Speak Up: Develop Your Executive Presence & Leadership Communication Style

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

Is your leadership communication style unintentionally making your team less effective—and undermining your executive presence?

You work hard to lead your team, communicate clearly, and deliver results. But what if the very strategies you rely on—giving direct feedback, pushing through challenges, and expecting others to think like you—are actually holding you back?

In this episode of Speak Up: Develop Your Executive Presence, Laura sits down with Annie Yatch, a former counterterrorism expert turned leadership and performance coach, to explore what separates elite performers from everyone else.

By the end of Laura’s conversation with Annie Yatch, you'll know:

🔑How to identify and overcome four critical leadership gaps so you can build trust, improve team performance, and get better results without micromanaging

💰How to develop an elite mindset and stay calm under pressure

🔥How to increase your influence and executive presence and create the kind of authentic connection that inspires people to perform at their best.

Ready to stop letting hidden leadership gaps limit your success?

Listen now to discover practical strategies for thinking like an elite performer, communicating with greater influence, and leading your team with more confidence.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

About our fabulous guest:

Annie Yatch is a former counterterrorism analyst who now works as a leadership and performance expert helping executives, founders, and high-performing professionals strengthen how they lead, communicate, and show up under pressure. Her work focuses on the often-overlooked foundation of executive presence: the internal state that drives clarity, confidence, and influence in real-time communication.

What makes Annie particularly relevant for your audience is her perspective that executive presence is not just a skill set—it is a physiological and psychological state. Many capable leaders struggle to speak up effectively, communicate clearly, or project confidence not because they lack knowledge or communication training, but because stress, cognitive overload, and nervous system dysregulation interfere with how they show up in critical moments.

The Speak Up: Develop Your Executive Presence Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to speak up in executive meetings
• Executive Influence
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Are you Director or Above Who Wants Faster Promotions, More Influence, and Stronger Executive Presence?

Book a confidential Executive Presence Strategy Call to discover the communication patterns that help high performers get seen as senior leaders.

👉 Book Your Executive Strategy Call here

Have you ever stayed silent when a senior leader was making a mistake because the last time you spoke up, it backfired?

Maybe you challenged a boss and were labeled difficult. Maybe an executive embarrassed you in a meeting. Or maybe you've learned that disagreeing with powerful people can come at a professional cost.

Now, even when you have the expertise and evidence to challenge a decision, you hesitate. And that hesitation could be costing you opportunities to demonstrate your strategic value and influence important business outcomes.

Here's what high-performing leaders need to know: You don't have to choose between staying silent and creating conflict.

By the end of this episode you’ll know:

🔑Why past experiences with difficult executives can keep you silent today, even when you know your perspective could prevent a costly mistake.

🧰How to use Laura’s top technique to challenge assumptions, raise concerns, and protect important executive relationships.

🎯How to turn disagreement into influence without becoming defensive.

If you've ever walked out of a leadership meeting thinking, "I knew that was a bad decision, but I didn't say anything," this episode is for you.

Press play to learn how to push back with confidence, make your expertise heard, and influence better decisions without unnecessary confrontation.

So look, if you're a director, senior director, or VP who regularly sees risks or problems that senior leaders are overlooking, but you're struggling to get them to take your perspective seriously, I want you to think about something.

How many times have you watched a decision go forward, knowing it was going to create problems, only to find yourself and your team dealing with the consequences later?

It's frustrating because you know you have the experience and judgment to contribute at a higher level. But being right doesn't automatically mean you're influencing the decision.

And that's exactly what we work on inside Executive Presence Mastery.

I help you develop the communication skills and executive presence to challenge assumptions, handle pushback, and get your ideas heard by the people making important decisions, without coming across as confrontational or difficult.

If you're ready to be seen as a strategic leader whose perspective carries weight, schedule a strategy call with me here.

We'll look at what's getting in the way of your influence and how we can help you change that.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up: Develop Your Executive Presence Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to speak up in executive meetings
• Executive Influence
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition
• How to disagree with senior leadership

Are you Director or Above Who Wants Faster Promotions, More Influence, and Stronger Executive Presence?

Book a confidential Executive Presence Strategy Call to discover the communication patterns that help high performers get seen as senior leaders.

