ECD Insight is a hands-on, action-oriented consultancy that develops management and communication abilities within organizations

With offices in London, New York and Paris, the core of the team is made up by 7 senior consultants, all with extensive backgrounds in financial journalism, management psychology, drama and business consultancy.
 
We distinguish ourselves through five key competitive advantages:

•  Excellent international track record of success
• Proven ability to understand complex business issues 
• Wide-ranging language skills and multi-cultural knowledge 
• Commitment to on-going development of our team's skills 
• High-impact methods that inspire difficult-to-motivate people
  

 
We believe in the power of insight to create dramatic and sustained business success. Founded in 1998, ECD Insight is dedicated to bringing our clients the benefits of the latest management, organizational behaviour and communication research, as well as leading-edge business practice.  
 
Our clients typically are senior executives (including chairmen and CEOs) and their teams from the following areas:

•  Banks and professional service companies
• Industrial corporations 
• Supranational institutions 
• Fast-growing medium-sized enterprises
  

 
We regularly work with the chairmen and chief executives of numerous FT-SE 100 companies as well as delivering communications skills programmes to 7 of the world's top 12 financial services companies.
 
Why ECD Insight’s methods are highly effective
 
 
ECD Insight's programmes are designed to produce results. We have built them around the philosophy that substance precedes style. In other words, a communicator must get the content right before attempting to present it in a colourful way.  
 
Developing presentation skills such as body language and vocal dynamics ("message delivery") before getting the content right ("message development") is ineffective. We know that the highly intelligent people we advise would quickly get bored with a superficial “tips and tricks” approach.
 
The substance-before-style philosophy sets ECD Insight apart from our competitors. Some focus on style at the expense of substance, leading to what we call mirage improvements.
These superficial tips lull participants into a false sense that they have really changed permanently for the better. But improving on style without first improving the substance is akin to painting a house before it is structurally stable.
 
How do ECD Insight’s consultants work?
 
We give our clients durable tools and skills to properly craft their messages – making them as clear, concise and compelling as possible. Our consultants then work on effective delivery of these messages. Getting the content right at the outset significantly reduces nervousness and ensures successful communication. With a firm grounding in the art of developing strong content, our clients are then open to improving their delivery.
 
Of course we use video cameras and video feedback extensively in the sessions to help improve clients’ non-verbal communication. But it is critical to know exactly when in the skills development process to focus on these areas.  
 
If you show participants their mistakes on video too early in a session there is a huge risk of creating excessive self-consciousness and of shifting the focus prematurely away from substance onto style. ECD Insight consultants know how to use the right developmental tools and exercises and crucially – they know when to use them.