Nick Morgan

Nick Morgan (born Nicholas H. Morgan in 1953) is an American speaking coach and author. Morgan received his A.B. in English from Princeton University in 1976 after completing a 140-page long senior thesis titled "The Artistry of Form: Dickens' Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend." He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature and rhetoric at the University of Virginia in 1977 and 1981, respectively. He taught Shakespeare and Public Speaking at the University of Virginia and Princeton University. At University of Virginia, he also served as Assistant Vice President and Provost. He first started writing speeches for Virginia Governor Charles S. Robb and went on to found his own communications consulting organization, Public Words, in 1997. Individual clients include former Yahoo! executive and author Tim Sanders, mountaineer Susan Ershler, Emmy Award-winning talk show host Montel Williams, reality TV star Les Gold (Hardcore Pawn), and online marketing strategist David Meerman Scott. Corporate clients include IBM, Kaiser Permanente, and Royal Dutch Shell. He has written hundreds of articles for local and national publications, including Forbes. Harvard Business Review cited his article How to Become an Authentic Speaker as one of ten "must read" articles on communication. Morgan is an expert in non-verbal communications skills for public speakers, and has coached and written extensively on this topic. His interest in body language was particularly fueled by three life events at age 17: "First, I read a book about the Dalai Lama ... Second, I learned my father was gay. And third, I died." His expertise encompasses not only traditional in-person meetings and presentations, but also the increasingly common virtual-world meetings using teleconferencing. He is frequently asked to critique speeches by celebrities such as the campaign speeches of Barack Obama and the first official speech of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. As well as leading Public Words, he served as editor of the Harvard Management Communication Letter from 1998 to 2003. Morgan is a former Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.