Daily Inspiration: Meet Michael Ashford

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Ashford.

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In July 2020, I was sitting on my couch with my wife watching the news. Each story seemed to build a dimmer and darker narrative of life in the United States. Riots in the streets of every major city in the U.S. after the murder of George Floyd. A contentious Presidential election. And of course, a global pandemic. Emotions and feelings were running hot, and we were seemingly a deeply divided country. But I had the thought to myself: “I don’t think this is who we really are.”

So I set out to see if I could find evidence that I was right. I am a former journalist, and I believe everyone has a story to tell. I believed that if we could hear each other’s deep, complex, nuanced stories more, that we’d realize we share much more in common than not. So I started a podcast to explore this idea. The podcast was called The Follow-Up Question, and my goal was to interview people with different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences to see if I could uncover how we find common ground.

This journey eventually led to two TEDx Talks and inspired my book, “Can I Ask A Question? Following your curiosity to shift the paradigm of communication, conflict, and change.”

Along the way, I began to realize that there was a deeper, root-cause issue at play when it comes to our inability to achieve common ground across differences. I realized that for most of us, we weren’t taught how to communicate well through our formal education. We were taught how to exert our ideas and opinions and facts onto each other, but we never received an education on the other half of communication — the extraction of ideas, perspectives, and experiences.

This realization led me to rebrand my podcast to be called Rethinking Communication, where I seek to fill in the gaps of our communication education.

At the same time, I started coaching others in the art and skill of communication, whether it be on a stage as a speaker, in a meeting room at work, or in the living room at home. I work with my clients to help them uncover their whole story, where I act as an investigative journalist working to uncover deeper truths and meaning. I am the Head Speaker Coach at TEDxManitouSprings and a volunteer speaking coach with TEDxBoulder, and I work with companies and non-profits to deliver effective communication training to their leaders and teams.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My work has been well received overall; however, I’d say the biggest struggle has been getting past peoples’ feelings of bitterness and anger during disagreements over really contentious issues. Asking people to adopt a mindset of curiosity over certainty has been no easy task, especially when morals and values and belief systems are at play.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I bring my background as an award-winning journalist to my work as a speaking and communications coach. It is rare that someone is asked deeply curious questions about a topic of idea that is important to them, but when it happens, it can unlock deeper meaning from a story or perspective that the person may not have ever articulated before. Which is why with my clients, I do a deep-dive interview with them, where we uncover the wholeness of their idea or their perspective. The insights we uncover through this process are where the gold lies for speakers and leaders to be able to inspire action, bring about change, and overcome conflict.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
First, they can listen to my podcast, Rethinking Communication, and subscribe to my newsletter, The Follow-Up, on my website at michaelashford.com. I’m also always willing to be a guest on others’ podcasts to talk about effective communication.

All of the information regarding my coaching and my speaking is available on my website.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://michaelashford.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/michaeldashford
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldashford/
• Twitter: https://x.com/michaeldashford
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@michaeldashford