Speak Up: Develop Your Executive Presence & Leadership Communication Style

Nick Gray is an interesting man. He built his first company, Museum Hack, by offering non-traditional tours of museums, starting with the MET, when he lived in NYC. By "nontraditional art tour" I mean showing the most expensive art piece, or the most controversial, or the least commercially successful artist. It was not about teaching Art History 101 but giving people a memorable experience in a great location.He's taken this expertise and applied it to networking. Best of all, he shares it all with me in this podcast episode on making new friends, aka networking now. By creating your own 2-hour event, a 2-hour cocktail party, even if you don't drink, you can meet interesting new people, have REAL conversations, make connections and help others to do the same. His book is called The 2-hour Cocktail Party: build big relationships with small gatherings. It's so introvert friendly!This is your opportunity to learn a fresh way to build relationships and as a result, build your career. In this high-energy conversation, take away prime assets like these:- Why you need this new way to network- What to do if your house is small or shabby and you don't know anybody- Get everyone out of the awkward zone and the best ice breakers- A step-by-step on creating social proof- Special touches that ensure your event's success- Nick offers to coach you for free!This fun and fascinating episode is brought to you by The Practical Guide to Effective Communication available on Amazon in paperback and digital format. It's got everything you need to be recognized for the value you already contribute.

Learn the latest on executive personal branding with our guest, internationally acclaimed coach, Brenda Bence. Based in Singapore, Brenda has coached 1,000 senior leaders from 60 nationalities across 70 industries and is recognized by Thinkers50 as a World Leader in Coaching.In this practical episode, Brenda and Laura dive into the nuts and bolts of managing outside perceptions of senior leaders and why it matters so much. Turns out, you already have a personal brand, even if you didn't realize it. What you want to do is enjoy a personal brand that reflects your true values, instead of giving up on the development of that precious reputation.A few of the take-aways you can put into practice right away include:- Why even high-performers need to take charge of their personal brand- All of your stakeholders have 2 levels of needs, know which is most important to address- How branding has changed since Covid- The ideal distance between you and your laptop camera (I had to move mine!)- The truth about hybrid meetings and what to do about it (!!!)- A 5-word exercise to find out how others perceive you right nowThis juicy episode is brought to you by The Practical Guide to Effective Communication available on Amazon in paperback and digital format. It's got everything you need to be recognized for the value you already contribute.Find more about Brenda at https://brendabence.com/

In this special MINI episode (15 minutes) of the Speak Up podcast, Laura Camacho gives you everything you need to Slay that Q&A after your very next presentation. Use her process to demonstrate supreme executive presence.After a few thousand coaching sessions Laura learned what actually causes breath-stopping dread to newish and/or introvertish leaders. Giving constructive feedback is seldom fun. Asking for a raise can make your knees wobble. Even giving presentations can set off the fluttering of two thousand butterflies. But the scariest situation of all is the dreaded Q&A.- Uncover the hidden opportunity in each question you're asked- What's worse than not knowing the answer to the question- The 4-A process that adds tremendous value to your answer- Why partial answers are better than saying "I don't know"- How answering questions can build your visibilityThis special mini-episode of the Speak Up Podcast is brought to you by The Practical Guide to Effective Communication by Laura Camacho, PhD. Now available on Amazon in paperback and e-book.

This episode is all about culture building and communication. Marc, CEO of the digital marketing agency, Spinutech, has built up the company with minimal turnover despite massive growth over the last 22 years.Marc shares the great communication practices he uses to build culture, motivate talent, give (and receive effective feedback), interview, and develop people. Listen to Laura and Marc chat up all the working pieces that go into building a great company (or team) culture that produces happy high performers. The juicy takeaways include these and more:- How to decide which are the best core values for your company and what to do if the values are already set in stone- The key interview question that brings to light the candidate being arrogant or secretly an egomaniac- Why everyone is talking about culture and how to talk about it every day- Why his company has a Director of Culture, what she does, and why you should stop having virtual happy hours right now- How individual contributors actually add tremendous value as "silent leaders"- Things you can do to leverage the first day of work for new team members so they never want to leave your team- A key insight on giving feedback without hurting anyone's feelingsCheck out Laura's book, The Practical Guide to Effective Communication on Amazon! To see the Mixonian Institute collection of communication and culture-building content please visit www.mixonian.com. Engage her to help your teams communicate more effectively.

