Melissa Havel

Skill building: Influence and Impact

Melissa Havel
Influence Coach and Senior Communications Strategist

Learn about the difference between influence and persuasion, and how you need both to positively affect outcomes.

Influence simplified

Insight into not just what questions to ask, but how to ask them to inspire  people to deliver results.

The art of the question

An understanding of how you are working and its impact on your impact.

Maximize your impact

You want to present your ideas and opinions with unshakable confidence. You want to feel powerful in every room or zoom, but sometimes, when the moment is at hand, you start second-guessing yourself. You want to be both assertive yet kind. But you also don’t want to come across as pushy or a pushover. Maybe you’ve even spent the night counting the opportunities you missed instead of counting sheep. Or worse, you spent the night spiraling about that thing you regret saying.&nbsp;&nbsp;In this course, you'll learn how to step up without stepping on toes, inspire your employees to take meaningful action and captivate your boss with your words so your ideas are heard and valued. Whether you are delivering a presentation, leading a meeting, or having a difficult 1:1 feedback conversation, I’ll give you frameworks to help you with what to say and how to say it so you’re not just part of the conversation but leading it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Every lesson is live and is packed with opportunities to practice and refine your communication skills. You’ll learn how to take up space in the “right way.” And how to get your employees to be thanking YOU when you ask them to take on another project.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;You will develop the communication skills that will help you drive your team’s success and earn that next promotion or raise!&nbsp; Next Cohort: July Cohort is Tuesdays at 2:30pm EST

The Ultimate Leadership Edge

Course Syllabus

Four 1-hour-long workshops<ul><li>Manager Mindset</li><li>Fruitful Feedback</li><li>Spellbinding Strategy &amp; Defining Decisions</li><li>Confident Collaboration</li></ul>

Tuesdays

Compact learning format for busy professionals

No required homework

Every session is recorded, so you can watch it on your own if you can't make the live session.

Can't make a session?

Course schedule

First-time managers (Congrats!) Develop the critical skills that differentiate a follower from a leader

Startup founders &amp; business ownersBuild a culture that will empower your employees to create their best work

Experienced leaders with a new team Quickly ﻿establish trust, improve productivity and amplify your influence

Who is this course for

You'll learn how to ...

Discover the most costly communication mistake most managers make in giving feedback and the seven-step formula to spark change.

Give feedback that actually results in change

Understand the psychology underneath great storytelling. Learn the technique politicians like Barack Obama use to make your message stick with limited time.

Develop spellbinding presentations & pep talks

The 5 key questions that will transform your relationship with your direct reports. Plus, the simple communication checklist that will help you optimize every meeting.

Run effective 1:1s & efficient meetings

Why trying only to control your employees is a waste of time and what you need to say instead that actually increases accountability and improves trust.

Improve employee engagement and productivity

The secret the best conflict negotiators know to surface issues before they become problems.

Breakdown unproductive conflicts and avoid misunderstandings

The simple tip for converting any task or project into a hero’s mission that employees want to take on.

Inspire employees with a clear & compelling mission

The 5-part formula to take your boss from questioning your ideas to following them.

Manage up with grace & power

Many people think charisma is only for extroverts, but I’ll give you two simple tools to increase your likability instantly. In the course you’ll get scripts and formulas to help you get started. And don’t worry, we’ll practice so you can sound natural when you use them.

Level up your confidence and charisma

🚀 Learn the 8 critical skills to make you a confident and compelling leader. 

May 2025 

Jess Goldberg

Teaches communication skills  @ Columbia University, Executive Coach & former VP in AI Robotics 

Feb 2025 

July 2025

Changing minds is hard—but not impossible. Winning support, making a case, and reaching agreements are skills anyone can learn—but most people get them wrong. The reality is:➡️ People are irrational (even when it’s in their best interest).➡️ Good ideas don’t sell themselves.➡️ More arguments won’t magically make someone say “yes.” You need something else. You need influence. Without influence, it’s tough to shape decisions, keep people accountable, and move projects forward. This usually eads to missed deadlines, frustration, and feeling stuck. 💡 But it doesn’t have to be that way. For many people influence is invisible. It’s cultural. It’s a nice to have. Yet it‘s the strongest force that drives results. With it, you’ll build trust, inspire action, and gain buy-in. In this course you'll learn to:✅ Overcome the inner obstacles that limit your influence✅ Define how you want to show up and shape your reputation✅ Build trust-based relationships that create real opportunities✅ Handle pushback with confidence✅ Use proven persuasion techniques that fit different situations Course format:➡️ Pre-work videos &amp; articles➡️ Interactive live sessions➡️ Simple frameworks to explain complex concepts➡️ Worksheets &amp; templates to apply what you learn➡️ Ready-to-use phrases &amp; questions➡️ Office hours for personalized guidance Who takes this course?Software Engineers, Engineering Managers, Directors, CTOs, Product Managers, and Researchers from companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, and Square have found this course transformative. Bonus📩 Get a 1-year free subscription to The Caring Techie Newsletter ($100 value). Questions?Not sure if this course is right for you?Email me at thecaringtechie@gmail.com—I’m happy to chat!

