Melanie Hicks

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights.

Empathetic Leadership. There is no other time in modern history where the workforce is more in need of authentic empathetic leadership. Over the past two years, employees as a whole have experienced every possible emotion from fear and anxiety to reckoning and enlightenment. They have adjusted their work lives, physically and intellectually, to adapt and still provide results for the organizations that employ them. They have endured zoom fatigue, burnout, uncertainty and for some, job transit...

Discover business lessons from an everyday activity.

On a recent trip to our family lake house, we took our usual pontoon boat sunset cruise. The lessons learned on this particular trip were insightful.

Have you ever noticed that some people stay calm under pressure much better than others? Would you like to become one of those people?
Everyone has a different tolerance for stress, but with practice, you can become much more resilient in the face of adversity. Dealing with stressful situations is part genetics and part skill. You can’t do anything about your genes, but you can certainly enhance your skills!
Practice these techniques and learn to handle stress like a Zen monk:
Take care of yo...

Who wouldn’t like to be at least a little more charismatic? We all know someone that seems to have a magical power over other people. This person can attract and influence people in a way that is hard to describe, but you know this type of person when you see them.
We all know what charisma looks like, but it’s not easy to figure out what charismatic people do that sets them apart from the rest of us.
The good news is that you don’t have to be born charismatic. You can boost your charisma sig...

Social Impact: What does it mean?
One of the benefits of social media is how quickly information—both the good and the bad— can be passed about businesses. People care more than ever about whether their money is going. Given the choice, people often choose to make sure their money goes toward something positive. People want to know their money is going towards the good of a community or those abroad instead of just towards a nice pair of new sneakers.
What is Social Impact?
“Social impact” is...

A life-changing journey through Nepal as an illustration of our journey through fear.

Are you stuck trying to figure out what career you want? Or is your main challenge that you have a hard time getting there? Whatever the case, your frustration is understandable.
You may very well know what you want to do in life. All you really need is a little help to build the path to the career of your dreams.
Now is your time to get it done and this foolproof plan is all you need:
Identify careers you like. By now, you must have identified tons of careers that interest you. It’s normal t...

In Steve Jobs’s commencement speech at Stanford University, he said:

You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

Purpose can feel like that sometimes. We can look back at our lives and see where we’ve come, but we may not have the same confidence that we’re going where we’d like to when we turn around and look ahead. We get lost in the minutiae of the day or give up on that who...

Introduce yourself to our audience. Tell us who you are and what you are currently focused on.

Hello Lovely Ellevate Ladies! My name is Melanie Hicks, Founder of InPursuit, a coaching and consulting firm helping people link their careers with their purpose. I have nearly two decades of experience in the education, nonprofit and social enterprise space. Over the course of my career, I have worked with over 100 clients nationwide in the areas of professional growth, career change, strategic pla...

Dr. Hicks is an author, speaker and education consultant. She is founder of InPursuit & Becoming Congruent Movement.
"If you think you are too small to make an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room." — Anita Roddick
What is impact? What is it not? Mission statements are not impact. Even grandiose acts of kindness or donations of time or sums of money are not impact. Confused?

Encourage Failure — For more than two decades I have used experiential education as the foundation of my teaching philosophy. Perhaps it’s my own propensity to be more excited by things I can visualize or interact with hands on. Beyond just the interest level of students, project-based learning is considerably more demanding of students, engaging more critical thinking skills, greater organization and planning and more collaborative interpersonal skills.
As a part of my interview series about...

Childhood memories can lay the foundation for solid career principles.