When I first started my new role leading growth marketing & partnerships at Kann Advisory Group, I had this antsy feeling to get on the phone as soon as possible. I was building our CRM in Hubspot, mapping out organizations, and meeting with my new team members to try to get up to speed as quickly as possible. After my first two weeks, my new boss, the President and Founder Kraig Kann, reminded me to have patience. Not just with the training or sales process, but with myself.
It was exactly what I needed to hear to pause and reflect on my work so far. Even though I have only been working at KAG for a short amount of time, I can already see the progression in my new role.
Part of my process is getting the chance to gain insight on the experiences of our KAG alumni. I get the chance to return to my Mizzou J-School roots and have genuine conversations with leaders in different industries to learn about the work they did to find their voice. So here we go!
The KAG alumni series begins with Doug Pontsler and Kristin Zinkl of COVE: Center of Visual Expertise.
Doug Pontsler & Kristin Zinkl: Center of Visual Expertise
With over 100 years of experience in the environmental health and safety space, the team at COVE is dedicated to train workers to see smarter by using Visual Literacy. Their training, called The Art of Seeing Art™, empowers workforces to break through visual bias to spot hidden hazards and make proactive decisions from a proven safety process using different tools and techniques. Their goal is to prevent injuries, especially those that are life altering.
Doug and Kristin are experts at helping others see hazards, but they realized their own story needed more clarity to be heard by clients. When I spoke with Doug, Chairman and Managing Director at COVE, he explained that this isn’t your typical safety training – it will change the way you look at the world around you.
“You know what doesn’t work? Doing the same thing that we have always done.”
When speaking with Doug, he explained that he and Kraig first met in Toledo at the Marathon Classic LPGA Tournament over 20 years ago. The two stayed in touch over the years, and when Doug and the team at COVE found themselves struggling to be heard by the clients who could truly be impacted by their training, Doug and Kraig reconnected for a workshop with KAG in 2022, and then again in the Brand New You workshop in 2025.
In the initial workshop that included the entire COVE team, Kristin, Managing Director of Growth & Engagement at COVE, made it clear that presenting was not something she liked. “The first one [workshop], I failed miserably… having that experience forced me out of my comfort zone, and it forced me to think about how I present myself and how I position myself in front of people.”
Kristin mentioned to me that in her role, she is presenting more and more. She even presented to a group of over 300 people. When there was a last-minute change of plans, Kristin stepped up and used the tricks that she learned through the Brand New You workshop to successfully own the room.
“I just said, you’re just going to pretend to be a presenter today… I felt brain dead afterwards.”
Doug – Using Our Custom “Brand New You” Workbook
Kristin – Delivering COVE’s Key Message
For Doug, “focus” was the word he used to describe the process of the Brand New You workshop. “One of the things that Kraig really drives home is this need to be able to crystallize what you are about as an organization and what you’re about as an individual—concisely and directly.” Doug explained the deep work that the team put into when focusing on the big picture at COVE to really nail down their message so that it quickly gets their client’s attention. He spoke about truly being vulnerable at points of the workshop where Kraig created a safe space to do so.
“All relationships fundamentally are based on trust. I don’t know the moment that I trusted Kraig, but I do. He creates this environment where you can be vulnerable in terms of how you think about what you do.”
Kraig views that trust as the essential foundation for the work put forth by KAG alumni.
“With clients like Doug and Kristin, I think the most important thing is to work with them as people,” Kraig said, “Together, we worked deep to help them understand the true story that makes their organization and offerings special. But we also unlock the strengths of each individual as a presenter to give them the confidence to share more effectively and with bigger impact. It’s great to see their social media posts tied to all of their most recent presentations!”
Doug and Kristin explained different exercises that they learned in the Brand New You workshop that they not only saw results from immediately after working with KAG, but that they still use several models from the workshop today in every presentation to their clients.
“Kraig always says, ‘I get to go do this’ instead of ‘I have to go do it.’ It’s a good reminder when you start to get a little lazy about what it is you’ve got to go do… it changes your perspective on the hard things.”
Team Presentations Are a Big Part of the Brand New You Workshop
Hearing this mindset shared by Doug and Kristin really has changed the way that I view my own role at KAG. Instead of focusing on the grind, I am able to take a step back and reflect on the impact that KAG has on those who take the time to be vulnerable and do the hard work. When I am faced with challenges in my role, I remind myself that I get to do this.
If you and your team are up to the challenge, check out all of our program options within the Elevate Experience with Kann Advisory Group so you can stop “having to” and start “getting to” own your moment.
And stay tuned for more of our Alumni folks turning insight they learned into impact for their audiences.
– Taylor Twellman, Manager Growth Marketing & Partnerships
You can reach me through email: connect@kannadvisory.com