What to Say When Things Get Tough

Our guest today is Christi Scarrow, a woman who wears many hats. She’s a partner at the Canadian consulting firm Lighthouse Nine Group, she’s an expert in organizational accountability, and she’s the author of Truth Warriors: The battle to hear, be heard and make decisions that count.

Fortunately for us, the need to communicate effectively in difficult situation is a common thread across all of those aspects of Christi’s life, and she shares a huge amount of very practical advice on how to do that well with supervisors, employees and peers. 

To learn more about Christi and to order her book, please visit www.truthwarriors.ca.

Thanks to Jim Cirillo and Rachel Greenberger for you know what. Send questions to [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at #wtswtgt. And until next time ... always be positive!

Our guest today is Christi Scarrow, a woman who wears many hats. She’s a partner at the Canadian consulting firm Lighthouse Nine Group, she’s an expert in organizational accountability, and she’s the author of Truth Warriors: The battle to hear, be heard and make decisions that count.

Fortunately for us, the need to communicate effectively in difficult situation is a common thread across all of those aspects of Christi’s life, and she shares a huge amount of very practical advice on how to do that well with supervisors, employees and peers. 

To learn more about Christi and to order her book, please visit www.truthwarriors.ca.

Thanks to Jim Cirillo and Rachel Greenberger for you know what. Send questions to [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at #wtswtgt. And until next time ... always be positive!

Our guest today is Smitha Gunturi, a woman’s advocate and podcast host who has overcome just an incredible amount of adversity over the course of her life.

We don’t discuss communications specifically. Instead, Smitha shares a number of life lessons that can inform how we can communicate more effectively in difficult situations: the importance of empathy, or as Smitha puts it, “seeing things from someone else’s perspective.”

Along the way, Smitha shares a poignant moment when she learns a terrible truth from her son and explains that sometimes the most difficult conversations are the most important to have.

To learn more about Smitha and the services she provides, please visit her website at www.smithagunturi.com.

If you have any thoughts or ideas for topics you’d like us to cover, or questions you’d like to ask, please send an email to [email protected]. And please follow us on Twitter at #wtswtgt.

Finally, as always, a big thank you as always to Jim Cirillo of jimiumgroup.com for our original music and to Rachel Greenberger for our original art. 

Our guest today is Smitha Gunturi, a woman’s advocate and podcast host who has overcome just an incredible amount of adversity over the course of her life.

We don’t discuss communications specifically. Instead, Smitha shares a number of life lessons that can inform how we can communicate more effectively in difficult situations: the importance of empathy, or as Smitha puts it, “seeing things from someone else’s perspective.”

Along the way, Smitha shares a poignant moment when she learns a terrible truth from her son and explains that sometimes the most difficult conversations are the most important to have.

To learn more about Smitha and the services she provides, please visit her website at www.smithagunturi.com.

If you have any thoughts or ideas for topics you’d like us to cover, or questions you’d like to ask, please send an email to [email protected]. And please follow us on Twitter at #wtswtgt.

Finally, as always, a big thank you as always to Jim Cirillo of jimiumgroup.com for our original music and to Rachel Greenberger for our original art. 

We're back with an all-new episode to close out 2021.Our guest is Sean McBride, founder of DSM Strategic Communications (www.dsmstrategic.com) and a long-time senior executive in the fast-moving consumer goods and trade association sectors.

Sean has a particular expertise in the food industry and today we talk to him about how the McBrides and their forebearers came to settle in western Pennsylvania, how Sean himself migrated from there to Washington, D.C., and how he came to specialize in a field so near and dear to all of our hearts.

Along the way we learn how Sean has helped his clients rebuild trust and credibility and position themselves for success before, during and ultimately once the Covid-19 pandemic comes to an end. Sean also takes out his crystal ball and shares three trends that he thinks will define the food industry through the rest of the decade and beyond.

As always, thank you to Jim Cirillo of jimiumgroup.com for our original music and to Rachel Greenberger for our original art.

Please subscribe to, rate and review us and follow us on Twitter at #wtswtgt.

We're back with an all-new episode to close out 2021.Our guest is Sean McBride, founder of DSM Strategic Communications (www.dsmstrategic.com) and a long-time senior executive in the fast-moving consumer goods and trade association sectors.

