Kyle@ycstrategist.com · Confluence Conversation Strategy Group

Founder & Principle Conversation Strategist

I’ve spent more than 25 years studying communication, teaching it, leading organizations, coaching, and working with people from all walks of life.

I served as a tenured Communication Studies faculty member at the college level, teaching interpersonal communication, communication theory, public speaking, and intercultural communication.

I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of California, Davis, and a Master of Arts in Communication from California Baptist University.

I’m proud of that background. It’s given me a deep understanding of how people communicate, how they respond to one another, and what can make an important conversation difficult.

But my understanding of communication doesn’t come from professional experience and education alone.

**Kyle@ycstrategist.com · Confluence Conversation Strategy Group** Portrait to be supplied

My life hasn’t been a straight line.

Alongside the accomplishments I’m proud of, I’ve faced serious personal and professional setbacks. Some of them public, painful, and life changing.

There was a time in my life when I knew I needed to have an important conversation. I was afraid that having it could change everything I’d worked for, including what people might think of me, what it could mean for my career, and what my future might look like.

So I didn’t have it.

I convinced myself I could handle things on my own. I couldn’t. And the consequences changed my life in ways I never imagined.

I take responsibility for the decisions I made and what followed. But that experience also taught me something I now understand in a very different way: sometimes the conversation we’re most afraid to have is the one we most need to prepare for.

I can’t go back and change what happened. But I can use what I’ve learned to help someone else approach a difficult conversation with greater clarity and preparation.

That’s not something I learned from a textbook. It’s something I lived.

Why I Created This Work

My approach is grounded in communication theory, refined through decades of study, teaching, and professional practice, and reinforced by lived experience. I have not simply thought about these conversations. I have spent a career studying why they matter, what prevents them from happening, and what happens when they do not.

I am focused on the conversations people don’t have. Not because they don’t care. Not because they don’t know something needs to be said. Sometimes they’re afraid of what might happen once they say it.

I created this work because I understand that. I believe people deserve a place to prepare for those moments before they’re standing in the middle of them.

A place where they can say what they’re thinking, ask the questions they’re hesitant to ask, and work through how they might approach a conversation that feels overwhelming.

I can’t promise that preparation will make a difficult conversation easy. Or that the other person will respond the way you hope.

But I believe there’s value in walking into an important conversation having given it the thought and attention it deserves.

That’s why I created this work.

The Conversation Before the Conversation

Whether you’re preparing for a critical personal conversation or looking to bring communication strategy to your organization, I’m here to help.

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