Meryl Runion MSCI, CSP

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Communication Skills & Communication Training and Management Skills Expert

Meryl Runion Quick Facts

Main Areas: Communication Skill, Communication Training, Management Skills and Training
Career Focus: Writing, Speaking, Coaching and Training
Affiliation: National Speakers Association

A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Meryl Runion began her career researching environmental protection technology for the Mayor’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee as part of a program called EPMP: The Environmental Protection Management Project. She also played a public relations role for the project on behalf of the Mayor's office. She then moved to the Department of Finance to direct a pilot project designing effectiveness measures to be used by police departments all across the country.

She left to obtain a Master’s Degree in the Science of Creative Intelligence. For over 20 years, Meryl Runion has owned and operated a training and information service company. In addition to designing, marketing and presenting customized seminars, Meryl worked as an independent contractor for The World Plan Executive Council, presenting personal development training on their behalf. For eight years, Meryl contracted extensively for SkillPath Seminars, teaching management, communication, conflict management and personal development classes worldwide.

Currently, Meryl is the President and CEO of SpeakStrong, Inc. a training, speaking, consulting, and information services company. Meryl’s first four books, beginning with PowerPhrases!, have been translated into seven languages and sold more than 300,000 copies worldwide. Her other books – How to Use Power Phrases to Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say and Get What You Want and Perfect Phrases for Managers (both 2004, McGraw Hill) and How to Say It: Performance Reviews (Penquin) – available through her SpeakStrong website.

In her latest book, Unite and Concur: How To Stop Arguing and Start Communicating About Politics, Meryl explains how the same techniques that communication experts apply in negotiations and in diversity training can help "political opposites" have productive political conversations. To counter our usual dysfunctional dialogues, she addresses the five most common "yeah-buts" and provides action steps to elevate the level of political discourse.

She is also the author of a weekly email newsletter called A PowerPhrase a Week, which boast thousands of subscribers who want to become better, more assertive communicators. Register for A PowerPhrase a Week

She is a certified speaking professional who has delivered nearly one thousand workshops, keynotes and other presentations across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. Her expertise is based on 30 years of training and mediation experience with clients such as IBM, who finds her to be systematic; the IRS, who particularly loves her in April; and the FBI, who finds her to be a person of interest.

Other Programs & Highlights

Meryl Runion is the master of assertive communication. From her books to her keynotes and workshops, Meryl can help you find the words to say anything to anyone at work and at home. Meryl is a member of the National Speakers Association as a Certified Speaking Professional.

Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Meryl Runion

1. When you put your best foot forward, make sure it isn’t really a false front.

2. The more you’re willing to risk in a conversation, the more you stand to gain.

3. Speak from the heart and others will respond from theirs

4. The louder you talk, the less they hear.

5. The truth has lasting value and you get to keep your soul when you tell it.

6. If you don’t speak your truth, who will?

7. If Speaking Strong were easy, everyone would do it.

8. Resentment is like drinking poison hoping they will die. The antidote is truth.

9. Don’t play it safe by playing it silent

10. Speak as if every word matters. It does.

Getting Started With Meryl Runion

"Imagine a world where everyone says what they mean, means what they say, without being mean when they say it."

This quote from Meryl Runion is where Speaking Strong begins. It is the foundation of her SpeakStrong Philosophy, and her vision for the world. For her part, Meryl says that her mission is "to increase awareness among people of the need for courageously truthful communication personally, professionally and politically; to provide people with the tools to communicate courageously and speak the simple truth."

Meryl's website www.speakstrong.com is where she keeps the tools she teaches people how to use in Speaking Strong: Her SpeakStrong Principles, Meryl's coaching, keynote, and workshop services, the SpeakStrong Store where she keeps her books, (this is where the free tools are located...) and the index of SpeakStrong Articles.

Information on Meryl's free newsletter can be found here...A PowerPhrase a Week, and here's Meryl's Blog. All excellent places to begin Speaking Strong!