The Speakers Collaborative

The Speakers Collaborative is your one-stop shop to go from amateur and professional speaker in six weeks. Starting from scratch, you walk away with the training, promo material, and contacts needed to make money speaking.

Founder

Capitol Resources, LLC

North Carolina Managing Director

Cody Hand, LLC

Principal

North Carolina Healthcare Association

In 2022 I assumed the role of General Counsel while continuing to lead the Advocacy, Policy, and Communications team. Upon my promotion, I set out to streamline our contracting and legal processes, coordination of outside counsel, and collaboration with Association Member in-house counsel.

General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Advocacy, Policy, and Communications

After successfully lobbying in North Carolina and establishing a robust Federal presence, i was elevated to a senior leadership role. Moving into this role I understood the criticality of deploying a new strategic plan as quickly and seamlessly as possible to remedy longstanding impediments to progress. To begin, we reassessed the team structure, making staffing changes that refocused and realigned individual talents with outstanding organizational needs, even deploying some staff to partner organizations.  

With each of my adjustments, I remained cognizant of the importance of targeted efforts to increase staff satisfaction AND productivity, despite having an overall smaller staff. Simultaneously, I continued to lead in lobbying, working with my team and members to succeed.

Some of the initiatives I credit to this success include the implementation of a team-based approach to workflows and encouraging momentum by developing leaders and emulating open communication to support a robust, yet team-level, decision-making process. We even improved workload distribution based on staff feedback and dedicating time during work hours for team building.

I am happy to have achieved 100% buy-in on staff development initiatives by building comprehensive career plans for each staff member. Furthermore, improvements to staff engagement served to  increase member satisfaction in the perceived value provided by staff

Senior Vice President of Advocacy, Policy, and Communications and Deputy General Counsel

I was recruited to join the NCHA after demonstrating success in leading policy work at the General Assembly. I welcomed the challenges this opportunity presented and immediately met with members to gather pertinent information on pressing issues.

I leveraged the insights gleaned from these meetings in establishing formal processes to support the various functions of the job, to build my recommendations to the NCHA Board, and established multi-month collaboration sessions.

In the first year at NCHA, I was honored to have achieved an unprecedented 100% member approval of legislative priorities. The following legislative session, we capitalized on member engagement, defeating an effort to eliminate non-profit tax exemptions.

Vice President and Deputy General Counsel

North Carolina General Assembly

Upon assuming the role as the head of a team of six, I established an investigative practice within my team, deployed staff to impact locales, and collected situational knowledge prior to final policy recommendations and approvals.

As credit to the effectiveness of this practice, we developed and promoted new mechanisms to fund K-12 education and newer, less burdensome transportation funding requirements.

Relatedly, we halted outstanding proposals to close the Schools for the Deaf and the School for the Blind, and even gained traction in increasing focus on these resources to ensure success for all enrolled students.

Deputy Chief of Staff/policy director

The highest priority project during my tenure involved the overhaul of the $21 billion dollar North Carolina State budget to refocus resources on the priorities of the new General Assembly.

Two momentous wins overshadow all other accomplishments: securing a $2 billion allocation of Federal funds for new healthcare programs after diplomatically working with stakeholders to foster consensus and the attainment of a veto-proof budget vote through the successful mediation of a bipartisan collaboration.

Appropriations Counsel

In this role, I had the responsibility to draft legislation and public correspondence for a 20-member caucus resulting in an unprecedented program evaluation measure that passed without amendment. I also had the privilege to negotiate multiple agreements between both Democratic and Republican Legislators, interest groups, and state departments.

Caucus Attorney

I help you sleep at night - I take the legal problems off your plate | Lobby on your Priorities | Speak to your people.

You dream of being on that stage,
You dream of leading better,
I am your advocate. I give you the tools to thrive
As your chief leader, I advocate for your business to be propelled 10x.
As your lobbyist, I advocate for your priorities before state and federal officials.
As your public speaker, I give you the stage to live your dreams.

I am a tradition challenging, family-loving, travel addict.

And I am YOUR advocate!

#management
#legaltips
#leadership
#lobbying
#non-profit
#travel
#lawdad

I have lived this nightmare before.
here's how I coped.

You prepare for the wrong thing. 
practice the wrong thing.
realize the wrong thing after you are in front of the audience.

Do this:
1. Take a pause. Collect yourself.
2. Read the room, listen to the music.
3. Realize that you didn't prepare for this, but you are prepared for this.
4. Get out of your head and into your heart.
5. Go!