Having the right idea doesn't matter ... if you can't get others to join you.

Course syllabus

Foundations of Influence &amp; Power 90mins<ul><li>Case Studies</li><li>Psychology of Influence and Power</li><li>Mindset: Eliminate &amp; reframe power leaks</li><li>Mindset: Show up with Power</li></ul>Questions &amp; Answers (optional) 30mins

Monday January 15th, 2024

Personal Branding 90mins<ul><li>Understanding Personal Branding</li><li>The Personal Branding Framework</li><li>First Impressions: Write your personal elevator pitch</li></ul> Questions &amp; Answers (optional) 30mins

Thursday January 17th, 2024

Building Relationships in Organizations 90 mins<ul><li>The 5 stages of building relationships</li><li>The anatomy of trust</li><li>Organizational understanding: Build your influence map</li></ul> Questions &amp; Answers 30mins

Monday January 22rd, 2024

Principles and Tactics of Persuasion 90 mins<ul><li>Influencing up, down, and across</li><li>Moments of influence</li><li>The 9 Tactics of Persuasion</li><li>How to disagree without rubbing people off</li></ul> Questions &amp; Answers (optional) 30mins

Thursday January 25th, 2024

Tech Leads and Senior+ Engineers lacking formal authority to mandate decisions, who rely on influence to lead, motivate, and get buy-in.

Engineering Managers who want to navigate complex, challenging cross-functional projects, where direct hierarchical influence is limited.

Anyone who wants to find a larger scope, have a bigger impact, and get to the next level.

What you’ll get out of this course

Identify and reprogram mindset leaks—including impostor syndrome—using the Personal Power Leaks worksheet. Master confident word choices, body language, and reputation-building moves so you stop underselling yourself and make yourself heard.

Build unshakable personal power & an outstanding reputation

Use the 4-stage relationship framework and stakeholder power/interest grid to build, nurture, and maintain a tribe of allies

Build trust-based relationships

Practice the ACE framework extensively in every conversation to notice, listen, and connect. De-escalate conflict, land feedback that sticks, and make each stakeholder feel genuinely heard.

Master emotionally intelligent communication

Learn the principles for getting to a yes and the 9 persuasion tactics, then combine them in the “anatomy of an ask” template to structure your requests for maximum buy-in.

Ask for anything—and get a yes

Anchor your narrative in time/place, build tension, and close with a clear call to action. Structure and iterate slides using our spiral editing process to engage and persuade any audience.

Tell stories & deliver killer presentations

Learn to craft compelling problem pitches, refine them with feedback, rally the right stakeholders, and drive your initiatives from concept to adoption—so your ideas turn into real projects that deliver measurable impact.

Uncover and scale high-impact opportunities

Some people get things done despite gnarly roadblocks. Their secret? Influence. Learn how to build yours in this course.