👉 Book Your Executive Strategy Call here

If you were sitting across from yourself in a meeting, would you find yourself interesting?

Would you lean forward, eager to hear what you had to say?

You may be brilliant at what you do, but if your ideas aren't capturing attention, your expertise could be going unnoticed. And for high-performing introverted leaders, being the most prepared person in the room doesn't always translate into influence, recognition, or career opportunities.

The good news? You don't need a bigger personality, a louder voice, or a complete communication makeover to become more memorable.

In this Fun Friday episode of Speak Up, Laura Camacho shares The Boring Test, inspired by television producer Maz Farrelly's powerful insights on earning attention and making people care. Discover three simple questions that can transform how you show up in meetings, communicate your value, and build an executive presence that gets noticed.

By the end of this short episode you’ll know how to:

🚀Turn routine status updates into compelling insights that make busy executives lean in, listen, and care about your ideas.

🔥Challenge predictable communication habits to stand out in meetings without pretending to be someone you're not.

🧲Make your unique strengths more visible and memorable so colleagues recognize your value, trust your judgment, and think of you for bigger opportunities.

Press play to discover three small changes that can make your next meeting more impactful, your contributions more memorable, and your executive presence more influential.

And if you're a senior leader who is tired of being the reliable, hardworking person who gets all the assignments but not the recognition, that's exactly the kind of challenge we tackle in my Executive Presence Mastery System.

Here is the scheduling link to explore working together.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to speak up in executive meetings
• Executive Influence
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition
• Executive presence as an introvert

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

What if the biggest thing holding back your career isn't a lack of talent or opportunity—but your willingness to keep doing things the way everyone else does?

In this thought-provoking conversation, legendary television producer and top international speaker Maz Farrelly shares the unconventional thinking that helped her create wildly successful television shows, build fiercely loyal teams, and reinvent her career after 30 years in entertainment.

From the surprising strategy behind The Weakest Link to the boss who accused her of being too well-liked by her team, Maz challenges conventional wisdom about creativity, leadership, and success.

In Laura’s conversation with TV producer Maz Farrelly, you'll learn:

🧲How to break away from conventional thinking by making something better—or doing the exact opposite—to create opportunities others overlook.

🧩Why treating your team with kindness, celebrating their achievements, and taking responsibility for their success can make you a stronger, more effective leader.

🚀How to stop overthinking, embrace calculated risks, and take greater ownership of your career, happiness, and the decisions that shape your future.

Listen now to discover how thinking differently, leading with courage, and taking action can help you create the career and life you truly want.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

About our guest:

Maz Farrelly spent more than 30 years creating television viewed eight BILLION times—programmes that sparked office arguments, dinner-table debates, and cultural obsessions. Her expertise goes beyond getting attention: she knows how to make people care.

Having worked with global leaders, CEOs, and international stars including Beyoncé, Pink, Usher, and King Charles, Maz now brings that same psychology into conference halls and boardrooms around the world. Her message is simple: whether you want people to listen, trust, buy, lead, or embrace change, you first have to give them a reason to care.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to speak up in executive meetings
• Executive Influence
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

Are you the person everyone relies on to get things done, yet somehow you're overlooked when the biggest opportunities and promotions come around?

In this eye-opening conversation, international television producer and transformative speaker Maz Farrelly reveals why talent and hard work aren't enough to advance your career. Drawing on her experience creating television watched billions of times, Maz shares the unconventional strategy that helped an overlooked creative professional become head of development—and how she used the same approach to build her own extraordinary career.

By the end of Laura’s conversation with TV producer Maz Farrelly, you'll know:

🔑Why being "reliably incredible" can make you invisible at work—and how to ensure decision-makers recognize your contributions.

🪝How to intentionally shape your professional reputation so people associate you with the expertise, leadership, and value you bring.

💰How to turn attention into genuine engagement and influence so you're considered for the promotions, opportunities, and recognition you deserve.

Stop waiting for your hard work to get noticed—listen now to discover how to become the person decision-makers remember, value, and promote.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

About our guest:

Maz Farrelly spent more than 30 years creating television viewed eight BILLION times—programmes that sparked office arguments, dinner-table debates, and cultural obsessions. Her expertise goes beyond getting attention: she knows how to make people care.

