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Jan Sugar
The Right Story at the Right Time Changes Everything
Jan Sugar is the CEO and Founder of Sugar Ink, a communications firm based in the Greater Chicago Area. Established in January 1998, Sugar Ink specializes in helping leaders craft compelling narratives and improve their communication skills to enhance impact, growth, and team performance. The company has a focus on storytelling, public speaking, and effective communication strategies, aiming to empower leaders across various sectors to engage their audiences meaningfully.1
Professional Background
Jan Sugar has over 26 years of experience leading Sugar Ink. Under his guidance, the firm has partnered with numerous leaders globally, assisting them in delivering impactful speeches and fostering a culture of effective communication within their organizations. Sugar Ink's services encompass a wide range of communication needs, including speech preparation, leadership presence, and conflict resolution.1
Education
Jan's educational background includes:
- B.A. in English Language and Literature from Simmons College.
- M.Ed. from Boston University.
- Certified Mediator from Northwestern University.
- Participation in a Transformational Coaching Program and completion of a Heroic Public Speaking graduate program.1
Skills and Expertise
Jan Sugar is recognized for his expertise in:
- Storytelling and narrative development.
- Public speaking coaching.
- Leadership communication strategies.
- Conflict resolution and difficult conversations.1
For more detailed insights into his professional journey, Jan Sugar maintains an active LinkedIn profile under the username jansugar, where he shares thoughts on leadership and communication trends.1
Highlights
I encountered college essays as a mother in 2011, when my first child was applying for college and wrote her Common App essay about a profound experience she had had in a program the summer before that opened her eyes to the incredible challenges that some kids face growing up in America.
When she produced this essay to me to proofread it was about the problems and the program, but not about her. Great for another time, but not for a college essay whose raison d'être was to get to know not about what she did but how she thought, solved problems, understood the world.
As a communications specialist who uses the tool of story and narrative every day, I thought she had gone in the wrong direction.
When kids think about college essays, they often believe they have to have a life that’s epic – great achievement or great drama – and that anything else will yield them an essay not worth reading. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Masterful storytelling can transform mundane tasks into poignant, emotionally powerful, or meaningful tales.
“A Small, Good Thing" by Raymond Carver begins with a mother ordering a birthday cake for her son and ends up being about unexpected compassion.
"The Bet" by Anton Chekhov begins with a memory of a bet a banker made fifteen years earlier with a young lawyer and is about what constitutes a meaningful life.
So the question is how can an essay with a simple premise be transformed through skillful storytelling into a compelling story made great by how it is told?
Why do I take some time to do this work every fall? Because I consider it seedling work. If we can teach young people how to communicate better -- write, speak, tell stories, interview, listen, resolve conflict -- they start their adult lives better, their personal lives, too, than if they fail certain kinds of activities again and again because of their inexperience in good communication.
#storytelling #collegeessays #collegeapplications
