Training sessions on
Executive Influence, Presentation & Consultative Selling
A 30-minute complimentary discussion for those
interested to explore further
Consultative Selling: From Product Pitching to Trusted Advisory
A relationship-first commercial enablement workshop centered on deeply understanding the customer, their operating environment, and what truly drives their choices. Participants learn to replace scripted pitches with consultative inquiry, discovering unvoiced client needs and co-creating solutions that position them as long-term, indispensable advisors.
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Target Audience: Account executives, business development leads, commercial teams, pre-sales specialists, and client relationship managers.
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Core Outcomes:
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Cultivating deep customer understanding to uncover unspoken priorities, operational realities, and decision drivers.
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Structuring consultative discovery dialogues that guide clients to clarify their own challenges.
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Reframing commercial resistance into collaborative problem-solving opportunities without adversarial pushback.
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Format: Full-Day Workshop, in person or virtual
Communicating Complexity: Translating Tech, Finance & Data for Business Impact
A cross-functional communication masterclass designed for specialists in technology, finance, engineering, and data who must present intricate concepts to broader enterprise stakeholders. Drawing on structured perspective-taking techniques from the performing arts, the workshop trains subject matter experts to analyze audience mental models, cultivate functional empathy, and translate multi-layered information into clear, decision-ready narratives while preserving analytical depth and technical precision.
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Target Audience: Software engineers, data specialists, financial analysts, systems architects, operations leads, and technical project managers.
Core Outcomes:
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Employing structured perspective-taking techniques from performance discipline to evaluate stakeholder baseline knowledge, priorities, and cognitive capacity.
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Translating specialized technical, financial, and operational terminology into commercial value, risk governance, and strategic priorities.
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Designing clear, narrative-driven visual presentations that eliminate cognitive clutter and drive executive alignment.
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Format: Full-Day Workshop or Virtual Masterclass.
Presenting to Upper Management & C-Suite Briefings
A high-impact briefing masterclass designed for professionals presenting in time-compressed, executive environments. The session equips participants to structure clear proposals that capture immediate executive attention, handle incisive inquiry with poise, and secure decisive sign-off in high-stakes meetings.
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Target Audience: Software engineers, data specialists, financial analysts, systems architects, operations leads, and technical project managers.
Core Outcomes:
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Employing structured perspective-taking techniques from performance discipline to evaluate stakeholder baseline knowledge, priorities, and cognitive capacity.
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Translating specialized technical, financial, and operational terminology into commercial value, risk governance, and strategic priorities.
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Designing clear, narrative-driven visual presentations that eliminate cognitive clutter and drive executive alignment.
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Format: Full-Day Workshop or Virtual Masterclass.
Strategic Influence: The Art of Impactful Presenting
An experiential masterclass that moves away from rigid public speaking formulas to focus on authentic delivery, audience connection, and clear message structuring. The workshop trains participants to decode what audiences truly care about, sequence information logically to eliminate verbal clutter, and hold the room with grounded presence.
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Target Audience: Open across all career stages—from junior professionals and emerging talent to cross-functional leads and senior corporate directors.
Core Outcomes:
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Decoding audience expectations to align messaging with stakeholder priorities.
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Structuring complex ideas into logical, memorable narrative arcs that eliminate cognitive drag.
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Utilizing diaphragmatic breath support, physical staging, and authentic presence to command the room with confidence.
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Format: Highly adaptable: 4-Hour Experiential Masterclass, Full-Day Immersion, or Comprehensive 2-Day Intensive.
Strategic Persuasion & Stakeholder Buy-In
A practical negotiation and alignment workshop focused on building cross-functional consensus in matrixed corporate structures. The course unpacks the psychology of influence, training participants to uncover hidden agendas, manage conflicting team priorities, and build compelling business cases
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Target Audience: Project managers, business partners, product owners, and cross-functional leads managing indirect reporting lines.
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Core Outcomes:
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Identifying unstated stakeholder motivations, departmental competing priorities, and organizational gatekeepers.
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Moving conversations from defensive positional debate to shared-interest collaboration.
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Constructing persuasion frameworks that anticipate cross-departmental friction and secure project buy-in.
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Format: Full-Day Workshop or Interactive VILT.
Assertive Voice, Gravitas & Authentic Confidence
A communication and presence clinic designed to help professionals overcome hesitation and speak with authority in high-visibility settings. Drawing on behavioral psychology and performance stagecraft, the workshop equips participants to eliminate self-censorship, handle pushback constructively, and hold their space in senior meetings.
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Target Audience: Emerging leaders, individual contributors, and professionals across all disciplines seeking stronger meeting presence and vocal confidence.
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Core Outcomes:
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Overcoming internal hesitation, self-doubt, and imposter patterns during high-stakes discussions.
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Applying tactical verbal assertiveness: eliminating minimizing language and framing constructive dissent without hostility.
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Controlling physical stress responses, voice flutter, and rushed pacing through intentional breath and grounded posture.
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• • Format: Half-Day Clinic or Full-Day Interactive Masterclass.
Looking for a Tailored Program?
In order to address specific pain points and cater to exact needs, AthenaCore partners directly with leadership and People & Culture teams to conduct a structured Training Needs Analysis (TNA), diagnosing your organization's exact communication gaps and operational priorities. We then tailor our core modules, case studies, and practical role-plays around your team's day-to-day business context, ensuring immediate workplace application and measurable impact.
Trainer & Facilitator:
Isma Husein
Combining the high-stakes world of corporate business with the discipline of professional stagecraft creates a fundamentally different approach to communication. As a former Business Development Director holding an MBA from IE Business School, she understands firsthand the pressure of defending budgets, navigating stakeholder politics, and driving commercial outcomes. Business acumen alone is rarely enough if an idea cannot reach, persuade, and move the decision-makers in the room.
Acting professionally since 2007 and trained in Acting Skills for Business Communication and Leadership at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), she approaches communication from the inside out. This work goes far beyond superficial fixes like rehearsing artificial hand gestures, forcing body posture, or memorizing speaking tricks. Real executive presence is grounded in deep human connection, perspective-taking, and emotional clarity. By applying performance discipline to corporate realities, she trains professionals to truly read the room, understand what their audience needs to hear, and manage internal stress responses so they can speak with composure and authentic conviction.
Clients do not sit through passive lectures or rigid formulas. Instead, they undergo an experiential transformation that prepares them to hold their ground, communicate with clarity across cross-functional divides, and win stakeholder buy-in when the stakes are highest.
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HRD Corp Accredited and Certified Trainer, Malaysia
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Master in Business Administration (MBA), IE University, Spain
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Bachelor of Arts (Honours), American University of Paris, France
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Certificate in Acting Skills for Business Communication and Leadership, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), USA
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Certificate in Storytelling and Influencing: Communicate with Impact, Macquarie University, Australia
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Award-winning international public speaker and Competent Toastmaster, France
A 30-minute complimentary discussion for those
interested to explore further
"The workshop is highly advanced and tailored. Isma’s frameworks completely change how I structure a pitch to secure immediate buy-in from my audience."
Senior Leader, Top Private International Education Institution in Malaysia
"Isma is passionate and highly experienced. The structured frameworks provided are absolutely essential for anyone who needs to learn how to truly convince and connect with their target audience."
Academic Leader, Leading Malaysian Education Institution
"Isma brings a sharp commercial perspective. Her methodology is highly impactful for anyone needing to guide high-stakes conversations and secure commitment."
Director, Corporate Advisory & Consulting
Book a Discovery Call
A 30-minute complimentary discovery discussion for those managing school admissions and enrollment goals.