Having worked with global leaders, CEOs, and international stars including Beyoncé, Pink, Usher, and King Charles, Maz now brings that same psychology into conference halls and boardrooms around the world. Her message is simple: whether you want people to listen, trust, buy, lead, or embrace change, you first have to give them a reason to care.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to speak up in executive meetings
• Executive Influence
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Are you Director or Above Who Wants Faster Promotions, More Influence, and Stronger Executive Presence?

Book a confidential Executive Presence Strategy Call to discover the communication patterns that help high performers get seen as senior leaders.

👉 Book Your Executive Strategy Call here

If you're the person doing the most important work behind the scenes, why is someone else always the one getting up and talking about it?

By the end of this episode you'll know:

🧩Why being the person everyone relies on can actually keep you stuck behind the scenes.

🥹The hidden professional and emotional cost of letting someone else communicate your expertise.

🔥Why being an introvert doesn't mean you have to stay in the background—and what needs to change if you're ready to be seen as the leader you already are.

If you've been listening and thinking, That's me. I'm the one everyone depends on, but when it's time to speak up, I struggle to get the words out, I want you to know something.

Don’t just know more. See more.

You need to communicate the value you already bring.

That's exactly what we work on in my Executive Presence Mastery coaching.

We use your actual presentations, leadership conversations, and professional challenges to strengthen both what you say and how you say it.

If you're ready to stop being the expert behind the scenes, visit here to schedule an executive presence strategy conversation.

We'll discuss what's holding you back, what your next level of leadership requires, and whether coaching together makes sense.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to speak up in executive meetings
• Executive Influence
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

What if the reason your brilliant ideas aren't getting the attention they deserve is that you're trying too hard to sound smart?

As a high-performing leader, you've spent years developing your expertise. But when you overload your message with explanations, qualifications, and unnecessary complexity, you risk losing your audience before they understand your point.

In this fun Friday episode of Speak Up, Laura Camacho draws inspiration from Wall Street Journal journalist Emma Camp, whose straightforward, conversational communication style offers a surprising lesson in executive presence: The most influential person in the room isn't always the one who knows the most. It's the one who makes complex ideas easy to understand.

By the end of this short episode you’ll know:

🚀How to grab attention immediately by opening with the question your audience actually cares about.

💰Why leading with your conclusion instead of endless qualifications makes you sound more confident and credible.

🔑How to turn everyday observations into memorable, powerful statements that shift conversations and strengthen your executive presence.

Press play to discover how simplifying your message can make your expertise more visible, your ideas more memorable, and your leadership voice more influential.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to speak up in executive meetings
• Executive Influence
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition
• Emma Camp
• Charisma for introvert leaders

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

What if becoming a better leader isn’t about talking more, making faster decisions, or becoming more extroverted—but learning when to listen, wait, and let others speak first?

As you move higher in your career, the skills that made you a successful individual contributor may not be the skills that make you an effective senior leader. T. Rowe Price Chief Investment Officer Sébastien Page explains why leadership requires a fundamental shift from relying on your own expertise to bringing out the best thinking in other people. And if you’re introvert-ish, you may already possess some of the qualities that can make that transition easier.

In Laura’s conversation with Sébastien Page, you’ll discover:

🪝When speaking last in meetings helps you make better decisions, empower your team, and avoid unintentionally influencing what others tell you

🚀Why asking for feedback, staying curious during disagreements, and focusing on positive feedback can strengthen both your leadership and your team’s performance.

🧩Two practical habits you can start immediately to increase your visibility, and demonstrate senior-level leadership.

Play the episode to learn the counterintuitive leadership habits that can help you make the leap from high-performing manager to influential senior leader—without pretending to be someone you’re not.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

About our guest:

Sébastien Page is Head of Global Multi-Asset and Chief Investment Officer at T. Rowe Price. He has more than two decades of leadership experience and has conducted extensive research on positive, sports, and personality psychology. He currently oversees a team of investment professionals actively managing over $500 billion in assets under management.

Page has written two finance books—Beyond Diversification: What Every Investor Needs to Know and the co-authored Factor Investing and Asset Allocation. He has also won six annual research-paper awards: two from The Financial Analysts Journal and four from The Journal of Portfolio Management.