It happens more often than you think - and the pros roll with it.

BONUS - Never ever say "I am not prepared for this."

Want to be a pro in any situation? The Speakers Collaborative is your place.
Cody

Cody Hand

I Advocate, Coach, Lobby, and Help You Catch Your Dreams

You are going to keep making leadership decisions in the dark
until you tweak this one simple thing:

Stop guessing.

Don't know how your team is responding to your leadership?
- ask them!

Don't know how your customer is feeling about your product/service?
- ask them!

Don't know how your CEO or board are feeling about your performance?
- ask them!

You can change the outcome of your leadership without changing your workload. 

Change your tools.

When I work with executives, the first thing we do is ask those around for their honest opinion. 

and then once you ask - double down on the good stuff and change the changeable. Nobody likes to give feedback that isn't operationalized.

and BONUS: when we lead with our authentic selves, very little of what we need to change doesn't come naturally, which means change can be made and adapted to consistently.

Clarity is the oxygen of leadership. Without it, everyone is gasping.
Cody Hand

Don't reserve your humor for Friday.
Look for ways to add laughter every day.

Work is work. Sometimes it is a grind.
Tuesday's for example often are just a slog fest.

I have three estate plans to write today.
One client that needs a full business plan.
A bunch of social media content to create. 
Executive coaching clients to talk through leadership.

Slog. Fest.

Yet throughout the day, I look for ways to brighten things up. 

Because nobody said the workday had to suck.

So - what are you doing today to make your team smile?
Cody Hand

#leadership
#executivecoach
#lawyerswholaugh
#blowupthebox
#lightenup

You aren't meeting the moment with your team if you aren't all in.
As in life, teams experience the full range of emotions.
- Joy over winning the bid.
- Fear of a down economy.
- Ecstasy of a job well done.
- Disappointment in failure.
- on and on, day after day.

Yet so often the leader approaches every situation with the cold stoicism of the boss, or worse, the anger of a man out of touch with his emotions.

We male leaders have been taught that anything less than anger is not a manly emotion. I suspect (because I live in a house of female leaders) that the women leaders are zipped up because they don't want to be dismissed as too "feeling."

**Spoiler alert**
We are all human, endowed by our creator with the same full range of emotions as everyone else, and when we show up and allow our teams to witness our emotions (in moderation, of course) then we give them the license to feel their own emotions.

Emotions properly felt, are properly dealt with, and growth happens.

How are you meeting the moment with your team?
Cody

PS - Want to know more about my work opening up leaders to be the best they can be, thereby maximizing their team's performance and enhancing the bottom line? DM me.

The best leaders fail in public.

When leaders share their own mistakes, they give their teams permission to do the same.

That openness creates speed in problem solving and space for innovation.

Leaders who admit their mistakes build teams that admit theirs sooner.

If you want a high-performance culture, you need leaders who model learning from failure 

**out loud.**

I help executives lead with authenticity, vulnerability, and impact, creating safe environments for frequent failure and constant growth. Dm and let's get started.
Cody Hand

#savannahbananas
#business
#failure
#inspiration
#failurefriday

Lighten Up!

What you see in this photo is 
two lawyers, 
both building businesses,
raising two high performing daughters,
worried about all the things that life has these days,

Having fun.

When I talk with my clients, regardless of who they are, I always come around to this: no matter what is going on, have a little fun.

Struggling with your team?
- remember to have fun with your family.

Legislators making you work for your pay?
- remember to have fun with your family.

Also remember that you should have people in your corner who can take some of that burden off of you (and they might actually have fun doing it!)

That person could be me. I could be in your corner.
But you haven't called.
Cody

You need to know my friend Mark.
Mark is one of the most talented men I know.

- a trained mechanical engineer with (I don't know how many) patents.
- designs and paints massive murals
- designs and prints anything you need on his 3D printer
- Plays guitar and dobro (and when I am on stage, one of the only musicians I trust to play lead.)

More than his talents, he is an all around nice guy. Nobody leaves Mark's company without that "glad to be around him" feeling. He loves his wife Samantha and his two daughters.

Mark is on the market for his next "real job" and would be a value add to your team. 

**His super talent is taking rough designs and turning them into market and investor ready models and renderings.**

While he looks for that next career move, Mark is also stretching his creative muscle. We got together this week to set up his legal entity to put himself out there as a designer and artist. Next we are setting up his portfolio website. 

