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.

With only 97 days remaining in 2026, working harder probably won’t change that story. You need one unmistakable piece of new evidence. Today I give you 5 options to develop that evidence and multiply your influence.

In this Fun Friday episode, Laura shares five unexpected, research-supported moves that can change how senior leadership perceives you before year-end. From adopting a signature color and organizing a strategic lunch to recognizing overlooked talent, recommending what the organization should stop doing and claiming a problem nobody owns, each move communicates a different kind of leadership value.

By the end of this episode you’ll know:

🪝Create recognition through consistency. Learn how a distinctive visual or audio signal can make your leadership presence more memorable
🎉Demonstrate leadership by creating value for others. Use purposeful gatherings and meaningful recognition to become known as someone who connects people, develops talent and strengthens collaboration
💰Replace greater output with stronger judgment. Discover how eliminating low-value work or claiming an overlooked organizational problem can position you as an enterprise-minded executive

As of the release day of this episode, You have 97 days left in 2026.

That is 97 days to change how leadership sees you.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

Studies cited in this episode:
Research on enclothed cognition
Workplace commensality study
Employee-recognition field experiment
Nature study on overlooking subtraction

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

This episode explores how executive presence, leadership visibility, and a memorable personal brand at work shape your leadership reputation and career advancement. Discover a practical Q4 career strategy for high-performing introverts who want to strengthen their executive leadership skills, workplace influence, professional visibility, cross-functional leadership, executive decision-making, and strategic thinking. You’ll also learn how employee recognition and intentional leadership development can change leadership perception—and how to get noticed by senior leadership for the right reasons.

Topics covered in this episode:
How to change leadership’s perception of you
Five high-ROI executive-presence moves
Using enclothed cognition and signature clothing at work
How consistent visual signals increase memorability
Organizing a cross-functional leadership lunch
The relationship between shared meals and team performance
Using employee awards to make invisible contributions visible
How specific recognition influences workplace performance
Why leaders overlook subtractive solutions
Creating a strategic stop-doing recommendation
Demonstrating executive judgment through prioritization
Identifying problems that fall between organizational silos
Taking charge without becoming the team’s permanent fixer
Moving from individual contributor to enterprise leader
Building leadership visibility without bragging
Choosing a Q4 action that changes your professional 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.

Are you working hard, delivering results, and doing everything expected of you—yet still struggling to get recognized, influence senior leaders, or move to the next level?

Being great at your job is important, but results alone may not be enough to move from director to VP or become a more influential executive. The way you communicate, build relationships, contribute in meetings, and make your impact visible can dramatically change how others experience your leadership.

In this episode, Laura sits down with Tracy Nolan, Senior Vice President at Humana and an experienced board member, to unpack what effective communication and influence actually look like at the highest levels of an organization.

Tracy shares lessons from her own career—including being passed over for an opportunity despite being a high performer—and explains what she learned about looking beyond her immediate responsibilities. From presenting to a board and building relationships with busy executives to speaking up during uncertainty, this conversation reveals how leaders can create influence without bragging, pretending to have all the answers, or playing corporate politics.

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

🔎Communicate more effectively with boards and senior executives by starting with the headline and using other techniques

📈Increase your visibility and position yourself for advancement by demonstrating an enterprise-level perspective

🏗️Build greater trust and influence as a leader by bringing meaningful questions and challenges into meetings, seeking input before controversial decisions, and communicating honestly.

Play the episode to learn how to communicate, build relationships, and show up more strategically so your hard work translates into greater influence, visibility, 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.

About our guest:
From being the youngest executive and only woman on a retail board to leading 24,000 employees through the historic Sprint/T-Mobile merger during COVID-19, Tracy Nolan brings powerful insights on transformative leadership and breaking glass ceilings. As the current SVP at Humana and a board member for Dress for Success Worldwide, she offers a unique perspective on balancing strength with compassion in leadership.

Some highlights of Tracy's career include:
Managing $31B in revenue with a $6B operating budget
Leading through multiple crises, including 9/11 and natural disasters
Mentoring women from office managers to executive leadership roles
Led transformative initiatives at Fortune 100 companies (Humana, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon)
First female Regional President at Verizon (Upstate NY) and Silver Stevie Award winner (Female Executive of the Year, 2022)
Harvard Business School Women on Boards graduate and NACD Directorship Certification holder

Tracy combines practical leadership strategies with inspiring personal stories, showing that impactful leadership isn’t about choosing between strength and empathy—it’s about leveraging both.

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 include:
How to get promoted from director to VP
Why high performers get passed over for promotions
How to communicate with senior executives
How to build executive presence
How to build influence without playing office politics
How to become more visible to senior leadership
How to get recognized at work without bragging
How to influence senior leaders
How to get executive buy-in
How to present to a board of directors
How to demonstrate strategic leadership
How to think like an executive
How to speak confidently in executive meetings
How to build relationships with senior leaders
How leaders should communicate when they don’t have all the answers

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 been asked for your opinion in an executive meeting, only to have your brain freeze—even though you knew exactly what you wanted to say five minutes earlier?

You’ve delivered the results. You know the business. Your team already sees you as a confident, capable leader. But in high-stakes executive meetings, you may find yourself second-guessing your recommendations, retreating when challenged, or thinking of the perfect response only after the meeting ends.

