I'm Cliff Atkinson.
For 20 years I've taught executives how to turn slides into a story, and lawyers how to turn a courtroom screen into a campfire.
Next I'll show you how to stop carrying it all alone, so we think better and thrive together.
We are freer than we think, when we start seeing beyond constraint.
What I do
I can show you how to see beyond constraint.
Twenty years ago, my first book Beyond Bullet Points showed turned PowerPoint from a boring teleprompter into a persuasive cinematic backdrop.
Then the trial attorney Mark Lanier invited me to apply the concept to a big trial, and we turned the courtroom screen into a campfire to gather 12 strangers and find justice.
He won a $253 million verdict, and Fortune magazine called our work "frighteningly powerful."
Since then, I've worked on 150+ cases, helping my clients win even bigger, including a $5 billion antitrust verdict.
Over my decades working on high-stakes cases, I realized what we were doing in a courtroom to help small groups make big decisions was the proof of concept for something bigger:
We don't have to carry it all alone. When we form our own circles of trust, we reduce the overload and begin to think better and thrive together.
I'm the author of works on communication, persuasion and human performance
Beyond Bullet Points: The visual storytelling classic, 125,000+ copies, translated into a dozen languages, named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon.
Freer Than You Think: My writing hub on Substack, featuring the latest on my thinking and projects. Visit here.
What clients say
"Cliff, I just wanted to say a big thank you to you. Your presentation was spot on and fantastic!" — Kristin G. Hamlin, Vice President, Wells Fargo
"Our members are still talking about the great workshop." — Christina Busso, Executive Director of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, DC
"Cliff is stinking amazing!" — Mark Lanier, Trial Attorney with $20 billion in verdicts
About Me
I hold a B.A. from Baylor University and an MBA from Richmond, The American International University in London. I served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, and have lived in 32 places across the world. I'm currently living between Dallas and Montreal with my husband, Louis.
Ready to talk?
Whether you're preparing for trial, building a high-performance leadership team, or curious about what I teach, let's have a conversation.