Irina Stanescu

Cohort 6

Cohort 7

What would it mean if you had significantly more presence, if you felt truly understood, if you had powerfully-influential skills, and if you could effortlessly tailor those skills to different types of people and situations? This course is about finding clarity and enabling all of these things, all built upon the foundation of how the human brain actually works. If you saw me on Lenny's Podcast, you know that my work is based on science, not theory. Selling yourself and your ideas, being understood, gaining trust, and being more fully appreciated doesn't have to be a mystery, and you don't have to trust someone's personal theories and experience. Science holds the answers, and they are crystal clear, extremely effective, and they start helping you become more influential immediately. Here's what most people miss...There are two distinct levels to influence. Every idea you will ever try to sell at the micro level depends on how well you've sold yourself at the macro level. Most people's struggles aren't just a lack of technique in selling ideas...they're even bigger. They haven't properly sold themselves, first. The Macro LevelWhen you're explaining who you are, why you are effective, giving your elevator speech, sharing a presentation about your team's capabilities and value, meeting people for the first time, or interviewing, these are all examples of selling yourself at the macro level. Success at the macro level is how you create relationships, build trust, and teach people whether or not to listen to your ideas. Done well, it gets you opportunities, jobs, promotions, establishes your leadership identity, and establishes a clearer understanding of what you can really do, so you are valued and people feel you are always worth listening to. If you've ever felt misunderstood, that you or your team are under-appreciated, or if you've been unable to stand out in interviews or sales, it's because of these bigger challenges with your macro positioning. It's something this course will teach you to do masterfully, using simple and comfortable ideas that get through to people. The Micro LevelWhen you're in meetings, debates, pitching ideas, trying to warn people of issues, pushing on prioritization, and more, you're selling your ideas at the micro level. Success at the micro level is how you get people saying yes to ideas, approval to move ahead with plans, it's how you influence decisions, and it's how you effectively warn people so we avoid mistakes. Success at the micro level is where every bullet on your resume comes from. It's how your projects get approved and funded, how your requests for budget and team get fulfilled, and even how basic things like feedback and warnings are taken seriously and acted upon. If you've ever felt like your ideas, warnings, or points aren't getting through, that you aren't taken seriously as a presence in the room, and that you were unable to influence decisions and help the team avoid mistakes, it's because of this micro influence. These are skills this course will you show you how to master. Why is selling yourself so hard? Everything starts with this simple question. The first step in moving forward is realizing that this is not "easy." You are not missing a few tips and tricks. You are not missing a basic presentation template or flow. Selling yourself and your ideas requires an actual competence and skillset, and this course builds that competence in a uniquely-clear and efficient way, cutting through the noise of everyone's theories and getting right down to the real challenge you face: how to truly connect with people's minds. Brains are not designed to be sold to. They are designed to go through a series of steps that evaluate whether or not to pay attention and how to evaluate you and your ideas. To be effective, you need to truly understand these steps because they reveal how to put the brain on your side. You will then be working "with the grain" of the human mind instead of working against it And on top of that, others people's brains work very differently than yours. You are going to work with a range of different types of people, and you must understand how they think and what makes their mind unique before you can be successful with them. What works for one type of person doesn't work for another, so you need to learn how to change gears and adapt your style to different types of thinkers. What's different about this course? What makes this course different than anything else out there is we are going to explore what is actually happening in the human mind, giving you a crystal clear blueprint and genuine mastery instead of just tips and tricks.

A science-based, hyper-effective toolkit


Feel free to type out dates as your title as a way to communicate information about specific live sessions or other events.

Friday, November 8th


Schedule items can also be used to convey commitments outside of specific time slots (like weekly projects or daily office hours).

Weekly projects

People whose jobs and careers depend on influence and being understood: - Leaders &amp; Managers- Product Managers- Analytics, BI, &amp; Insights

People who feel they have a lot to offer, but struggle to get through, want greater presence, and want to learn how to 10x their confidence.

People who are actively interviewing or who want to excel the next time they do. ﻿Stand out from the crowd.

This course will continue helping you through the journey of maximizing your professional potential.

A resource you can keep revisiting


You will understand other people's minds, find the best ways to connect with them, and become more confident in your interactions. You won't feel so confused and frustrated by people's reactions and behavior. You'll know what to do.

No more confusion


You'll know how to get others to actually understand what you do and why it matters. Learn how to position yourself properly in people's minds so they value you and what you have to contribute. Put an end to people questioning what you do or questioning your value.

Be understood, and valued


If you are in product, engineering, design, analytics, customer success, or a number of other fields that are influence-based, it's hard for your team to thrive if the broader business misunderstands you and the value you produce. We will clear that up with powerful branding.

Position your craft, your team, and its brand properly


Once you are properly positioned and understood, you'll have a platform to make your ideas more compelling, your warnings more convincing, and your everyday interactions cultivate a reputation that works as an asset instead of a liability.

Find success in ideas, warnings, and everyday interactions


I coach many people who are high-impact professionals, but their humility comes across as uncertainty, causing a number of issues with their influence. You'll learn how to convey authentic confidence instead of artificial bravado.

Gain confidence and presence in front of executives (or anyone)


Master positioning yourself, your team, and your ideas. Be understood, trusted, believed, and appreciated.


Evan LaPointe

I founded several companies. Sold the last one to Adobe. Now, I help people win.