The problem is bigger than one uncomfortable moment. Senior leaders are forming opinions about your readiness for the next level based on how they experience your leadership when the pressure is on. And if they aren’t seeing your strategic thinking, excellent work alone may not be enough to convince them you’re ready for VP.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

🥶Why freezing in executive meetings doesn’t mean you can’t think on your feet—and the belief that could be making the problem worse

📖How to prepare for high-stakes conversations without trying to anticipate every possible question or having every answer

💰How to communicate your recommendations, handle pushback, and give senior leadership consistent evidence that you can lead at the next level.

Play this episode to learn how to stop disappearing when the stakes are high and start showing senior leadership the confident, strategic, VP-ready leader you already know you can be.

So look, if you find yourself freezing when a senior leader puts you on the spot—even though you know your business, you’ve delivered the results, and five minutes later you know exactly what you should have said—that’s not something you want to keep hoping will fix itself.

If Senior Director, VP, or C-suite is your goal, you don’t want excellent work happening behind the scenes while your executive presence is holding you back in the rooms that matter most.

That’s exactly why I created Executive Presence Mastery. It gives you the one-on-one guidance you need to communicate your thinking clearly, handle pushback with confidence, and show up like a senior leader—without becoming an extrovert, dominating meetings, or trying to prepare for every possible question.

If this episode felt a little too familiar, go to the show notes, click here, and book a confidential Executive Presence Strategy Call with me.

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 for introverted leaders
How to stop freezing in executive meetings
Thinking on your feet under pressure
Communicating confidently with senior leadership
How to handle pushback from executives
Building confidence in high-stakes meetings
Showing strategic thinking at the executive level
Preparing for executive meetings without overpreparing
Moving from Director to VP
How to demonstrate VP readiness
Becoming more visible to senior leadership
Avoiding the “invisible overperformer” trap
Speaking with confidence when you don’t have all the answers
Building a reputation as a senior leader
Executive communication skills for high-performing 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.

Many accomplished leaders tell the kind of story that leaves the audience checking their latest Slack message or maybe their upcoming Amazon delivery.

What if your story doesn't need more polish?

What if they need to feel less finished?

In this episode of Speak Up: Develop Your Executive Presence, Laura Camacho reveals an unexpected storytelling lesson from Spencer Pratt: the most influential stories invite people into what happens next.

Using Spencer and Heidi Montag’s experience after losing their home in the 2025 Pacific Palisades fire, Laura breaks down how leaders can create more compelling stories without manufacturing drama, oversharing, or sacrificing executive presence.

In today's episode you’ll learn the following from a legit reality tv star:

🔥How to identify the exact moment of change that creates tension and immediately pulls people into your story.

1️⃣Why one concrete, memorable detail can communicate the stakes more powerfully than polished corporate language.

🧩How to leave the right part of your story unresolved so your audience understands the role they can play in moving the outcome forward.

Play the episode to learn how to turn your leadership stories from polished summaries into compelling narratives that give people a reason to listen, believe, and act.

An unfinished story with a meaningful role for the audience can create action.

And action is where storytelling becomes influence.

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:
Why polished leadership stories can feel boring
How to create stakes and suspense in business storytelling
Using moments of change to begin a compelling story
Concrete details that make leadership stories memorable
Turning audiences from passive listeners into participants
Using unfinished stories to motivate action
Executive storytelling for influence and engagement
How to tell concise, memorable stories at work
Executive presence 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.

Today you can actually learn how to know if your executive influence is where you think it is. Listen today to learn this life changing skill.

Under pressure, it’s easy to slip into a reactive, defensive, or judgmental mindset. But the questions you ask yourself and others can determine how your team responds, how much information people are willing to share, and whether you make decisions from curiosity or judgment.

In this episode of the Speak Up podcast, Laura welcomes Marilee Adams, CEO of the Inquiry Institute, to explore how leaders can use questions to improve their communication, executive presence, decision-making, and relationships.

In today’s episode you’ll discover:

💡Why powerful inquiry actually begins with the questions you silently ask yourself—and how changing those questions can change how you show up as a leader

🔎How to recognize when you’ve slipped into a “judger” mindset and intentionally shift back into a curious, open-minded “learner” mindset.

🎯The exact question you need to ask yourself to help you design better questions that invite conversation instead of triggering defensiveness.

Play the episode to discover how asking better questions can help you stay present under pressure, empower the people around you, and become a more effective leader.

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:
Meet Marilee Adams, an award-winning author, leadership expert, and pioneer of inquiry-based coaching. Through her work as founder and CEO of The Inquiry Institute, Adams has helped leaders, coaches, and organizations transform how they think, decide, and lead.

To uncover her proven approach, readers can turn to her bestselling book, Change Your Questions, Change Your Life, Fifth Edition. With more than half a million copies sold in twenty-two languages, this refreshed edition shows how a simple shift in questioning can unlock clarity, confidence, and lasting results, at work and at home.

The book is a powerful fable that follows Ben Knight on a transformative journey, guided by fourteen practical tools for Question Thinking. Along the way, readers learn to use the Choice Map, a powerful visual tool that reveals how everyday questions shape our mindset.

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 and leadership communication
How leaders can ask better questions
Learner mindset vs. judger mindset
Building trust and psychological safety on teams
Getting employees to tell leaders the truth
Emotional self-regulation for leaders
Communicating and influencing under pressure
Handling difficult questions in high-stakes meetings
Using curiosity to improve leadership and decision-making
How executive leaders build influence and trust
Preparing for board meetings and executive presentations
Active listening and understanding others
Avoiding defensive communication as a leader
Asking questions that empower employees and teams
Improving executive decision-making through better questions
Executive presence during conflict and tension
How leadership behavior affects employee communication
Developing emotional and social intelligence as a leader