blog
December 16, 2025

Why I’m joining Prezent: Democratizing world-class business communication

Legendary high stakes coach Tom McCarthy joins Prezent to bring AI Communication Coaching to teams through interactive coaching avatars.

For more than three decades, my mission has been simple. I help people step into their full potential. 

In business, in athletics, and in life, I have coached leaders and world-class performers on how to break through limitations and communicate with power, confidence, and purpose.

That mission has taken me from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange to serving as Head of Sales and Marketing for Tony Robbins, to coaching Olympic Gold Medalists and CEOs of some of the world’s most influential companies.

Through my company, FIRE-UP Training, I have coached thousands of presenters across organizations such as Cisco, Microsoft, Salesforce, HP, Dell, ServiceNow, Arista, Epson and many others.

After all these years, one truth has become very clear to me.

Outstanding communication is the single greatest unlock for human potential, but only a small percentage of professionals ever gain access to world-class coaching.

That is the problem I am joining Prezent to solve.

A career built on breaking down the patterns of excellence

Most people are surprised when they learn that I began my career as a shy and reluctant speaker who disliked public speaking. That discomfort turned into a lifelong study.

I spent years observing the world’s most compelling communicators and identifying repeatable patterns. These are the codifiable behaviors that make someone influential, charismatic, and impossible to ignore.

I distilled these insights into core principles that guide all my coaching.

People must learn how to craft a compelling story that moves an audience to action. They must shift their mindset to confidence, energy, and enjoyment. They must deliver with authenticity, engagement, and presence.

These ideas form the basis of my books, Win the Presentation Game and FIRE-UP Your Presentations. They also guide every workshop, keynote, and executive coaching session I lead.

As demand grew, one question kept returning to me.

How do I scale this impact without diluting the quality of the coaching?

The communication crisis no one is talking about

In our research, we found a surprising truth. Only 14 percent of business presentations lead to any action being taken. We also found that 90 percent of virtual meeting attendees admit they multitask during meetings.

This level of ineffectiveness is costing organizations incredible amounts of time, alignment, and opportunity.

The issue is not a lack of effort. The issue is that most professionals learn communication skills by copying average behavior. Average behavior only creates more average results.

Traditional coaching can be powerful, but it does not scale widely enough to transform communication across an entire organization.

This is where the scale of Artificial intelligence excited me.

Why Prezent and why now

In recent years, artificial intelligence has changed what leaders expect from coaching.

Over the past few years, I have watched expectations around coaching shift dramatically. Leaders no longer want to wait weeks for a workshop or a session. 

They expect guidance to be available the moment they need it. They also want development resources that are affordable enough for the entire organization, not just senior executives. 

Most importantly, they want tools that remove the frustration and wasted hours that often come with building a strong narrative or preparing for an important presentation.

When I first learned about Prezent, I could see they were doing something far more meaningful than generating content with AI. They were focused on elevating the quality of communication inside organizations. 

I had a chance to meet Rajat and was impressed by his understanding of how top communicators think and structure ideas. Rajat and his team were productizing those insights from top leaders accessible to every professional, and this immediately struck a chord. 

As someone who has spent decades breaking down the behaviors of elite communicators, their mission resonated with me immediately.

With Prezent, my FIRE-UP methodology can now reach more people, overcome language and cultural barriers, provide personalized coaching at any time, and help professionals improve both story and delivery.

Prezent’s interactive AI avatars support professionals with real-time coaching, structured frameworks, and actionable feedback.

This is the first platform I have seen that can truly scale what I have dedicated my life to.

Codifying a lifetime of coaching into an AI communication avatar

One of the most exciting aspects of this partnership is the creation of my AI-powered communication avatar inside Prezent.

I was especially drawn to the vision of creating an avatar that can genuinely transform how people show up as presenters. I could see how it would help professionals build real confidence in their ability to communicate well. 

It would guide them step by step in shaping strong narratives, help them get into the right mindset so they feel energized and inspired, and give them meaningful feedback on their delivery so they become more engaging and effective.

For the first time, the principles I teach in boardrooms and training rooms can reach people anywhere in the world.

This is not about replacing coaches, rather It is about expanding access to high-quality coaching so that excellence is no longer exclusive to a small group. 

This AI Avatar is not just about me, rather Prezent’s customers will also have the ability to create their own AI communication avatars, extending expert coaching and best practices across teams and organizations.

A mission aligned with my purpose

My purpose has always been to help people reach their full potential. I have done this over many decades with my company FIRE-UP Training and my two books Win The Presentation Game and FIRE-UP Your Presentations.

To reach more people and create a bigger positive impact, I needed a scalable platform rather than a larger team.

Prezent is that platform.

Prezent combines the intelligence and speed of AI with human principles such as story, confidence, energy, and presence. 

These are the foundations of great communication. Together we can transform the effectiveness of meetings, the quality of presentations, the confidence of professionals, and the productivity of entire organizations.

The opportunity to create global impact is the reason I am joining this phenomenal company now.

Looking ahead: Democratizing excellence

Only a small percentage of people today would describe themselves as great communicators.
Imagine the world we could create if we increased that number dramatically. 

Imagine what would change if compelling and confident communication became the norm.

This is the future we are building.

My digital avatar and the Prezent platform have the potential to reshape how organizations learn to communicate. When people improve the way they speak, connect, and inspire action, everything improves with it.

As I often say:

The world needs us now more than ever because the number one way we advance humanity is through improved communication.

Here's to new beginnings and exciting times ahead with Prezent.

Ready to create impactful presentations?

Try for free

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