He appears regularly on CNBC and Bloomberg TV and was named a Top Voice in Finance by LinkedIn in 2022. He has been quoted extensively in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Barron’s. His latest book, The Psychology of Leadership, was published by Harriman House.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to speak up in executive meetings
• Executive Influence
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

What could change in your career—and your life—if you stopped waiting to feel confident before taking action?

Fear can keep even smart, capable people quiet when they have something valuable to say. You hesitate to speak up in the meeting, introduce yourself to someone influential, volunteer for the presentation, or pursue an opportunity because you’re afraid of rejection, failure, or not saying it perfectly.

In this episode, Joze Piranian shares how he went from avoiding speaking because of his stutter to performing stand-up comedy, delivering TEDx talks and corporate keynotes, and ultimately landing a book deal. His approach isn’t about eliminating fear—it’s about changing your relationship with it through small, deliberate acts of courage.

By the end of Laura’s conversation with Joze Piranian you’ll know:

🔎How to identify your “inner stutter”—the moments when fear causes you to hold back—and uncover the beliefs driving that hesitation

🔑Why collecting small “micro moments of bravery” can gradually retrain your response to fear and help you take action even when you’re uncomfortable

🚫How to stop waiting for confidence and start using fear as a signal to move toward the opportunities that could change your career and life

Play this episode to learn how small acts of courage can help you stop holding back, speak up when it matters, and build confidence through action.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

About our guest:

Joze Piranian spent 25 years unable to say his own name. Not metaphorically, literally. A lifelong severe stutterer, he navigated social anxiety and depression while watching others take up space he couldn't access.

Today, he delivers keynotes at Google, Tesla, and the UN.

His book, Stop Holding Back:An Honest Guide to Turning Fear into Action (HarperCollins, 2026), is built around two concepts he developed: the "inner stutter," which is the invisible hesitation that stops capable people from speaking up; and "micro-moments of bravery," the small, uncomfortable actions that build real communication confidence over time.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Overcoming fear of public speaking
• Building confidence through action
• Micro moments of bravery
• How to stop holding yourself back
• Speaking up confidently at work
• Overcoming social anxiety and fear of judgment
• Using humor in workplace presentations
• Developing executive presence
• Turning fear into a trigger for action
• Exposure therapy for building courage
• Changing limiting beliefs about yourself
• Using discomfort for personal and professional growth
• How a stutter led to stand-up comedy and keynote speaking
• Networking and creating opportunities through courage
• The connection between small actions and career-changing opportunities

Are you Director or Above Who Wants Faster Promotions, More Influence, and Stronger Executive Presence?

Book a confidential Executive Presence Strategy Call to discover the communication patterns that help high performers get seen as senior leaders.

👉 Book Your Executive Strategy Call here

Have you ever walked out of an executive meeting knowing you demonstrated your expertise—yet still wondered why senior leaders don’t seem to view you as strategic?

At the senior level, knowing the details and delivering great work are no longer enough. If you’re constantly explaining what happened, sharing more data, and giving extensive context while someone else turns that information into “what this means,” you may be caught in the Strategy Gap.

In today’s episode you’ll discover:

🔥 How to recognize when you’re communicating like an expert instead of an executive

🎯 Why adding more data and detail can actually make you appear less strategic

🔑 How to communicate your judgment so CEOs, boards, and senior leaders experience you as someone who can shape decisions

Play this episode to learn how to close the Strategy Gap and turn the expertise you already have into the executive-level judgment and influence that earns you a stronger voice at the table.

If you're listening to this thinking:

Laura, this is exactly what happens to me.

I know I'm strategic. I know I understand the business.

But sometimes what comes out of my mouth doesn't reflect the level of thinking happening inside my head...

That's exactly the kind of work I do with senior leaders inside Executive Presence Mastery.

If this episode felt a little too familiar, go to the show notes and click here to book an EPMS Discovery Call. I’d love to show you how Executive Presence Mastery can help you close your Strategy Gap and take your influence to the next level.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to speak up in executive meetings
• Executive Influence
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

Imagine turning on a YouTube video or a podcast and hearing this:

“Today, several people will discuss the status of a process. There will be an update on timelines, followed by a review of several outstanding items.”

