Quentin Schultze Bio

Our best communication flows from our hearts and serves others.

Greetings! I write, speak, consult, and video-cast about communication, one of the greatest gifts. I learned early in my life not to take it for granted….

I grew up in a kind of living hell. My father was an alcoholic. My mother was a paranoid schizophrenic. They divorced, so I lived with my mother, who could not drive or hold a job. We were what used to be called “white trailer trash.” I avoided communication to reduce my pain. I hated school, but eventually became an educator and a public speaker. Read about my transformation from a hurting, withdrawn kid to a professional communicator in my book, Communicating with Grace and Virtue.

I earned a PhD in communication from the University of Illinois (Urbana), and taught at Calvin and other universities for 40 years before leaving full-time instruction to dedicate more time to writing, speaking, and mentoring.

I am currently working on a book about life lessons in the movie A Christmas Story, which follows Ralphie’s quest for a Red Ryder BB rifle. I knew the screenwriter. Send me a note if you’d like to read a sample chapter.

I write and speak in order to serve audiences. Such service is where the world’s deep hunger and my deep joy intersect.* I love to share wisdom about human communication, such as: “Speak only if you can improve upon the silence.” Imagine the impact of such wisdom if today’s leaders took it to heart.

Some of my books include:
  *  Communicating with Grace and Virtue (2020)
  *  Communicate Like a True Leader: 30 Days of Life-Changing Wisdom
  *  Résumé 101: A Student and Recent-Grad Guide to Crafting Résumés and Cover Letters that Land Jobs
  *  An Essential Guide to Interpersonal Communication (with Diane Badzinski)
  *  An Essential Guide to Public Speaking (2nd ed., March 2020) Click here to view my video presentations for each chapter of the book.

Please visit my LinkedIn page for more professional information about me, and my Google Scholar page for a longer list of books and articles.

I have been interviewed by most major media, such as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Fortune, the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, and NPR. Please sign up for my email updates. No spam. Just me, serving you.

Thanks for visiting.

— Dr. Q

* The sentence is my version of Frederick Buechner: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” I discuss it in a little book I wrote about calling, Here I Am.