And then we are going to get his LinkedIn profile up to speed. But don't wait for that - head over to Mark Boomgaarden. Follow him, and send that connection request.

Whether you need professional design support, a mural, or someone to take your thoughts and make them reality - you need Mark.

Now - Who is the one person you want to share with our community?
Happy Saturday!
Cody

PS - Mark is also my kind of theme park goer - open to close and ride them all!

Your leaders aren’t failing — they’re under-resourced.

I’ve worked with organizations where “leadership development” meant handing someone a title and a laptop.

And then we wonder why engagement drops.

Leadership coaching isn’t about fixing “problem” leaders. 
It’s about equipping good people to thrive in complex, high-demand roles. 

Without it, you’re gambling with your most expensive asset: y
our people.

“Leaders don’t burn out because they’re weak. They burn out because no one taught them how to protect their energy, set boundaries, and build sustainable systems.”

Coaching gives leaders the tools to move from surviving to leading. 

The ROI shows up in retention, productivity, and innovation.

Want to see what that looks like in your organization? Let’s talk about your leadership bench.
Cody Hand

Have you ever felt like you had to do it all?
Haul in the walking pad,
Put your own chair on the table,
Find a clean wine glass,
sew the napkin,
and fly the drone?

oh - and don't forget to hit record!

Well, it is likely because you had a boss in your past that set high expectations with little support.

Do all the things.
- now do more!

My clients and I unpack alot of bad experiences on their journeys to be good executives. We are ending the cycle of bad bosses and raising up leaders who raise up leaders that others refuse to leave for.

If you are ready to say goodbye to that bad boss and become a great leader, I have a 12 week program (followed by a badass community) waiting for you.

Pull that napkin off your face and let's go!
Cody Hand

How do you make beautiful harmony?
You cannot bring together only baritones.
and an all Nashville-tuned accoustic guitar band would be empty.

and Nat Berman can tickle the ivories better than most, 
but the piano alone is one instrument.

So how do you build a team in beautiful harmony?

1. Hire a team with various complimentary talents.
2. Encourage each team member to refine their own craft with your support.
3. Bring them together often to rehearse together (in my book, this is called lunch)
4. Find opportunities for them to shine together.
5. Get out of the way.

and that is how you bring together a girl and a zombie and make beautiful music with your team.
Cody

PS - this song is from Disney Television Studios series Zombie, which my 10 year old has rediscovered and making us watch and listen too all the time.

PPS - Remember today is Tuesday. IYKYK.

AI Sucks
It takes away all authenticity.
Take this reel, for example.
I have a perfectly good, professionally recorded reel, with audio.
But I tried out this AI site that turned the photo into a reel.

and I look like a band conductor

rather than the speaker that I am.

But it doesn't have to suck.

Lawyers: instead of being afraid of AI, make it your assistant.
Creators: instead of being afraid of AI, harness it to spark your creativity.

You can either be afraid of it, or own it.
But never, ever lose your own authenticity.
Cody

PS - I am an executive coach, lawyer, lobbyist, and travel nut. I do not do AI, but I thought I would drop in and share this.

Letting someone go can be the kindest thing you do.

Firing isn’t cruelty when done with dignity, 
it’s care for the whole team.

I’ve worked with leaders who kept someone in a role long after it was clear it wasn’t a fit. 

The result? 
-> Frustration,  
--> stalled projects,
---> a demoralized team.

Because we are humans who employ humans, not every human will be a fit for your team.

Sometimes the best way to protect the culture is to let someone go
respectfully, and with support.

If your leaders are stuck holding on too long, I can help them learn the art of compassionate offboarding.
Cody

The table is where trust grows — here’s why I always make time for it.

I’ve led teams in high-stakes, high-pressure environments. 
- Deadlines, 
- - budgets, 
- - - crises 

— I’ve seen them all. But do you know where the most important leadership moments happened?

Over lunch.

When we sit at a table together, something shifts. 
Walls come down. 

Conversations flow in ways they never will in a formal meeting. 
Trust is built not in a single grand gesture, but in hundreds of small moments — the laugh over a shared story, 
the “How are you, really?” question that gets an honest answer.

When leaders make space for connection, performance follows. 
Not the other way around.

If you want a team that trusts you enough to tell you the truth, start by making space for the table. 

I help executives make that shift — DM me to talk.
Cody

Three questions every leader should ask their team...
But not today, it is a Monday AND a Holiday. Leave them alone!