You’d change the channel before they finished the sentence.

Your audience is busy, distracted, tired, and already juggling competing priorities. They may even have low blood sugar. When you begin with “Today I’m going to walk you through…” or bury your point beneath background information, you make other people work to figure out why they should care.

In this episode, Laura Camacho reveals how to make your communication more interesting—not by becoming theatrical, but by getting clear on the job your message needs to do and leading with what matters most to your audience.

By the end of today’s edgy episode you’ll know:

💰How to identify the most compelling starting point for an update, presentation, email, or meeting contribution so your audience immediately understands why it matters

3️⃣ A simple three-part framework—what changed, why it matters, and what needs to happen next—to turn routine business communication into clear, consequential messaging

🪝How to leverage curiosity without withholding critical information, helping you communicate with greater clarity, respect your audience’s attention, and naturally strengthen your executive presence

Play the episode to learn how to stop sounding like white noise and make the first 15 seconds of your message earn people’s attention.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To hear E 215: Find your X Factor for Unstoppable Confidence and Executive Presence

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Executive Influence
• How to speak up in executive meetings
• Executive Influence
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Are you Director or Above Who Wants Faster Promotions, More Influence, and Stronger Executive Presence?

Book a confidential Executive Presence Strategy Call to discover the communication patterns that help high performers get seen as senior leaders.

👉 Book Your Executive Strategy Call here

What if the fastest way to become a stronger leader isn’t getting a bigger title—but becoming the kind of leader others already want to follow?

You don’t need formal authority to create influence, solve meaningful problems, or demonstrate that you’re ready for greater responsibility. In this episode, Stanford basketball coach Eric Reveno shares how he stepped outside his traditional role as a coach to launch All Vote No Play—an initiative that ultimately helped change NCAA policy around civic engagement.

Eric and Laura unpack what that experience taught him about finding unconventional paths to create change, building relationships with the people who can move an idea forward, and recognizing the power you already have within an organization.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

🔑How to build influence and create change even when you don’t have formal authority or the “right” title

🪝Why being a great teammate or colleague can become the foundation for becoming a leader people genuinely want to follow

🔥How to use the STORM framework—Show Up, Take Care of Relationships, Own Your Power, Raise Up Others, and Maintain Mission Focus—to increase your impact at work

Play the episode to learn how to stop waiting for permission, start using the influence you already have, and show up as the kind of teammate who’s ready to lead.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

About our guest:

Head Coach for Men’s Basketball, at Brown University (moving there from Stanford) Eric Reveno brings more than 28 years of Division I coaching experience and a reputation for transforming teams from the inside out.

A Stanford alumnus, Reveno most recently served as the James C. Gaither Associate Head Men’s Basketball Coach at his alma mater. His second coaching stint at Stanford began in 2024, and he added General Manager responsibilities ahead of the 2025-26 season. In the dual role, Reveno helped lead every aspect of the Cardinal men’s basketball program.

“Brown University represents a rare opportunity where academic excellence, athletic excellence, and personal development are truly aligned,” Reveno said. “My family and I are honored to join the Brown community. We will build a championship program by developing exceptional teammates, exceptional students, and exceptional competitors. Our goal is to pursue Ivy League championships while preparing young men to lead meaningful lives long after basketball. I can’t wait to get to work.”

Reveno previously served on Stanford’s staff from 1997-2006, helping guide the program to national success. He was an assistant coach from 1997-04, before being elevated to Associate Head Coach in 2004. His Cardinal teams reached the 1998 NCAA Tournament Final Four, made seven NCAA Tournaments, won four Pac-10 Championships, achieved three No. 1 national rankings, and produced a number of future NBA players including Brook and Robin Lopez, Jason and Jarron Collins, and Mark Madsen.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to speak up in executive meetings
• Executive Influence
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Are you Director or Above Who Wants Faster Promotions, More Influence, and Stronger Executive Presence?

Book a confidential Executive Presence Strategy Call to discover the communication patterns that help high performers get seen as senior leaders.

👉 Book Your Executive Strategy Call here

Are you the person everyone relies on—yet somehow you’re still waiting for the bigger role, greater authority, or seat at the table?

