Headshot of author and comedian Viv Groskop

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5 ways to be confident when public speaking

How to Build an Inner Confidence That Lasts

Happy High Status

Reassuring, inspiring and wise - a practical handbook for anyone held back by self-doubt

Like all of Viv's writing, this is joyous, thoughtful and, best of all, bloody useful

Friendly, fun and incredibly useful

How can you seem confident, gracious and charming when inside you're anxious, annoyed and on a short fuse? Is it ok to pretend to be someone you're not? If people are looking to you for confidence and clarity when all around you is complexity and chaos, you could do a lot worse than read this guide to being yourself while also being charming, calm and authoritative. Simple, powerful, funny and practical - I wish I'd read it years ago.

Matt Brittin, President of EMEA Business & Operations, Google

Viv Groskop always makes me feel more confident. Get the magic now in book form

Inspiring. Amazing. Empowering yet relatable, Happy High Status shows you how to channel confidence and embody strength and leadership without feeling like you're being a dick about it. It has made me feel that I - a normal woman with thick ankles and frizzy hair - can embody the charming, insouciant confidence of Michelle Obama or Julia Roberts. I love this - everyone should read it.

Viv Groskop reinvents the very idea of confidence - she turns tired old 'one size fits all' advice on its head and lets us see how we all have 'happy high status' within us. Listen to yourself, not to other people - the results will astonish you. This book changes the way we think about confidence and success.

Isabel Berwick, host of Financial Times’ Working It podcast

Viv Groskop's no-nonsense approach to confidence is entertaining yet transformative. Show up as you on your best day, every day.

Self-help without the stupidity &hellip; warm, super-smart, sceptical, generous and funny.

Charlotte Wood, author of The Luminous Solution

Viv Groskop is an award-winning writer, stand-up comedian, playwright and TV and radio presenter. She is the host of the podcast How to Own the Room, with over 2 million downloads and guests including Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, Margaret Atwood, Professor Mary Beard, Nigella Lawson and very occasionally a man like Brian Cox (Succession's Logan Roy). 
 
Her books include How to Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking, Lift As You Climb: Women, Ambition and How to Change the Story and Happy High Status: How to Build an Inner Confidence That Lasts. As a performance coach, she works with women and senior teams in business and media, helping them to redefine leadership and authority - and generally worry less about how they come across so they can actually just do their work.

Redefine what confidence looks like at home and at work. 
 
Everyone wants to be able to face challenging situations without feeling daunted, intimidated or stressed. But no-one wants to be labelled over-confident, arrogant or smarmy, or to get caught up in their own hype. So how can you feel authentically confident - without the cringe, and without pretending to be something you're not? 
 
Happy high status is a new way of thinking about confidence and how you relate to yourself. It's how actors and comedians enhance their presence on stage and screen. It lends strength and energy to your interactions, big and small, and is a way of projecting status, minimising self-doubt and moving effortlessly through life. 
 
Drawing on research, practical tips and lessons from the worlds of comedy, film, television, politics and sport, Viv Groskop offers a masterclass in how you can access this new form of confidence at any time. All, crucially, with no risk of anyone thinking that you are your own biggest fan. 
 
"Viv always makes me feel more confident. Get the magic now in book form" - Katy Brand 
 
"I recommend Viv Groskop to anyone wanting more self-confidence" - Philippa Perry 
 
"Reassuring, inspiring and wise - a practical handbook for anyone held back by self-doubt" - Julia Samuel

Lift as You Climb

Women, Ambition and How to Change the Story

A dynamic guide to owning your ambition and striving for success in an ever-changing world, while helping others along the way. 
 
'Practical and big-hearted... the New Testament for the sisterhood.' Cathy Newman 
'A soul-stirring self-help guide.' RED 
__________ 
 
Part self-help guide, part master class in survival skills for life and work, Lift As You Climb examines what sisterhood looks like today, asks what you can do to make things better for other women and considers how to do that without disadvantaging yourself. 
 
It's the ultimate confidence bible for women planning careers in an ever-changing and uncertain world. And it addresses one of the biggest issues women face in the workplace - how to be ambitious without losing your sense of self. It must be possible, right? 
 
Full of brilliant tips and invaluable insights, it's everything you need to know about making life better for yourself - without making it worse for others. 
__________ 
 
Readers love Lift As You Climb: 
 
***** 'Inspires and provokes thoughts about how you can move forward in your career.' 
***** 'Supportive and reassuring.' 
***** 'Uplifting and full of hope, and of course written with a great deal of humour.'

A soul-stirring self-help guide to planning, focusing and achieving your career goals... without leaving your sisters behind.

Red - 'The non-fiction books you'll love in 2020'

An invaluable manual to getting on, getting ahead - and taking the rest of the sisterhood with you.

For every woman at any stage of her career, this brilliantly inspirational read explores how sisterhood intersects with ambition.

A vital handbook for your working life.

Full of excellent practical advice that works for every woman regardless of age, job, country, position or background. Lifting others as you climb is the surest way to climb the highest.

A book to have at your side for any situation.

Necessary reading - whether you're an ambitious woman or not.

Part self-help guide, part master class in survival skills for life and work, Lift as You Climb examines what sisterhood looks like today, asks what you can do to make things better for other women and considers how to do that without disadvantaging yourself. It's the ultimate confidence bible for women planning careers in an ever-changing and uncertain world. And it addresses one of the biggest issues women face in the workplace - how to be ambitious without losing your sense of self. It must be possible, right? This essential handbook is full of brilliant tips and invaluable insights on everything you need to know about making life better for yourself - without making it worse for others.

