After fourteen years as a litigation lawyer I trusted myself enough to leave. Building a new career meant learning things I didn't know I didn't know. There was a lot of messy middle. And honestly, that's where the most interesting learning happens.

Starting over was humbling.

One of those moments was crashing on a stage in Dallas, trying to be someone else's version of a speaker. Mortifying. Also the moment everything shifted.

That experience taught me something I now help people with every day. Not the dramatic leap. The quieter one. The moment you stop performing the version of yourself you think people want and start trusting yourself instead.

Confidence isn't something you're born with. It's something you build, through self-trust, action, and learning when things go sideways. That belief is in everything I do, including my upcoming book, Built Not Born. Confidence Isn't a Personality. It's a Practice. The book is a practical, personal guide to building real confidence. Stories from my own messy middle paired with tools you can use in presentations, tricky conversations, and the moments your voice matters most.

Fair warning: I bring a lot of energy and my elephant Ellie into the room with me.

Diane A. Ross B.Comm (hons), J.D. CEC is a confidence coach, speaker, facilitator, and former courtroom lawyer. She is the founder of Elephant Conversations Ltd.

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Testimonials

Diane spoke at our annual dinner for the BC Paralegal Association, with 160 members in attendance. She was extremely energetic, enthusiastic, funny, engaging, informative and very interesting. Overall, we were thrilled to have Diane present for our group – enough that we have invited her back and look forward to having her at future events.

Rose Singh, Vice President & Events Chair, BCPA
Diane has presented at the HRPA's Annual Conference for several years and was always very well received by our delegates. She commands the room with her dynamic and witty style, solid content providing practical and hands-on tools and tips to attendees, and her strong knowledge of the subject matter. Her commitment and passion obviously resonates in her speaking style and her ability to engage a large audience. As a speaker, she is a pleasure to deal with, always willing to work with us on what topics and subject matter would best suit our requirements and tailoring her examples and message to the needs of our delegates. She is a great addition to our lineup!

Shreyshree Raja, HRPA Annual Conference Programs Committee
Diane Ross is one of the most effective speakers I have had the pleasure of working with. Her first presentation “Tips & Tricks for Succeeding at Challenging Conversations” generated such great interest that our association had one of the largest turnouts ever for an educational event. The feedback was so positive that we asked Diane to return…

Jane Kennedy, BCLMA Membership Services
We are so grateful to have had both our daughters go through the CliftonStrengths® Assessment with Diane. It is such an asset to optimize personal , academic and professional development . It was enlightening, helpful and confidence building for them to see their strengths clearly laid out.

Jane Trepanier
After just one meeting with Diane, I felt confident I was on the right path. I left our conversation feeling empowered and bursting with renewed energy. Diane will help uncover your leadership strengths and discuss ways to marry your talents with your education and career goals. If you are feeling misaligned, confused about ‘next steps’ or want to get clearer on your leadership style, connect with Diane!

Carly Grabher, carlygrabher.com
Can three hours change your life? It did for me and my work is more satisfying because of those three hours. In fact, it was the best workshop I have ever attended and, I would highly recommend Diane’s workshop and her coaching. Simple, effective solutions that can have an immediate impact…it doesn’t get much better than that!

Cheryl McLean, Past Director First Nations Relations, Government of Yukon
Diane is an excellent coach about difficult conversations in the workplace. She has a passion for the subject material, does her homework to make the content relevant and she delivers her workshops with warmth, humour and intelligence. Well Done!

Debbie McPhalen, Manager Human Resources, Timberwest Forest Corp.
Diane presented a full day workshop at our Annual Conference which was very well received. Her energy and engagement was amazing and encouraged a similar level of participation in sessions throughout the conference. I believe the information Diane shared with us will add value for years to come.

Graeme Wright, Regional Manager, BCSPCA
Diane’s program has been instrumental in my HR development. The program has pushed me to be more assertive and confident in my conversations.

Sheryl March, HR Manager
Dear Diane Thank you so much for such a fun, positive, educational and inspiring session. It was exactly what our managers needed and may very well be the game changer we have been looking for.

Jane Talbot, Director, Regional Operations BC SPCA
Diane Ross provided “difficult conversations” training to all the employees in our organization. Following the training, I received very positive feedback from the attendees. Overall it was considered one of the best training session we have held.

Debbie Comis, Chief Administrative Officer, City of Parksville
I’ve had Diane run workshops for two different groups I facilitate, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Everyone left the session energized and with fresh ideas on how to use their Strengths to help them as leaders, business owners, and in their life. Since our workshop, people keep referring back to their Strengths as they made strategic decisions. I highly recommend Diane as she’ll bring value and fun to your organization.

Maggie Patterson, Founder, Small Business Boss
We engaged with Elephant Conversations to support the development of a shared awareness of strengths and blindspots as well as improved communication training for three tiers of management. Our team loved working with Diane. She’s a wonderful coach and facilitator who helped us to develop a shared language and communication techniques that supported the different personality types to communicate better with each other, an essential foundation for any organization. The team is still using the language and techniques we learned a year later!

Katie Reynolds, Director of People & Culture, Monstercat
Diane is a high energy facilitator who delivers an extremely engaging session on strengths. Our experience greatly strengthened our awareness and understanding of strengths within our team. As a certified Gallup coach, Diane uses her knowledge to bring about deep conversations on how strengths show up for everyone. We had worked together for four years as a team, and yet we discovered many new things about each other through her session, and a stronger understanding of why we operate the way we do! This experience has set the foundation for even closer working relationships on our team going forward.

Sue Voigt, VP People & Culture, Accent Inns
This was the most impactful offsite we’ve done with our team in years. It allowed a relatively large group (35+) to connect in a deep and meaningful way through facilitated conversation and wellness modalities including breathwork. The experience the Conscious Lab team created for PLATFORM exceeded our expectations. We are still seeing the energy and enthusiasm seeping through long after the retreat. I would highly recommend it to other leaders looking to think outside the box and tap into the highest potential of their team.

Matthew Francis, president of PLATFORM Insurance Management

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Let’s give your people practical tools they can actually use: in presentations, meetings, tricky conversations, and the moments where their voice matters most.

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We are so grateful to have had both our daughters go through the CliftonStrengths® Assessment with Diane. It is such an asset to optimize personal , academic and professional development . It was enlightening, helpful and confidence building for them to see their strengths clearly laid out.

Diane is an excellent coach about difficult conversations in the workplace. She has a passion for the subject material, does her homework to make the content relevant and she delivers her workshops with warmth, humour and intelligence. Well Done!

Diane presented a full day workshop at our Annual Conference which was very well received. Her energy and engagement was amazing and encouraged a similar level of participation in sessions throughout the conference. I believe the information Diane shared with us will add value for years to come.

Diane’s program has been instrumental in my HR development. The program has pushed me to be more assertive and confident in my conversations.

Dear Diane Thank you so much for such a fun, positive, educational and inspiring session. It was exactly what our managers needed and may very well be the game changer we have been looking for.

Diane Ross provided “difficult conversations” training to all the employees in our organization. Following the training, I received very positive feedback from the attendees. Overall it was considered one of the best training session we have held.

Ready to build Confident Communicators?

Confidence is a practice.