For nearly 40 years, as founder and president of Well-Read, Dr. Phyllis Mindell created, presented, and wrote all course books for seminars in women’s language, reading, writing, public speaking, and leadership. She also mentors young women who apply her ideas to their lives and work; they now hold leadership positions in medicine, law, psychiatry, business, and the nonprofit world. (Read about them in Profiles!)
As an original thinker in her fields, Dr. Mindell has written four books and dozens of articles, columns, and research papers on all aspects of leadership, language, and communications. Power Reading was cited as one of the 30 best business books of the year and selected for Soundview Executive Book Summaries. A Woman’s Guide to the Language of Success: Communicating With Confidence and Power and How to Say It for Women, have sold over 200,000 copies and been translated into German, Chinese, and Arabic. How to Say It for Executives was lauded by the Carnegie Library. And you’ll find practical tips from those books right here, free.
An engaging, inspiring, and provocative speaker, Dr. Mindell has keynoted and addressed such audiences as Simmons Women’s Leadership Conference, University of Michigan Medical School, Xerox International, and dozens of others in the US and abroad. Her students come from more than twenty countries, her corporate clients include Fortune 500s as well as nonprofits to whom she donates her time.
She earned the doctorate from the University of Rochester, the MS from City College of New York, and the BA from Brooklyn College. She has also done postdoctoral study in neurolinguistics, literature, and writing. Dr. Mindell holds the title of adjunct Professor at Georgetown Medical School, where she helps scientists and doctors hone their professional and patient communication skills.
After the 2011 death of her husband and partner, Marvin I. Mindell, she moved to Washington, D.C. Her two children and four grandchildren light up her life and teach her all about powerful communications.
Dr. Mindell was recently featured on Angela Lussier’s “Claim the Stage,” podcast where she discussed weak language, and the many mistakes women make when speaking.
To contact the Word Grandma, email phyllis@thewordgrandma.com