About Tessa Parry-Wingfield | Founder & CEO, The Power of Words
From reporting the news to advising the C-suite.
Founder and CEO. Communications strategist. Former broadcast journalist. For 25 years, Tessa has helped leaders find their voice and say what matters: honestly, clearly and with humanity, especially when the pressure is highest.
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Tessa at a glance
- 25 years
- in communication, from broadcast news to advising C-suites
- 10 years
- in news: Al Jazeera English, ITN, the Press Association and the commercial arms of Reuters
- 15 years
- helping C-suites and senior communications leaders across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa tell their stories and find their voice
- Media trainer
- to very senior spokespeople in central banking, retail, transport and private equity
- Founder & CEO
- The Power of Words, a six-figure international B2B communications consultancy
- Creator
- The Seeing Clearly Method™
- Featured in
- The Times, BBC Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 2, The Mail on Sunday, Stylist, Woman
- Spoken for
- World Health Organization, IWIRC, TEDx, Really Helpful Club, Richmond Business Hub, Kingston Chamber of Commerce
- Ambassador
- Victoria Cohen Eye Cancer Charitable Trust
Where she learnt that clarity wins.
Tessa spent a decade in news. She reported, produced and wrote for Al Jazeera English and ITN, then became Head of Media Training at the Press Association and a content strategist for the commercial arms of Reuters.
The newsroom taught her the discipline she still teaches today. Get to the point. Make it clear. Make it true. And say it before someone else does.
15 years helping leaders and teams say what matters.
Tessa is founder and CEO of The Power of Words, a six-figure international B2B communications consultancy. For 15 years she has advised C-suites and senior communications leaders across Europe and the Middle East, helping them tell their stories and find their voice, often when the pressure is on and time is short.
Her work spans:
- Thought leadership for senior leaders, written with a journalist’s eye
- B2B corporate and external communications
- Spokesperson and media training
- Crisis preparedness and adverse media advice
- Executive communication coaching
Over the years, Tessa has media trained senior spokespeople at major public-facing organisations, including a central bank, a FTSE 100 retailer, a public transport authority and a private equity organisation. She prepares them for the moments when every word is scrutinised.
Then suddenly, everything she taught was put to the test.
In March 2023, out on a run, Tessa noticed her eyes weren’t working together. Then came the diagnosis: a rare eye cancer. She had three weeks’ notice before surgery to remove her entire left eye.
Suddenly the high-stakes communicator was the one under pressure. What to tell her daughters. What to tell her clients and her team. How to have the hardest conversations of her life.
She used every framework she had ever learnt or taught. Out of that, she built a simple but highly effective method: The Seeing Clearly Method™. Today she equips audiences with it in her keynote and workshop.
“Tessa is a generous and fluent storyteller, giving the audience insight into her journey, as well as hope and take homes.”
Jeremy Langmead Brand & Content Director, MR PORTER
A method born under pressure, built for leaders and teams.
What came out of that experience is The Seeing Clearly Method™: a simple, three-step framework for saying what matters when it matters.
- See. Identify what’s really going on. Name the pressure, the dysfunction or the conversation being avoided.
- Say. Find the words. A credible technique for bad news, feedback or making your case.
- Lead. Go first. Set the tone and culture for everyone else.
Tessa brings this method to conference stages, leadership teams and professional and financial services firms in the UK and internationally.
Explore the keynoteWhat Tessa believes
Communication is leadership.
It is not a soft skill. If you cannot communicate, you cannot lead.
Silence is unnerving.
It creates confusion, and people fill the gaps with their own version of what’s going on.
Jargon is alienating.
Corporate-speak puts distance between you and your people and breeds mistrust.
Clear is kind.
People would rather hear bad news clearly than good news confusingly.
Beyond the stage
Tessa is an ambassador for the Victoria Cohen Eye Cancer Charitable Trust, which funds training and education for ocular oncologists to protect the lives, eyes and vision of people affected by eye cancer. She has shared her story in The Times, Stylist and on BBC Woman’s Hour.
She lives in London, with her husband and two daughters, and travels internationally to speak.