Being trusted to deliver doesn’t automatically mean you’re being seen as ready for broader leadership. In fact, constantly rescuing projects, absorbing extra work, and being the person who can always “handle it” may reinforce a reputation you’ve already outgrown.

In this episode of Speak Up, Laura Camacho reveals how to shift the way others perceive your contribution by making the leadership behind your excellent work more visible.

In today’s episode you’ll discover:

🪝Tips to communicate your judgment, recommendations, and business impact so people see more than your ability to execute.

🎯How to discuss priorities and trade-offs without automatically absorbing every new request into your already-full workload.

🎯Practical ways to demonstrate that your leadership creates results beyond your personal output.

Play the episode to learn three practical communication moves that can help turn the trust you’ve already earned into clearer evidence of your readiness for broader leadership.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Source Note

Ingrid Haegele, “Talent Hoarding in Organizations,” American Economic Review, 116(8), August 2026, pp. 3110–3151. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20220264.https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20220264https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20220264

The three-quarters figure refers to managers surveyed in the large firm studied; it must not be presented as a population-wide estimate. The study examines internal applications and career progression; it does not establish that talent hoarding explains any particular listener’s circumstances. Workplace dialogue in this script is illustrative, not a client quotation or case study.

Topics covered in this episode include:

• How to speak up in executive meetings
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Are you Director or Above Who Wants Faster Promotions, More Influence, and Stronger Executive Presence?

Book a confidential Executive Presence Strategy Call to discover the communication patterns that help high performers get seen as senior leaders.

👉 Book Your Executive Strategy Call here

Access your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide.

Reporters tell leadership what happened. Strategic leaders explain what it means, what could happen next, and what should be done.

Facts matter, but delivering facts is not the full value of an executive-level contribution. When you stop at the information, senior leaders still have to do the strategic work. When you name the implication, recommendation, decision, or next step, you help the room lead.

By the end of this short episode you’ll know:

🎯The questions that turn an informative update into a strategic contribution

💰The phrases that make your recommendation clear

5️⃣The five visible choices that help senior leaders experience more of your judgment

Choose one contribution for an upcoming meeting and write its final sentence first. If you want Laura’s help applying these tools to the personalities, politics, and pressure of a real meeting, reserve a 30-minute Executive Meeting Strategy Session using this link.

Bring one important upcoming meeting and leave with a clear contribution, sharper recommendation, preparation for likely pushback, and a delivery strategy. Designed for Directors, Senior Directors, VPs, and executives. Investment: $400. Schedule your Executive Meeting Strategy Session here.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Speaking up in executive meetings
• Executive Presence
• High-stakes conversations
• Business leadership communication
• Executive Presence Tips
• Senior Leader Advice
• How to speak up in executive meetings
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Access your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide.

How to Disagree With a Senior Leader Without Losing Your Nerve

Some leaders disagree so diplomatically that everyone leaves the meeting believing they agreed. Their real opinion appears later in a private conversation—after the opportunity to improve the decision has passed.

Trust is not built by agreeing with the most powerful person in every meeting. It is built by helping the group make a better decision. Yet many conscientious leaders either soften their point until it disappears or wait so long that frustration makes them sound more defensive than they intended.

By the end of this short episode you’ll know:

🇨🇭The Swiss-Army knife question answering framework of Affirm and Add

🔑How to preserve both respect and candor—without weakening your contribution with disclaimers that invite the room to discount you

🔥The right mindset for approaching questions, even when they feel aggressive

Identify one issue on which you hold a different view from a senior stakeholder. Write one genuine point of agreement and one addition the room needs from you, then practice saying both in a calm, neutral voice.

Record the outcome in your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide and continue with Day 5 to make your contribution sound more strategic.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Speaking up in executive meetings
• Executive Presence
• High-stakes conversations
• Business leadership communication
• Executive Presence Tips
• Senior Leader Advice
• How to speak up in executive meetings
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Access your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide.

What to Say When You’re Challenged in an Executive Meeting

You prepare for weeks, present your recommendation, and then an executive asks the one question you did not anticipate. Within seconds, you are speaking faster, adding disclaimers, and retreating from the very recommendation you came to defend.