Sean has a particular expertise in the food industry and today we talk to him about how the McBrides and their forebearers came to settle in western Pennsylvania, how Sean himself migrated from there to Washington, D.C., and how he came to specialize in a field so near and dear to all of our hearts.

Along the way we learn how Sean has helped his clients rebuild trust and credibility and position themselves for success before, during and ultimately once the Covid-19 pandemic comes to an end. Sean also takes out his crystal ball and shares three trends that he thinks will define the food industry through the rest of the decade and beyond.

As always, thank you to Jim Cirillo of jimiumgroup.com for our original music and to Rachel Greenberger for our original art.

Please subscribe to, rate and review us and follow us on Twitter at #wtswtgt.

Welcome to the 40th original episode of What to Say When Things Get Tough! And they said it would never last.

Our guest today is Bill Cramer, a Public Involvement Director at HNTB (www.htnb.com), a large civil engineering firm with offices across the United States and Canada. Among many other topics, Bill discusses his visit to the site of the Surfside condo collapse, which happened just 50 blocks from his home, and his assessment of the performances of the local and state officials who had to communicate about the disaster in its wake (hint: he gives them high marks). He also emphasizes the importance of communicating internally when a crisis strikes -- an aspect of crisis communications that I often think gets overlooked. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Thank you as always to Jim Cirillo of jimiumgroup.com for our original music and Rachel Greenberger for our original art.

Please rate, review and subscribe to WTSWTGT; send questions to [email protected], and follow us on Twitter at #wtswtgt.

And finally, please join us in two weeks for a conversation with food industry expert Sean McBride.

Welcome to the 40th original episode of What to Say When Things Get Tough! And they said it would never last.

Our guest today is Bill Cramer, a Public Involvement Director at HNTB (www.htnb.com), a large civil engineering firm with offices across the United States and Canada. Among many other topics, Bill discusses his visit to the site of the Surfside condo collapse, which happened just 50 blocks from his home, and his assessment of the performances of the local and state officials who had to communicate about the disaster in its wake (hint: he gives them high marks). He also emphasizes the importance of communicating internally when a crisis strikes -- an aspect of crisis communications that I often think gets overlooked. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Thank you as always to Jim Cirillo of jimiumgroup.com for our original music and Rachel Greenberger for our original art.

Please rate, review and subscribe to WTSWTGT; send questions to [email protected], and follow us on Twitter at #wtswtgt.

And finally, please join us in two weeks for a conversation with food industry expert Sean McBride.

I never thought I’d find myself speaking to a hypnotherapist, but after meeting J. Robert Parker in Facebook’s Podcast Guest Connection group I thought I’d give it a try.

And I’m very glad I did. I learned a lot about how hypnotherapy works, but perhaps even more importantly I learned what hypnotherapy and risk communication share: an emphasis on trust; the central role that caring and empathy play; and, something we haven’t spoken about enough, how each field can be used for both good and bad.

You can find J. Robert on his website at www.twinravens.org. I hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation.

And I hope you’ll join us next week when I interview Bill Cramer, an old friend and colleague who works as a Public Involvement Director at HNTB, a large civil engineering firm with dozens of offices in the United States and Canada.

Thank you as always to Jim Cirillo at jimiumgroup.com for our original music and Rachel Greenberger for our original art.

Please send questions to [email protected] and follow us on Twitter at #wtswtgt.

And don’t forget to subscribe to, rate and review us!!!

I never thought I’d find myself speaking to a hypnotherapist, but after meeting J. Robert Parker in Facebook’s Podcast Guest Connection group I thought I’d give it a try.

And I’m very glad I did. I learned a lot about how hypnotherapy works, but perhaps even more importantly I learned what hypnotherapy and risk communication share: an emphasis on trust; the central role that caring and empathy play; and, something we haven’t spoken about enough, how each field can be used for both good and bad.

You can find J. Robert on his website at www.twinravens.org. I hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation.

And I hope you’ll join us next week when I interview Bill Cramer, an old friend and colleague who works as a Public Involvement Director at HNTB, a large civil engineering firm with dozens of offices in the United States and Canada.

Thank you as always to Jim Cirillo at jimiumgroup.com for our original music and Rachel Greenberger for our original art.

Please send questions to [email protected] and follow us on Twitter at #wtswtgt.

And don’t forget to subscribe to, rate and review us!!!