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.

Why do some people effortlessly influence difficult conversations while everyone else ends up explaining, defending, and getting nowhere?

If you've ever left a meeting wishing you'd said the perfect thing—or felt unheard despite doing everything "right"—this episode is for you. Laura sits down with renowned negotiation expert Kwame Christian to challenge conventional communication advice and reveal why influence isn't about talking more, persuading harder, or simply "being empathetic."

By the end of Laura’s conversation with Kwame Christian you’ll know:

🎧Why competitive listening can dramatically increase your influence and earn instant credibility

🧮A practical framework for staying calm, emotionally prepared, and effective during high-pressure conversations

🎨The art of asking powerful questions that build trust, uncover hidden information, and generate genuine buy-in instead of resistance

Press play to discover the communication strategies that will help you handle difficult conversations with greater confidence, influence, and lasting impact.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

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

About our guest:
Kwame Christian is a negotiation expert, bestselling author, keynote speaker, and host of the world's #1 negotiation podcast. Once a self-described people-pleaser who avoided conflict and difficult conversations, Kwame transformed his approach after realizing that confidence, negotiation, and clear communication aren't personality traits—they're learnable skills. That insight became the foundation of his work and has helped thousands of leaders navigate high-stakes conversations with greater clarity, confidence, and influence.

Today, Kwame works with Fortune 500 companies and organizations around the world, training leaders, attorneys, sales teams, procurement professionals, and executives to negotiate more effectively, manage conflict, and influence without relying on authority.

As the longtime host of Negotiate Anything, he produced more than 1,800 episodes reaching listeners in over 180 countries and generating more than 16 million downloads. He is also the creator of Big Swings Only, a podcast featuring inspiring stories of people who achieved extraordinary results by refusing to play small.

A LinkedIn Top Voice and two-time bestselling author, Kwame's mission is simple: to help people discover that the best opportunities in life and business are waiting on the other side of difficult conversations.

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:
Negotiation strategies
Executive communication
Difficult conversations
Competitive listening
Compassionate curiosity
Executive presence
Emotional intelligence in leadership
Managing conflict at work
Influencing without authority
Asking better questions
Building trust and buy-in
Persuasion and negotiation psychology
Managing emotions under pressure
Communication for senior leaders
Speaking up with confidence
Active listening vs. competitive listening
Handling pushback and objections
Psychological safety in conversations
Leadership communication skills
High-stakes workplace conversations

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

You probably think you keep getting passed over because you’re too quiet.

Because you’re an introvert, or you don’t speak quickly enough in meetings, or you aren’t political. Find out the truth today.

If you've ever believed your quiet personality, introversion, or lack of charisma was holding back your career, this episode challenges that assumption. Discover why executive promotions aren't based on who knows the most—they're based on who consistently improves the quality of leadership's thinking. Learn how to shift from being seen as a dependable expert to becoming a trusted strategic leader.

By the end of this episode you’ll know:

🚀Why domain competence alone isn't enough to earn executive-level promotions and what senior leaders are actually evaluating

🔑How to build Executive Narrative Capital so decision-makers begin viewing you as someone who brings clarity, judgment, and strategic insight

🎯 The practical questions and communication strategies you can use in your very next leadership meeting to strengthen your executive presence

Press play to learn how making every conversation smarter—not louder—can transform your reputation and accelerate your path to executive leadership.

You may have spent years assuming that being quieter than your peers was the reason you were being overlooked.

Quiet leaders get promoted every day.

Introverts become exceptional executives every day.

The real issue is whether leadership consistently experiences your presence as valuable to the way they think. Your goal is to become associated with clarity, judgment, enterprise thinking, and better decisions.

If you are tired of being known as the person who delivers exceptional work but still not being seen as ready for the next level, this is exactly what we work on inside the Executive Presence Mastery System.

We help senior leaders move beyond being valued only for execution and begin building the communication, positioning, and strategic visibility that causes decision-makers to experience them differently. Set up a call here.

To learn more visit 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 Narrative Capital
Executive Presence
Executive Promotions
C-Suite Promotion
Executive Credibility
Executive Presence Mastery
Executive Presence Strategies
Executive Communication
Introvert Leadership Communication

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 lesson for your executive presence isn't coming from the boardroom—but from luxury brands like Hermès, Ferrari, and Rolex?

Most talented professionals assume that expertise alone should earn influence. But before you ever speak in a meeting, people have already formed expectations about your confidence, credibility, and leadership potential.

In this episode, you'll discover how the psychology behind the world's most iconic luxury brands can help you communicate your value more effectively, build stronger executive presence, and position yourself for greater leadership opportunities—without becoming louder or more extroverted.

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

💰The three luxury branding principles that instantly elevate executive presence and strengthen leadership credibility.

🪝Ways subtle communication habits—shape how others perceive your expertise.

🚀How to create confidence and trust so your ideas receive the attention, influence, and recognition they deserve.

Press play to discover how applying the luxury brand playbook to your communication can help you build executive presence, earn greater influence, and make every interaction strengthen your leadership reputation.