An unexpected question is not proof that you were unprepared. Senior leaders ask questions to test risk, evaluate thinking, and participate in decisions. The real test is whether you can remain useful when the conversation moves beyond your script.

By the end of this short episode you’ll know:

💰The PAAB framework: Pause, Acknowledge, Answer, Bridge. This four-part response helps you slow down, address the concern directly.

🎯How to distinguish what you know from what still needs verification

🛑 To stop seeking omniscience. What you need is composure and judgment.

Predict one difficult question you could receive in an upcoming meeting. Write a response using Pause, Acknowledge, Answer, Bridge—and say it aloud twice.

Capture what happens in your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide, then continue with Day 4 to learn how to disagree with a senior leader without becoming combative, apologetic, or invisible.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Speaking up in executive meetings
• Executive Presence
• High-stakes conversations
• Business leadership communication
• Executive Presence Tips
• Senior Leader Advice
• How to speak up in executive meetings
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Access your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide.

Stop Making Executives Dig for Your Best Idea

If a senior leader has to excavate your recommendation from three minutes of context, your idea may be excellent—but it is not yet executive-ready.

Conscientious leaders often begin at the beginning because they want others to understand the analysis, history, and nuance behind their thinking. But executives are listening first for the destination: What should we know? Why does it matter? What do you recommend? What decision is needed? Context is not the enemy. Unprioritized context is.

By the end of this short episode you’ll know:

3️⃣ A simple three-part structure starting with lead with the headline

🧩How to sound concise without becoming simplistic—and how to make your judgment easier for senior leaders to recognize and use

🪝 What to do with all the context in your head

Choose one update you expect to give this week and write the first sentence senior leaders need to hear. Test it by asking: If I were interrupted after this sentence, would the room still know my essential point?

Record the result in your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide, then continue with Day 3 to prepare for unexpected pushback.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Speaking up in executive meetings
• Executive Presence
• High-stakes conversations
• Business leadership communication
• Executive Presence Tips
• Senior Leader Advice
• How to speak up in executive meetings
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Access your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide.

The 7-Minute Rule That Makes You More Visible in Executive Meetings

The executive meeting on your calendar may do more to shape your career than the presentation you spent three weeks perfecting. While everyone discusses the agenda, senior leaders are also noticing who has judgment, who can handle pressure, and who belongs in the next room.

For many high-performing introvert leaders, the hardest contribution is the first one. The longer you wait, the more room you give overthinking to take control—and the greater the chance that someone else will say the idea you were still rehearsing.

In this first episode of the five-day Q4 Visibility Challenge, Laura introduces the 7-Minute Rule: contribute something useful within the first seven minutes of an important meeting.

By the end of today’s episode you’ll know:

💰How to enter the conversation without forcing a brilliant insight

🧩Use the phrase “What I like about that is…” to add value rather than empty agreement

🎯Prepare one question or observation before the meeting begins

Speaking early makes the next contribution easier and gives senior leaders visible evidence of how you think.

Choose one important meeting this week. Prepare one useful contribution and deliver it within the first seven minutes. Then record what happened in your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide. Continue with Day 2 to make sure executives hear your best idea without having to dig for it.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Speaking up in executive meetings
• Executive Presence
• High-stakes conversations
• Business leadership communication
• Executive Presence Tips
• Senior Leader Advice
• How to speak up in executive meetings
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

What if trying to always be right is actually weakening your executive presence?

For high-performing leaders, admitting you made the wrong call can feel risky. You may worry that reversing a recommendation, acknowledging a flawed assumption, or admitting someone else saw the situation more clearly will cause people to question your judgment. But executive presence isn’t about being infallible—it’s about how you respond when reality proves you wrong.

In this episode, Laura examines Chamath Palihapitiya’s public reflections on his mistakes during the SPAC boom to reveal what owning a mistake can teach us about authority, trust, and leadership.

By the end of this episode you’ll know:

🎯How to separate a bad decision from your identity so you stop hiding behind explanations and excuses.

🔥How to transform admitting a mistake into top value for your company.

4️⃣A simple four-part framework for communicating a changed recommendation.

