A twist of fate led Michael to his first investigations job while he was completing his degree, and what began as an opportunity to pay the bills has since morphed into a completely unexpected career. Michael was quickly promoted into a management role, and after successfully resolving several investigations early in his tenure, Michael was enrolled in his first Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates (WZ) non-confrontational interview and interrogation techniques training course. During the course the clouds parted, the sun burst through, a rainbow appeared, and Michael knew exactly what he wanted his focus to be.

He continued to take on additional investigative responsibilities and attained several promotions. Michael’s success in the interrogation room fostered his fascination with why people choose to share sensitive information in the face of consequences. He attended additional training programs and earned his Certified Forensic Interviewer (CFI) designation—the highest available professional designation in his field. Recruited shortly after by Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates to join their staff of investigators and trainers, he spent a decade working for WZ, running their investigations division, developing new content, and traveling the world teaching investigators how to apply rapport-based interrogation techniques.

In his investigations role, Michael conducted and managed a wide variety of interrogations across the public and private sector. He created and taught seminars for law enforcement personnel, federal investigators, private sector investigators, and human resource professionals around the world. For this work, Michael received the Homeland Security Outstanding Contributions Award in 2011.

During this time, Michael had the opportunity to start teaching CEOs how to apply interrogation techniques in their business conversations. These training programs quickly opened Michael’s eyes to the similarities his executive clients’ negotiations, leadership conversations, and sales conversations shared with his interviews and interrogations. As a result, Michael dove into research from across the world of business communications and arrived at two important realizations. First, the best leaders and the best interrogators capitalize on the same two core skills: Vision and Influence. Second, the cognitive process that leads customers to commit to saying, “I’ll buy it,” employees to commit to saying, “I’ll do it,” and interrogation suspects to truthfully commit to saying, “I did it,” are essentially identical.

Michael realized he could teach executives how to reduce missed opportunities and increase commitments to action. He founded InQuasive, Inc. and created the Disciplined Listening Method by integrating research and best practices from the worlds of business communications and investigative interviewing. The resulting educational content represents a new and in-depth approach to applying strategic, ethical observation and persuasion techniques across the full spectrum of business conversations.

Michael has been invited by companies, universities, government agencies, and executive groups to facilitate his seminars and presentations across North America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He has led thousands of programs and educated tens of thousands of participants from over fifty countries on how to activate the truth in the areas of leadership communication, sales, negotiation, conflict resolution, customer service, candidate interviews, family conversations, and influential instruction. Michael is also a frequent guest contributor for various media outlets and podcasts.

Michael goes well beyond facilitating and advising. He applies customized content specifically designed to meet the needs of each participant with a humorous and intelligent delivery style. His diligent preparation, attention to each participant’s concerns, and added context coalesce to drive home the learning objectives. It’s never just a presentation, seminar, or advisory session—it’s always an experience.

Michael is excited to raise his son, Gabriel, with his wife, Brooke, and continue to inspire people to evolve their communication approaches and embrace the rewards.