This episode of SPEAK UP is filled with entertaining wisdom from former lawyer and ex-convict Paul Glover. He gives us the intel from his experience as a No BS Coach on how to make your story more persuasive and how to give the gift of truth for you to leave a more meaningful legacy.Paul believes that coaching is an exchange of energy and his goal is to help people de-stress and lead with curiosity. (Laura found him quite chatty and entertaining!) He is author of Work Quake: Making the Seismic Shift to a "Knowledge Economy." Eavesdrop on this lively conversation and learn communication and leadership nuggets to make you graphene-level strong at work:- The difference between transactional communication vs relationship-building- How to have the courage to stand up for your team (even when they're out to get you!)- Why you should make others a part of your journey (even if you're an introvert)- The importance of showing appreciation more often than you think- Empathetic listening and showing compassion in the workplace (it's good for YOU!)To see Laura's collection of communication and culture-building content please visit www.mixonian.com. Engage her to help your teams communicate more effectively.

I talk to people every single day about how to sound confident. Confidence is not the same as competence and my work is helping supremely competent leaders sound more confident when they speak up. Confidence shortens the path to implementing your fantastic ideas, getting the resources you need, nailing the interview, and getting recognized for the value your team already contributes.In this mini episode, you'll step up your game after learning diamond-studded hacks like these:- What sales people learn Day One that will help you be more successful already- Technical aspects of communication that signal confidence- How to start any message that's important to youTo see Laura's collection of communication content please visit www.mixonian.com. Bring her to help your teams communicate more effectively by contacting her at info@ mixonian.com

Today's international guest is Nick Jonsson, co-founder and Managing Director of one of Asia’s premiere networking organizations, Executives’ Global Network (EGN) Singapore — a confidential peer group network providing more than 600 senior executives and business owners.Nick is also the author of "Executive Loneliness: The 5 Pathways to Overcoming Isolation, Stress, Anxiety and Depression in the Modern Business World”. Laura and Nick go deep into mental health issues that affect high achievers at work and how they can get help, preferably earlier rather than later. The consequences of ignoring executive mental health are worse than you think.- The first step needed to recognize the state of your own mental health- How mental health issues may be the cause of toxic behaviors at work- The negative ripple effects of a mental breakdown- The power of repairing broken relationships left in the dust of your career- The role of exercise in mental and emotional health recoveryFor more useful communication savvy to accelerate your career growth visit www.mixonian.com.

Today's special guest is Simon Severino. Based in Austria, Simon has scaled his own consultancy to the point he is now an investor and #1 speaker on agile strategy and sales. In this quick conversation, Simon and Laura extract successful business growth strategies and apply them to individual high-performers. Simon's consultancy was built on the promise of doubling profits after a 3-month strategy sprint and he brings a wealth of cutting-edge insights to the conversation.Take advantage of these compelling takeaways from his recent book, "Strategy Sprints" including:- What "wow" means in the work context and how to create it- 3 CEO habits that anyone can use to accelerate results- What to do when you can only control 5% of what is going on in your world- What it means to be the dance floor instead of the party DJ- Take your ROL (return on luck) to the next levelFor more useful communication savvy to accelerate your career growth visit www.mixonian.com.

You are in for a treat as Laura interviews Craig Archibald, a writer, director, producer, actor, and coach whose professional career includes award-winning film and television productions. The founder of the Archibald Studio, he’s worked with countless actors, including Eric Roberts, Dan Futterman, John Slattery, Kathryn Erbe and Constance Wu. A passionate mentor, his powerful strategies for success cross into every field. He’s the author of The Actor’s Mindset: Acting as a Craft, Discipline, and Business. In this juicy episode pick up priceless gems like: - How to transform a victim mindset into a champion mindset - Learn the signature quality of the best movie producers - An easy and effective 5-step crisis management process - Specific tips to make everything make YOU better - Aristotle's 3 types of relationships make sure you don't confuse friendship with a relationship of mutual value - What it really takes to be persuasive (and it's not a communication tip) Find his book, "The Actor’s Mindset: Acting as a Craft, Discipline, and Business" at Amazon and other places that sell books. For more communication savvy, make sure you sign up for Laura's weekly dose of lighthearted encouragement at www.mixonian.com.

In this episode coach Jeff Klubeck and I have a ton of fun discussing influence, persuasion, accountability, and conflict resolution. Jeff is a fun communication coach and author of the much-needed book, The Integrity Game. He does a lot of work with helping leaders become magnetic public speakers, and dealing with all aspects of leader communication, especially issues around integrity.Jeff is quite entertaining and you'll pick up some interesting and helpful perspectives. Here is a sample of your takeaways:- The two key motivators you want to identify for any audience.- The absolute crux of getting rid of your fear of public speaking- What you can do to hold peers accountable when collaborating- Why Jeff is a fan of conflict- A hyper-precision tool for more effective meetingsFor more communication goodness visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. For more insight into the true role of integrity in any comapny or organization, visit www.integritygame.com