About Lisa Courtney
But the numbers don't tell the real story. I've sat at a long restaurant table with over forty Germans after church, learning to say "Prost" every time someone ordered a new round. I stood at Auschwitz with my Polish client, in silence, coming to grips with what happened there. I was a bridesmaid at a Russian and Polish wedding in Los Angeles, and at a British-Indian wedding in England. I shared hotpot with ten Chinese friends crowded into a dorm room. I spent holidays with two families in Finland. I broke bread with clients in France.
These weren't cultural exchanges. They were invitations into people's lives — and I accepted every one of them.
I'm not teaching intercultural communication from a textbook. I'm teaching it from a life fully lived across cultures. And every person I've met along the way has shaped what I bring into the room with every client.
My cup runneth over. I am so blessed to have met each person on my path.
Intercultural Communication Specialist - Founder of The Elephant Method®
I didn't set out to build a methodology. I set out to help people be heard.
For years, I taught Business English to professionals around the world — executives, engineers, diplomats, healthcare workers — people who were brilliant in their native language and somehow invisible in English. They weren't failing because of grammar. They were failing because of fear. The moment the stakes went up, something shut down. Their voice tightened. Their mind went blank. They froze.
I knew that no amount of vocabulary drilling was going to fix that.
One day I came across a video of an elephant gently guiding a deer across a river. Slowly, steadily, without force — just presence and trust. I watched it and thought: that's what I do. I don't push people across. I walk alongside them until they realize they were always capable of crossing. That was the moment The Elephant Method was born.
I've lived in England, Spain, Mexico, and Costa Rica. I've traveled to Finland, Croatia, France, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Israel, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Italy, and across the United States — all within the last ten years.
10,000+
Sessions delivered
40+
Countries reached
9+
Years of service
If you're reading this and something is resonating — that's not a coincidence.