A Professional and Communication Advisory Practice Built Around Real Human Interaction
We help people communicate more comfortably and effectively—in professional, social and cross-cultural situations. There is no standard program or predetermined curriculum. We start by understanding the problem and the goal, then determine what will actually help.
About Theresa Leider
Theresa Leider brings an unusual combination of business experience and communication expertise to The Let’s Talk Coach. Before focusing on professional and communication advising, she spent decades as a CPA, CFO, business owner and consultant—often working in situations where the problem was complicated, the deadline was real and the conversation wasn’t always comfortable.
Theresa was a licensed CPA for more than 30 years before retiring her license. Her CPA practice was divided roughly among advanced taxation, business consulting and litigation support. Her consulting work included startups, turnarounds and business transitions, while her litigation work included expert-witness assignments and extensive behind-the-scenes support in state and federal courts.
One of Theresa’s litigation-support roles was what she describes as “continuity.” As a case developed over months or years, she reviewed briefs and filings with some very practical questions: Is the argument still consistent? Can someone without specialized knowledge understand the history and issues? Does the presentation convey what the legal team intends it to convey? And has something important been lost or overlooked along the way?
Her CFO and business experience added another perspective. Theresa has worked as an executive in companies ranging from relatively small organizations to companies with more than 600 employees, and she has owned and managed businesses and investment entities herself. She has worked with startups, rapid growth, turnarounds and plenty of situations where there was no tidy textbook answer.
That background affects the way Theresa works today. She listens first. She asks questions. She looks for the real problem before deciding what might solve it. Years of working under deadlines and in difficult situations have also taught her that pressure rarely improves when the advisor adds more pressure. Her daughter jokingly calls her the “human Xanax.” Theresa prefers to remain calm, sort through the problem and figure out what needs to happen next.
Comfortable at Every Level
Theresa has spent her career working with people at every level of an organization. She is as comfortable in the boardroom as she is on a construction site, and as comfortable talking with restaurant management as she is with the waitstaff or kitchen crew. She put herself through college waiting tables and has owned and managed businesses herself.
Job titles don’t determine who has something worth saying—or who is worth listening to.
Getting People Talking Since 2012
Theresa’s work with people from around the world began in 2012, when she started the South Denver English Conversation Group. Over the years, those weekly conversations have brought together people from a vast range of countries, professions and backgrounds.
At one memorable meeting, the conversation included a Russian physicist, a Hong Kong neuroscientist, a retired cardiologist from Uzbekistan, a Japanese pulmonary specialist, a Chinese myocardial researcher, Saudi students, a Colombian lawyer and a Libyan PhD candidate in nanomechanical engineering. Theresa looked around the room and joked that she was probably the least educated person there—so talk away. They all knew more than she did.
Theresa isn’t there to be the expert in the room. She’s there to get the experts talking.
Why Keep Doing This?
Why Keep Doing This?
Theresa has no plans to completely retire. She also has no interest in building The Let’s Talk Coach into a huge organization or maintaining a nonstop schedule. But give her an interesting project, a real deadline and a defined period of long hours, and she’s in her happy space.
She intends to remain selective about the work she takes on and keep doing work she finds interesting and useful for as long as she can.
And yes, she plays a lot of golf—more than 100 rounds a year.
But there’s only so much golf a person can play.
Let’s Have a Conversation
The Let’s Talk Coach is based near Denver, Colorado. Services are provided live and in person, with programs available locally, throughout the United States and internationally.
If you have a communication problem, professional challenge or goal you’d like to work on, tell me what you’re trying to accomplish. We can start there.