Rhetoric: seeing through language
Rhetoric for experts and institutions
For the moments when something is at stake: the hearing, the difficult announcement, the board meeting, the interview or the thesis defence. I help leaders, experts and researchers understand the situation, the audience and what is really at stake, and prepare a message that holds up under scrutiny. The work draws on fifteen years of research and teaching in rhetoric.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Netherlandish Proverbs, 1559. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.
Courses and workshops
For groups that communicate in exposed positions: public authorities, management teams and research groups. Participants learn to analyse a situation rhetorically and to prepare messages that hold up, using your own cases as material.
Individual coaching
For leaders, experts and researchers preparing something that matters: a speech, a hearing, a media interview, a board presentation or a thesis defence. We work through the situation, the audience and the message until it holds.
Lectures
Research‑based lectures on rhetoric, trust and institutions, for staff days, seminars and conferences.
Lecture topics
Each draws directly on my research and can be adapted to your audience.
The return of the sophist
Rhetoric, populism, and trust in a post-truth age.
What central banks teach us about trust
How institutions explain themselves when the stakes are economic.
The ambassador
Is it possible to speak on someone else’s behalf?
Ethos, pathos, logos
What Aristotle actually meant, and why it still works.
How we work together
1
Needs analysis
A free conversation about your situation, audience, and goals.
2
Design
A proposal built around your own cases, not generic exercises.
3
Delivery
Teaching, practice, and feedback, on site or online.
4
Follow-up
A short review of what changed, and what to practise next.
Who it’s for
Public authorities and institutions
Universities and research environments
Management teams and boards
Experts, spokespeople and researchers
Questions
How long is a course?
From a half-day workshop to a series of sessions over several weeks.
Can you teach in Norwegian?
Yes, as well as in Swedish, English, French, and Portuguese.
What does it cost?
Fixed quote after the needs analysis.