 to reveal your total elevation, your strongest column, and your Resonance Gap — the shortest tower to break ground on first.
Read each question below, then set its score — tap a column on the skyline or use the 1–10 dots. Rate where you are today; this is your baseline to re-measure in six months.
Every dysfunctional presentation collapses in its own unique way — but after twenty years inside Silicon Valley's highest-stakes rooms, I've found the rubble always traces back to one of eight structural defaults. Before you can retrofit your leadership, you have to admit which survival structure you've been building.
The truth was much harsher. I wasn't lacking resources; I was lacking resourcefulness. I wasn't clear on my message, I didn't know my audience, and most damning of all, I didn't believe a word I was saying. My students could smell it on me from the hallway. I was a narrator who didn't believe in his own story.
In the theater of high-stakes communication, every dysfunctional presentation is its own unique disaster… There are a thousand ways to build a bridge that falls down. But the great presentations? Those are almost always built on the same unshakeable laws.
The complete passage — from my "Oh hell no!" first day of teaching, through the Alien Abduction, to the full field guide of all eight archetypes and their structural retrofits.
Free to read, save, and share. Then take the diagnostic below to find your default.
Think of your most recent high-stakes presentation — the one where you felt the most pressure. Answer these seven questions honestly; your pattern of choices reveals the Archetype of Dissonance you default to under pressure.
Send your archetype and reframe to your inbox — a copy goes to Mike, too.
Early in my tenure at HP, I interviewed nine executives with the same simple question. The first eight were a masterclass in dissonance — jargon, bluster, and data lakes. Then the Ninth Executive walked in, and the atmosphere shifted before he even sat down. Resonance isn't a personality trait. It's a state you've already lived — you've just been taught to leave it in the parking lot.
He didn't lead with his title or his laundry list. He led with curiosity… He tuned his frequency to ours, making us feel that this wasn't just another meeting, but the most important moment of his day.
I could feel it in the first thirty seconds. It wasn't magic. It was the "flashing sign" on his head, which read: I know where we are going. I know why it matters. I'm inviting you to come with me and you can trust me.
The complete field study — all nine interviews, the mental bet I placed that day, and why resonance is the ultimate competitive advantage for those willing to drop the camouflage.
Then capture your own 9th Executive moment in the field report below.
"Coming alive" isn't a skill you go out and buy — it's a state you've already embodied somewhere in your life. Capture the raw data. Don't overthink it.
The Internal Audit — a time you were fully present, intentional, and alive.
The External Audit — a time you were on the receiving end of resonance.
Three words that describe you when you are resonating — e.g., Unfiltered, Intense, Playful.
Your job for the rest of the book isn't to become a "Great Communicator." It's to rebuild the bridge back to the person you already are.
Send your report and it lands in my inbox — and you'll get a one-click option to email a copy to yourself so the evidence doesn't disappear.
Every leader carries a Deficit Script — a narrative born from an old wound that keeps them playing small. The Alchemist's Flip transforms that exact deficit into your greatest competitive advantage.
Then, with a single, synchronized clap, Tony stopped the room. He let the silence settle into our bones, then sliced through it with one sentence: "The only thing keeping you from everything you want is the story you keep telling yourself."
It hit me like a blinding light. My deepest belief — that my father's death had left me a permanent underdog — wasn't a fact. It was a choice. In that auditorium I didn't just fix the belief; I flipped the world on its head. This incredible loss wasn't my deficit; it was my Frontrunner's Advantage.
The complete chapter — the MBA that didn't quiet the fear, the Tony Robbins event that cracked the cage, and the flip that turned "broken goods" into the Frontrunner's Advantage.
Then run the Flip below — name the old story, flip it, and find the evidence.
Tony Robbins once told a silent room of 10,000 people: "The only thing keeping you from everything you want is the story you keep telling yourself." Work the three steps, then file your results.
What is the "broken goods" narrative you carry into high-stakes rooms — the quiet voice that speaks up right before you step into a presentation or meeting?
Examples: "I'm just a technical person, I don't belong in the boardroom." / "My background isn't as elite as theirs." / "I haven't done this before."
Now take that exact deficit and find the Frontrunner's Advantage hidden inside it. The author lost his father at age ten — for years he saw that as a permanent deficit, until he realized it had given him an extraordinary ability to read people, build maps from scratch, and study the mechanics of communication that "naturals" never bother to examine.
A new story only sticks when you find the evidence for it. Look back at your Ninth Executive moments — the times you were fully resonant, fully alive. How does your new story explain those wins?
Send your results and they land in Mike's inbox — and your printable report opens in a new tab to save or print for your first session.
Not an exercise to finish — a ritual to repeat. Run these four checks before any room that matters, and close with the manifesto. Sixty seconds to leave the Deficit Script in the parking lot and walk in as the Architect.
Who am I building for in this moment? I will stop trying to be "right" and start being curious. I will honor their burden and build toward their win. I will speak to the human in the chair, not the title on the door.
Which version of me is holding the microphone right now? I am leaving the Deficit Script in the parking lot. I am not a seeker of permission; I am a source of solutions. My history is not my anchor — it is my fuel.
What is the neon sign on my forehead flashing? I choose my frequency before the room chooses it for me. I am the Thermostat, not the thermometer. I will look at this audience with sincere appreciation until they feel safe enough to follow me.
What is the one truth I am here to transfer? I will not squander this non-renewable moment. I will move past the Data Lake and strike the chord. Information is the vehicle — emotion is the fuel. I will be fully in this moment and fully alive while I can be.
"I commit to building structures of resonance. I will no longer hide behind the archetypes of dissonance. I will lead with the authority of my scars and the clarity of my intent. I am an Architect of Resonance."
If a diagnostic hit a nerve — or your skyline surprised you — the next step is a 1:1 structural audit of how you're actually showing up. Or take the whole field manual home.