Play the episode to learn how to admit when you’re wrong, revise your thinking with confidence, and turn mistakes into evidence of stronger executive leadership.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

Sources and production notes:

Chamath’s statements about his SPAC incentives, insecurity and redesigned incentive structure: OfficeChai’s coverage of his June 2026 Axios interview.

• The original interview and its framing of the SPAC chapter as the biggest “blemish” on his record:https://www.axios.com/2026/06/25/axios-show-chamath-palihapitiya-extended-interviewThe Axios Show.
• Leadership research: Jia Hu, Shuxia Zhang, Robert B. Lount Jr. and Bennett J. Tepper, “When leaders heed the lessons of mistakes,” Personnel Psychology (2024):https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/peps.12570research paper.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to admit you’re wrong without losing authority
• Executive presence when making mistakes
• How admitting mistakes can strengthen leadership credibility
• How to change your mind without appearing indecisive
• How to reverse a recommendation with confidence
• Why defensiveness can damage leadership trust
• How leaders can take ownership of bad decisions
• How to explain why a decision failed without making excuses
• The difference between confidence and executive presence
• How to communicate a change in strategy to your team
• How leader humility encourages team voice and learning
• How to create a culture where employees speak up about problems
• How to demonstrate intellectual flexibility as a leader
• The relationship between executive presence, trust, and accountability
• What leaders can learn from Chamath Palihapitiya’s SPAC experience

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

What if the secret to becoming more influential at work isn’t talking more—but learning how to listen like a hostage negotiator?

Whether you’re asking for more resources, pushing back on a senior leader, dealing with an attack in a meeting, or negotiating for something you need, your ability to stay composed and understand the other person can completely change the conversation.

In this episode of The Speak Up Show, former Las Vegas police officer and Black Swan communication expert Annette Mullin shares lessons from 24 years in law enforcement, including her experience in investigations and crisis negotiation. She explains how tactical empathy, curiosity, preparation, and deliberate listening can help you navigate difficult conversations without becoming aggressive—or backing down.

In today’s episode with Annette Mullin you’ll discover how to:

👂Listen for someone’s internal logic and emotions so you can understand what’s really driving their behavior and build greater influence.

🔑 Stay calm when you’re challenged or attacked by using tactical breathing, curiosity, labeling, silence, and a controlled tone.

🧲Prepare for important negotiations through low-stakes practice, crisis rehearsal, and techniques such as labels, mirrors, dynamic silence, and summaries.

Play the episode to learn how to turn high-pressure conversations into opportunities to build trust, strengthen your leadership reputation, and negotiate with greater confidence.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

About our guest:

Annette Mullin retired from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) in August 2021, concluding a 24-year career in law enforcement. Throughout her tenure, Annette specialized in Violent Crimes against Persons, dedicating over 20 years to various roles including Criminal Intelligence, Sexual Assault/Abuse, Abuse/Neglect, Internal Affairs, Force Investigations, and Homicide.

During her time with the LVMPD, Annette served as a Crisis Negotiator for nine years and led the Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) for two years. In 2018, she was promoted to the rank of Director and spearheaded the Police Employee Assistance Program, providing health and wellness resources to LVMPD employees and their families.

Annette has also made significant contributions to education, teaching Sexual Assault Prevention, Sex Trafficking Investigations and Domestic Violence Prevention both locally and internationally, with engagements as far-reaching as Vietnam and Budapest.

To learn more visit http://www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How tactical empathy improves workplace communication and negotiation
• The five levels of listening and how to practice empathetic listening
• How active listening builds trust and influence with senior leaders
• How to uncover someone’s internal logic and emotional motivations
• How to push back respectfully when someone has more power
• How to make someone feel heard without agreeing with them
• How to stay composed when attacked in a meeting
• How tactical breathing helps leaders regulate stress in real time
• How tone, cadence, and silence de-escalate workplace conflict
• How to use labels to address emotions and difficult behavior
• Four essential negotiation tools: labels, mirrors, dynamic silence, and summaries
• How curiosity reduces defensiveness, judgment, and assumptions
• How accusation audits prepare leaders for objections
• How to negotiate for resources, headcount, compensation, and executive attention
• How crisis rehearsal and role-play prepare leaders for high-stakes negotiations