Sometimes...you simply need to communicate your value the way luxury brands do—consistently, intentionally, and with quiet confidence.

If today's episode made you realize that executive presence isn't about working harder—it's about managing the expectations you create before you even open your mouth—then don't leave that perception to chance.

Most talented professionals have blind spots they can't see on their own, and those small communication habits can quietly limit promotions, influence, and leadership opportunities. Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To learn more visit 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 presence
Leadership communication
Executive communication skills
Influence without authority
Communication psychology
Professional credibility
Quiet confidence
Introverted leadership
Leadership influence
Workplace communication
Speaking with confidence
Strategic communication
Executive coaching
Leadership development
High-performance leadership
Building trust as a leader
Luxury brand psychology
Perception vs. reality in leadership
Leadership reputation

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.

Do your meetings end with everyone agreeing… but nothing actually improves?

If you've ever held back an idea because you assumed it wouldn't make a difference—or watched your team avoid difficult conversations in the name of "being nice"—this episode will completely change how you think about communication.
Gustavo Razzetti explains why silence isn't usually caused by fear, but by the belief that speaking up won't change anything. He introduces the concept of conversational debt and explains how avoiding honest dialogue quietly damages trust, innovation, and business performance.

After listening to Dr. Laura’s conversation with Gustavo Razzetti, you'll know how to:

🧩Recognize the hidden signs of conversational debt before it hurts your team.

🎯 Replace false harmony and groupthink with healthier, more productive disagreement.

🪝Use practical conversation frameworks that lead to better decisions, stronger executive presence, and higher-performing teams.

If you want your team to make smarter decisions, communicate with more confidence, and build a culture where the best ideas actually surface, don't miss this conversation with Gustavo Razzetti.

Want to know how your executive presence measures up? Take my free Executive Presence Scorecard to identify your greatest strengths, uncover your biggest blind spots, and discover the skills that will increase your influence in every conversation and meeting. Get your personalized assessment here.

About our guest:
Gustavo Razzetti is a culture strategist, workshop facilitator, and keynote speaker with over 25 years of experience—first as a marketing and advertising executive, now as CEO of Fearless Culture, a culture design consultancy.
He’s facilitated more than 1,500 workshops with leadership teams at Mars, Microsoft, Merck, the Inter-American Development Bank, and hundreds of organizations across the world.
Razzetti is the creator of the Culture Design Canvas, now used by over 500,000 practitioners worldwide, and the Forward Talk framework. He helps teams surface issues early, challenge groupthink, and turn avoided conversations into decisions that stick.
His work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, Forbes, and Fortune. He’s a regular contributor to Psychology Today.
Gustavo is the bestselling author of Forward Talk, Remote, Not Distant, and Stretch for Change.
Gustavo helps teams say what everyone’s thinking, but no one’s saying.

To learn more visit 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 presence
Speaking up in meetings
Conversational debt
False harmony in the workplace
Groupthink and decision-making
Honest leadership communication
Executive communication skills
Leadership influence
Receiving feedback
Challenging ideas respectfully
Consensus vs. better decisions
Decision-making frameworks
Conversational agency
Communication that drives business value
Leading without formal authority
Executive influence
High-performing teams
Leadership development

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 a senior executive had to describe what you’re about in one sentence today, would everyone give the same answer—or would they struggle to explain what you actually stand for?

Many talented professionals believe exceptional work is enough to earn recognition, influence, and promotions. But senior leaders rarely experience your work firsthand—they experience the stories, perspectives, and judgments attached to it. If you haven't intentionally shaped that narrative, you may be limiting your executive presence without even realizing it.

By the end of this episode you’ll know:

🧩Why "letting your work speak for itself" is one of the biggest career myths holding high performers back

🔬More in depth understanding into the concept of Executive Narrative Capital and how it builds long-term confidence in your leadership judgment

🎯Practical questions you can use immediately to become known for a clear point of view that positions you for even greater responsibility

Press play to learn how to intentionally build the leadership narrative that makes senior executives see you as the obvious choice for your next opportunity.

If you're tired of watching equally talented—or even less talented—colleagues become the go-to people for strategic projects while you're overlooked, it's probably not because they're better. It's because they've built a leadership narrative that executives remember.

That's why I invite you to book an Executive Presence Strategy Call. Together, we'll assess how senior leaders are likely describing you today, identify the gaps between your reputation and your potential, and create a clear strategy to help you become known for the judgment, perspective, and leadership qualities that accelerate careers.

If that sounds like the next step you need, head to the show notes, click the first link, and schedule your Executive Presence Strategy Call to see if the Executive Presence Mastery System is right for you.

To learn more visit 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 Presence
Executive Narrative Capital
Personal Brand at Work
Leadership Visibility
Career Advancement Strategies
Building Influence with Executives
Strategic Communication
Leadership Storytelling
Developing a Leadership Point of View
High Performer Career Mistakes
Earning Executive Trust
Becoming Known for Your Expertise
Leadership Judgment vs. Technical Competence
Influence in Executive Meetings
Positioning Yourself for Senior Leadership