1. What’s one thing I can do to make your job easier?
This turns the boss paradigm on its head. You are there for their success, not the other way around.

2. What’s one thing we should start doing?
You would be surprised how often your team has learned what needs to happen to make things better.

3. What’s one thing we should stop doing?
Get out of your vacuum and realize that your good ideas are often hard to operationalize. Stop the TPS reports!

“Trust is built when leaders act on what they hear.” — Feed Your Team

-> Ask
--> then listen. 
---> Act!

That’s where transformation begins.

I teach leaders how to make feedback a living part of the culture. DM me to learn more.
Cody Hand

#leadership
#generalcounsel
#COO
#executivecoach

3 questions every leader should ask...

Here is the top corporate investment with compounding returns:

-> It’s not software. 
--> It’s not a new org chart. 

*** It’s leadership coaching.***

Every hour spent developing a leader multiplies through the performance of every person they lead. That’s why coaching has one of the highest returns of any professional investment you can make.

“Great leaders don’t just produce results. They produce other leaders.”

and great leaders know that teams are built every day, through every conversation, and every trust building moment.

Harvard Business Review notes that leadership coaching improves goal attainment, resilience, and engagement, all of which translate into measurable financial gains.

If you’re ready to multiply leadership capacity in your org, let’s talk.
Cody

PS - A Fortune 500 company achieved 788% ROI from executive coaching, largely driven by gains in productivity and better retention.
The median ROI across organizations was 7× (700%), with nearly 1 in 5 organizations reporting returns of 50× or more.

If your team is afraid to fail, they’ll also be afraid to innovate.

In Feed Your Team, I talk about creating environments where mistakes aren’t career-ending — they’re learning fuel.

One executive I worked with adopted a “failure debrief” after each major project. The rule? We start by naming what we’d try differently next time. 
No blame, 
no shame
Just forward momentum.

The result? 
People stopped hiding mistakes. 
They started solving them faster. 
And creativity skyrocketed.

If your leaders aren’t modeling how to fail well, your organization is already paying the price. 

DM me and I’ll show you how to turn failures into growth.
Cody Hand

Psychological safety isn’t a perk. It’s the foundation.

We all say “my door is always open,” but most leaders don’t realize this until it is too late: 
your team will only walk through the door it if they believe it’s safe to do so.

In Feed Your Team, I write about how small signals:
 - the way you respond to bad news, 
 - - whether you interrupt, 
 - - - how you handle disagreement

either open the door wider or slam it shut.

A safe environment isn’t the absence of conflict. It’s the presence of respect.

You can’t build trust overnight. 
But you can start today, in the next conversation you have.

Executive coaching can help leaders create safety without losing accountability. DM me to learn how.
Cody Hand

#fractionalCXO
#executivecoach
#leadership

I’m not just looking to fill spots,
I’m looking to a symbol a team of talented executives who want to go from good to great.

It’s not that I need the revenue, although it would be nice, it’s that I thrive when others are thriving.

I’m selfish, I want you to be successful, and I want what I want!

Where are you in your fiscal year?

If you operate your financial calendar in line with the financial calendar, you should be thinking about the next year, because 2026 will be here soon. Many executives I work with like to have their next year's budget planned by the end of Q3 so they can finish the current year strong. 

Bonus question: If you are in your planning phase, are you currently budgeting for L&D for your executives? Your competitors are.

Your Feedback Has an Expiration Date 👇 

Like milk - feedback should be given during a specific window of time.

-> Provide your feedback too soon and it hasn't had time to homogenize, with the impurities and unhelpful bits removed.
- Let your recipient have their moment of satisfaction before ripping their performance apart.
- Let yourself marinate on the feedback to ensure what you are providing is productive and not critical of the person but rather the issue.

-> Provide it too late and its sour, unhelpful, too late to effect change.
- Don't wait too long as your recipient might proceed down a path they shouldn't.
- PLEASE do not save it for the review six months from now. That does nothing but erode trust.

Feedback is like milk:
Give it when the moment is fresh. 
Too soon, and emotions override learning. 
Too late, and the lesson is lost.

“Feedback is the bridge between intention and impact. But bridges only work if you use them while they’re still standing.” from my upcoming book. Feed Your Team

I help leaders learn when and how to deliver feedback for maximum growth.
Cody Hand

PS - who else loves a tall cold glass of whole milk?

#failurefriday
#executivecoaching
#leadership
#milk

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