May 10

June 8

Many talented Designers struggle for one reason: Your designs don’t speak for themselves. Your designs might be good (or even great), but if you can't convince your stakeholders, it doesn't matter.Great UX will be overlooked, deprioritized, or even dismissed in favor of what's easier in the moment. Sound familiar? The reason is simple: You aren't tying your design to business outcomes. If executives (and other decision-makers) don't see the business value of your work, they won't invest in it. If you struggle to communicate the business impact of your designs: &nbsp;• Your best ideas will get deprioritized or shelved, limiting the impact you have to make a difference&nbsp;• You’ll have to constantly justify your role and fight for recognition, while others (who 'speak business') will get promotions and raises&nbsp;• Your career will hit a wall, because businesses only invest in designers that demonstrate measurable outcomes&nbsp;• Your job security becomes uncertain, because your contributions aren't directly tied to business results. But what if you could speak to the value of design? Imagine instead walking into meetings knowing how to persuade your team to take action.Picture decision-makers nodding as you present data on how design decisions impact business outcomes. The secret? You need Data to back up your Intuition. As one design leader said, "The Difference Between Good and Great Designers is that Great Ones can Use Data to Sell your Ideas." In 2025, top companies aren't hiring Good Designers. They're hiring Great Ones, that know how to communicate how design impacts business outcomes. Design Professionals who can do that jump to the top of the priority list. When you become a designer that communicates how design affects business outcomes, you'll: &nbsp;• Consistently secure stakeholder buy-in, making your design initiatives a top priority.&nbsp;• Have Influence with executives and cross-functional partners who value clear ROI and measurable outcomes.&nbsp;• Accelerate your career growth by showcasing to businesses why your designs are valuable&nbsp;• Become indispensable to your organization as a leader who can speak clearly to both user and business needs&nbsp;• Transform from overlooked designer to strategic partner who shapes critical business decisions. This cohort-based course will provide you with the frameworks, skills, and tools to persuasively connect Design work with desired business outcomes. Here's exactly what you'll master: Week 1: Design what businesses needSpend an hour to save a month's work. Understand what the business needs from designers, and learn how to identify how design decisions affect business outcomes. Week 2: Don't present information: present insights You might have remarkable user findings, but it doesn't matter if no one acts on them. Turn your findings into actionable insights using frameworks employed by Netflix and Meta to harness to drive action. Week 3: Integrate AI into your Design processes AI is a powerful tool, especially when you know how to work with Data. You'll learn how to super-charge your Design process with AI without losing your team's trust. Week 4: Tell a UX story that persuades your team to actWorking with Data allows you to use the powerful tools of Data visualization and Storytelling to make a real difference. No creative writing experience is needed. Investing in these skills means: &nbsp;• Ensuring your UX work is consistently valued, prioritized, and understood in your organization&nbsp;• Becoming an influential designer, that decision-makers seek out to help drive critical business decisions&nbsp;• Accelerating your career growth in a tough job market by speaking to what businesses really need. Why This Course MattersIn today's competitive landscape, the most successful Designers aren’t necessarily those with the best visual or technical skills. They’re the ones who clearly speak the language of business outcomes. If you're ready to design projects faster, show how design affects business outcomes, and persuade your team to take action, you should take this course. --Training Your Team?Email kai@datainformeddesign.online for bulk pricing and personalized course options.

Feeling undervalued? Ideas getting ignored? Design presentations falling flat?

I will have live lectures with Q&amp;A, reviewing this week's lessons. These will also be where I review student's exercise and provide live feedback

Mondays and Thursday

In these lectures, I'll dive into the specifics around Data, Narrative, Visuals, and more. This will be a more detailed videos on the stuff I cover live on Mondays and Fridays

Pre-recorded lectures

These exercises, paired with the lecture, will help you practice the concepts you learn from lectures

Weekly projects and exercises

Senior-level UX designers who frequently need to justify their decisions to PMs, engineers, and executives.

Design Leaders/Managers who must consistently persuade executives and other stakeholders to buy-in to their ideas.

Designers seeking career growth who know their professional advancement relies on demonstrating clear business impact.

Designers building persuasive portfolios to clearly demonstrate measurable business impact to potential employers.

What you'll walk away with 

Have clear frameworks to immediately show your design impact in meetings, presentations, performance reviews, and interviews.

Stop being the "make it pretty person". Start having an impact with design. 

Translate what you find, from talking with users, into the exact language and techniques to secure stakeholder buy-in and approval quickly and consistently.

Consistently get buy-in to create better products

Become an irreplaceable UX leader to your team means gaining influence, trust, and visibility in your organization.

Learn leadership skills businesses want from designers

You'll learn a proven approach to demonstrating design value in your portfolio, LinkedIn profile, and future job interviews.

Have a portfolio of work that showcases design value effectively

The best way to use AI, as a designer, isn't to learn a new tool. It's to improve your existing design process.

Super-charge your UX process with AI, without losing creative control

You won't just learn theoretical concepts. You'll learn how to apply it to your work with 1:1 coaching with a Data-Informed Design expert.

Up to 90 minutes of 1:1 Data-Informed Design coaching

Get Executives to See the Value of Design, Buy-in to Your Ideas, and Advance your Design Career

Lightning Lessons

Skill building: Influence and Impact