Peggy Klaus

Peggy Klaus is a leadership and communication expert. The author of two best-selling books: BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It and The Hard Truth About Soft Skills: Workplace Lessons Smart People Wish They’d Learned Sooner, Peggy provides customized, cutting edge leadership and communication programs on a multitude of “soft skill” topics such as executive presence, branding, self promotion, political savvy and networking. Her one-on-one executive coaching offers a uniquely individualized framework for professional development, while her keynotes allow audiences to experience her concepts in a highly energized, impactful and often hilarious message. In 2016 Peggy won the Stevie Awards gold for Coach of the Year for women in business and received the Stevie silver honor in 2017 for Best Leadership Management/Training Practice of the Year.

Her client list ranges from Fortune 500 companies to small and mid-sized organizations and includes: JP Morgan Chase, MasterCard, Computer Associates, Chevron Corporation, Deloitte, General Mills, Goldman Sachs, Oracle, The National Football League, Gap Inc., Pacific Gas & Electric Company, American Express, Mattel, Booz Allen Hamilton, Kaiser Permanente, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, among many others.

To inspire tomorrow’s leaders, Peggy has taken her message from the boardroom to the classroom, lecturing students and faculty at universities across the country including: the University of California, Berkeley (Haas School of Business, Boalt School of Law, and the School of Public Health), Harvard University (Kennedy School of Government and the School of Public Health), Wharton’s Executive MBA Program, the University of California, Davis, MBA Program, the University of Virginia, Pepperdine University School of Law and Smith College’s Executive MBA Program.

Looking to influence even younger leaders, Peggy founded Brag! Connections in 2004. This unique program pairs teenage girls with professional women to help them to learn and practice self-promotion and networking skills. She has also created a soft skills curriculum, Soft Skills 101: Lessons for Teens on Getting Ahead at School, at Work, and in Life, based on her book, The Hard Truth About Soft Skills. This curriculum is currently offered in schools for students in grades six and above.

In an earlier incarnation, Peggy earned advanced degrees in drama, speech, and theatre from the London-based Royal Academy of Music and the Drama Studio. She began her career as an actor and classical singer before moving to Hollywood to become a producer, director and talent coach. She has worked with actors, comedians, musicians, and broadcast news talent in productions for Paramount Studios, Warner Brothers, ABC, CBS, and NBC.

Peggy has served as a board member for The Young Women’s Leadership Network the Women’s Leadership Board of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, the Financial Women’s Association of San Francisco and the SAGE Scholars at the University of California, Berkeley.