Life Lessons from Russian Literature

The Anna Karenina Fix

'Wonderfully entertaining, hilarious. Contains the distilled wisdom of some of the greatest writers who ever lived' Allison Pearson, Sunday Telegraph 
 
What should I do with my life? 
 What if my love is not returned? 
 Why do bad things happen? 
 
The answers to some of life's biggest questions are found not in trite self-help manuals but in the tough-love lessons explored in Russian literature. Here, Viv Groskop delves into the novels of history's deepest thinkers to discover enduring truths about how we should live. 
 
Whether you're new to the Russian classics or returning to old favourites, The Anna Karenina Fix will help salve your heartache by exploring the torments of a host of famous and infamous literary heroes and heroines. Think of it like this: they have suffered so that you don't have to . . . 
 
'Enchanting. Groskop falls in love with the literature, her impressive knowledge of which she conveys with a charmingly breezy tone' Observer 
 
'A beguiling tasting menu of some of the finest reading experiences of my life. Witty, likeable, and lighthearted, Viv Groskop invites us to embrace the work of these august Russian dead souls as belonging to us all' Lionel Shriver

Wonderfully entertaining, hilarious. Contains the distilled wisdom of some of the greatest writers who ever lived. Explored with dancing wit, affection and brilliance, this is a passionate, hilarious, joyful love letter to Russian literature.

Enchanting. Groskop falls in love with the literature, her impressive knowledge of which she conveys with a charmingly breezy tone

A beguiling tasting menu of some of the finest reading experiences of my life. Witty, likeable, and lighthearted, Viv Groskop invites us to embrace the work of these august Russian dead souls as belonging to us all

Groskop has a knack of giving you just enough biography of the author, just enough tantalising kiss-and-tell detail from the works . . . A delightful primer and companion to all the authors you are ashamed to admit you haven't read

What does Tolstoy have in common with Oprah Winfrey? What can Chekhov teach us about body image? In The Anna Karenina Fix, comedian Viv Groskop shows us how to use Russian literature as self-help, with hilarious and eye-opening results

A wry literary memoir examining what we can learn from the great Russian novelists

Funny and only second best to reading the stuff itself

A highly knowledgeable jaunt through 150 years of literature

Viv Groskop is an award-winning comedian (Say Sorry to the Lady, Be More Margo and Anchorwoman), a crack interviewer (most recently seen on Graham Norton's UK-wide book tour), and an agony aunt for The Pool. She is the author of I Laughed, I Cried (Orion 2013), and a regular contributor to the Guardian, Observer and Mail on Sunday, as well as Front Row, Woman's Hour and Newsnight.

What should I do with my life? What if my love is not returned? Why do bad things happen? 
 
The answers to some of life's biggest questions are found not in trite self-help manuals but in the tough-love lessons explored in Russian literature. Here, Viv Groskop delves into the novels of history's deepest thinkers to discover enduring truths about how we should live. 
 
Whether you're new to the Russian classics or returning to old favourites, The Anna Karenina Fix will help salve your heartache by exploring the torments of a host of famous and infamous literary heroes and heroines. Think of it like this: they have suffered so that you don't have to . . .

Viv Groskop

I recommend Viv Groskop's How to Own the Room to anyone wanting more self confidence. Full of helpful concepts you can get your head round and embody. I'm finding it very useful.

Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read

Plenty of tips and tricks... The most valuable lesson is that, in Groskop's words, 'You don't have to be a great speaker to give an amazing speech.'

The ultimate guide to public speaking. Inspirational.

Demystifies the art of talking to people and winning them round to your cause.

One of my fave life gurus on taking up space and owning your voice. Viv is the perfect teacher. This book is going to help so many people. It's brilliant.'

Emma Gannon, author The Multi-Hyphen Method

An excellent, truly useful guide to getting more women front and centre, encouraging us to take part, noisily, in public life. (The podcast is also fabulous.)'

Daisy Buchanan, author of How to Be a Grown-Up

The indispensable guide for anyone keen to develop their public presence, written with style and wit.

Powerful advice ... useful thoughts and words of wisdom. Groskop gives you all the tools you need.

Easy steps to soothe the nerves and build conifidence.

Speaking advice drawn from female experience ("Be More Oprah, "Be More Michelle", Be More JK", Be More Chimamanda" and so on) and with a tilt to a female audience.

If you wish you were a bit more confident when it comes to standing up  in front of lots of people, then Viv Groskop has written a genuinely  excellent guide to public speaking. It’s got a whole chapter on what we  can learn from Oprah. How can you NOT need that in your life?

I immediately wanted to give this book to all my female friends.

Addresses how to overcome the natural performance anxiety many people suffer and how as a woman you can find your voice on a big stage. Championing female speakers from Michelle Obama to JK Rowling, to Hillary Clinton and Oprah, this book aims to help women tap into the kind of inner conviction that makes people sit up and take notice.

Funny, supportive and reassuring. Just reading it is making me stand taller.

Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with a Pearl Earring and TED speaker

Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking

'Full of helpful concepts... I'm finding it very useful.' Philippa Perry 
'Plenty of tips and tricks.' Sunday Times 
 
Most books about public speaking don't tell you what to do when you open your mouth and nothing comes out. And they don't tell you how to get over the anxiety about performance that most people naturally have. They don't tell you what to do in the moments when you are made, as a woman, to feel small. They don't tell you how to own the room. 
 
This book does. 
 
From the way Michelle Obama projects 'happy high status', and the power of J.K. Rowling's understated speaking style, to Virginia Woolf's leisurely pacing and Oprah Winfrey's mastery of inner conviction, what is it that our heroines do to make us sit up and listen - really listen - to their every word? And how can you achieve that impact in your own life? 
 
Here's how.

Viv Groskop

Books by Viv Groskop

Articles featuring Viv Groskop

5 ways to be confident when public speaking

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