We caught up with LinkyThinks’ Dan Rosenberg to talk about how the latest addition in the company’s repertoire – which helps adults with communication diffculties – came to life.
Founded in Manchester by Jewish brothers Dan and Alexander Rosenberg, LinkyThinks began as an educational resource platform with a mission: to make children love learning, boost their confidence, and equip them with skills to navigate the world with ease. Now, the brothers have expanded their vision with Speakable – or as it’s been described, “LinkyThinks for grown-ups.”
Having started out in the podcast world, Dan’s professional background means that he’s now comfortable and confident with communication and public speaking. But he hasn’t always had a natural aptitude for it; he’s had to work on his skills over the years, something which he now wants to help others with: “I’ve been having many conversations with professionals, startup founders, business owners, and entrepreneurs about many of the things we teach children for their education but applying it to their adult and professional lives. This is where Speakable came from – it arguably should’ve been done years ago.
“If you poll any large group of random people, 77% of them will say they’re scared of public speaking more than death. This is what we want to change!”
Whether it’s confidence in communication, planning better for presenting ideas, dealing with conflict resolution, or how to be better heard around the boardroom table and in the office, the Speakable team are using their expertise to help adults build the skills, self-assurance, and presence they need to thrive in professional and personal settings.
The CAST framework breaks down a person’s interpersonal communication ability through a brief assessment. Find out what the CAST framework is below:
C: Charisma
Are you someone who has a good energy or powerful voice? How do you present yourself in any given opportunity, whether it’s planned or spontaneous?
A: Authenticity
Do you perceive yourself to be communicating in your own voice? Is your voice a representation of your own ideas or mind?
S: Self-confidence
Not the confidence associated with charisma; it’s the self-belief associated with both positive and negative self-talk. Are you at a point where you’ve built high confidence through competence?
T: Thinking skills
What you might call ‘purposeful preparation’. What preparation do you put into your pitches or your ideas before you say them?
The assessment will provide a CAST score which highlights a client’s existing strengths while pinpointing the areas that need the most attention, allowing the Speakable team to focus support where it counts – whether through one-to-one coaching or group sessions.
Dan believes that mastering communication and becoming comfortable with things such as debate and public speaking affects a person’s confidence massively but suggests the road won’t be an easy one: “The solution is not to find a hack or a trick, you have to put yourself through a process of trying and failing on the things that you find difficult. Put in the time and the processes to improve and you’ll get better at doing the difficult thing! I appreciate it’s difficult to put work into something you don’t enjoy or doesn’t fulfil you but if it’s important to you and your development, it’s worth putting the time in to figure it out.
“If you break it down into bite sized pieces, you can do it! The best way to do anything is just get it wrong and get over that fear of failure – it’s transformative.”
These skills can be mastered on your own, but working with Speakable will reduce the time it takes as well as offering valuable insights throughout: “It’s a very exciting time and it’s changing people’s lives!”
