Brett Rutledge is a master of communication who has parlayed his knowledge into a career as an in-demand business speaker, facilitator and coach.
Brett has over the past 10 years forged a solid track record both here in Australia and overseas. His clients include such respected names as AMP, Fuji Xerox, Canon, BHP Billiton, Vero, Axa, IBM, Samsung, Westpac, Ford, Peugeot, ANZ, HSBC, Fonterra, General Motors, Caltex, DHL, Bridgestone, Nestle and Microsoft, to name just a few.
In 1998, at just 28 years of age, Brett became the youngest World Champion of Public Speaking. At the time, he was one of only four ever winners outside of North America. Since then, other world speaking champions have sought Brett’s advice and coaching to assist them in their own aspirations and many use Brett as an example of a truly gifted communicator who is both different and genuine. As one of Brett’s multinational clients put it… “He just knows his stuff so well and his ability to read people and situations and take the room to where they need to go is just awesome!”
The world championship, however, is just a small part of Brett’s experience. He has packed a lot in his 39 years, and was a classic high-achiever from a young age.
· As an academic, Brett earned degrees and awards in marketing, commercial law, management and labour relations.
· As an entrepreneur, he established a successful commercial enterprise at the age of 18 and within two years was employing more than 10 people.
· As a businessman, he gained a wealth of experience in senior consultancy roles specialising in human resources, strategic marketing and organisational culture that culminated in a general management role at age 26.
· As a communicator, Brett’s abilities are so honed and nuanced that he can change his voice and his approach in over 150 different ways. Accents, age and even personalities can all be mimicked or impersonated with the sort of speed most of us reserve for normal, everyday conversation.
· As a verbal communications coach, Brett spends quality one-on-one time with some of Australia’s leading CEOs and business leaders, advising them on how to get the best out of their face-to-face performances, whether they be in boardroom situations, staff presentations, public announcements or media addresses.
Brett brings a wealth of knowledge to the area of verbal communications.
He is a keen observer of content and vocabulary, delivery (including nuance and tone), and overall audience connection and engagement.
Interestingly, he often takes a contrarian view to established notions of public speaking and communication.
For example, he debunks the concept of body language as “rubbish”, and is critical of business and government leaders who undertake media skills and presentation training (even acting lessons!) to focus on surface displays but neglect structure, content and effectiveness. The result is often robotic ‘by the numbers’ performances that fail to resonate with and engage their audiences.
