Episodes

Your deck is not the problem. I know that’s not what you want to hear when you’re three weeks out from investor meetings and you’re still tweaking your competitive slide. But let’s keep it real: the deck is the last ten percent. What happens in the ninety percent before it is what actually determines whether you walk out of that room with a term sheet or a polite pass. In this solo episode, I’m breaking down the credibility gap that’s quietly killing funding conversations for early-stage found...

Most founders walk into high-stakes rooms — investor meetings, client pitches, panel stages — and lead with the wrong thing. They lead with the product. The features. The data. The roadmap. And the room stays flat. Let’s keep it real: that’s not a pitch problem. That’s a story problem. And in this episode, I’m breaking down exactly why technical founders default to product-first communication, what it costs them, and how to fix it with a framework that’s straightforward but most founders never ...

There’s a question I don’t think enough leaders are asking themselves — and it’s not about strategy, headcount, or even product roadmap. It’s simpler than that, and it’s also more urgent than most leadership teams realize: If someone went looking for you right now, what would they find? That question is the heart of this episode. Because we are in the middle of one of the most significant shifts in the history of leadership — and it has nothing to do with the next product release or the next fun...

Most leaders walk into high-stakes external conversations thinking the goal is to win the argument. It’s not. And if that’s your approach, you’re already losing. In this episode, I sit down with Jeff Wetherhold — a behavioral science researcher, change management expert, and faculty member with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement — to break down what’s actually happening when leaders face pushback from external audiences. Jeff holds a master’s in education from Harvard University and bring...

Your comms strategy is only as strong as the leaders delivering it. And if you’ve been doing damage control after panels, media interviews, or enterprise sales conversations — you already know this. In this episode, I’m naming the pattern that most comms leaders and marketing executives are too close to the problem to say out loud: your technical leaders are stepping into external moments every single day, and they are not prepared for them. Not because they aren’t brilliant. They are. But bril...

You can be the most brilliant person in the room and still be invisible. Let’s fix that. In this episode, I sit down with Carlee Wolfe, a global talent and leadership executive who has spent her career at the intersection of leadership, influence, and the future of work. Carlee leads global integrated talent management at Hyatt Hotels Corporation and has held leadership roles with Under Armour and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Her work focuses on how talent systems — performance, de...

Let’s just say the quiet part out loud: your sales cycle isn’t long—you’re just asking people to trust you too late. And if that stings a little, good. Because this is where most leadership teams are getting it wrong. We’ve been conditioned to believe slow deals are just the nature of B2B—more stakeholders, more complexity, more time. But let’s keep it real: two companies with the same product, same pricing, and same market can close at completely different speeds. So what’s actually driving th...

Let’s keep it real—visibility is already happening whether you’re intentional about it or not. The question is: are you sending the right signals, or are you leaving your credibility up to chance? In this episode, I sat down with executive communication strategist Laura Camacho to unpack one of the biggest blind spots in modern leadership. Too many leaders are still operating like visibility is optional—or worse, something reserved for influencers and entrepreneurs. Let’s fix that. Because in t...

Let’s keep it real: a lot of leaders think PR is the fix when the real issue is message ownership. In this episode, I’m breaking down the difference between visibility and influence, and why more media, more stages, and more polished language will not help if leadership has no real point of view behind the message. I’m also getting honest about what happens when companies outsource the center of their voice. Because PR can amplify a message, but it cannot create conviction. If your public langu...

Most leaders think attracting top talent is about compensation, benefits, or the size of the opportunity. Let’s keep it real—that’s not what makes high performers choose you. The companies that consistently attract the right people are the ones that know how to tell a story. Not a marketing story. Not a polished brand narrative. The real story behind why the company exists and what kind of people belong inside it. In this episode, I sit down with recruitment strategist EA Clarke, founder of P...

For decades, companies relied on one voice to carry credibility: the CEO. But something is changing in the market—and if you work in technology, innovation, or any industry powered by complex systems, you’ve probably felt it already. The people audiences trust the most are no longer just the executives telling the story. Increasingly, it’s the people who actually understand how the systems work. The engineers. The architects. The CTOs. The builders. Technical credibility is quietly becoming le...

If you’ve ever sent a leader to communication training and thought, “Why didn’t that land the way I expected?” — let’s keep it real. It’s not because they need better slides. It’s because they don’t have a defined leadership identity. In this episode, I’m saying something that might irritate a few executive programs: communication training is not the first step. Leadership identity is. Because if you don’t know what you stand for, no amount of media coaching or executive presence polish will ma...

If you think your title is your brand, let’s fix that. Too many corporate leaders hide behind their company logo. They believe their credibility comes from the organization they work for, not from the signals they send personally. Let’s keep it real. In today’s war for talent, widening trust gap, and relentless tech disruption, that mindset is dangerous. In this episode, I sit down with personal branding expert and podcast host Nathaniel Schooler to talk about why leaders must stop seeing them...

You can tell a lot about a company by what it does when things get shaky. Not when the stock price is up. Not when the press is glowing. But when the market tightens and stakeholders get nervous. Let’s keep it real. In unstable markets, silence is not neutral. It’s interpreted. And too many executive teams are still treating leadership visibility like a marketing preference instead of structural protection. Let’s fix that. In this episode, I walk you through why visible leadership is no lon...

We’re living in a trust recession—and most leaders are still showing up like it’s business as usual. In this episode, I’m joined by Salvatore Manzi—executive communication coach and author of the upcoming book Clear and Compelling—to talk about what it really takes to build trust before you speak. Let’s keep it real: memorizing talking points and “performing” presence isn’t cutting it anymore. Leaders today must embody credibility from the inside out—and that means aligning identity, values, an...

Some of the most powerful people inside STEM companies are also the least visible—and that invisibility is quietly eroding trust in the market. In this solo episode, I’m breaking down a leadership blind spot I see everywhere: technical leaders whose credibility is trapped internally while investors, talent, and customers are forming opinions externally. CTOs, heads of product, and engineering leaders often understand the future best—yet they’ve been trained to stay heads-down in a world that no...

If you think influence is just about being visible, we need to fix that. In this episode, I’m spilling the tea on why attention is currency—and how leaders are quietly burning through it every time they show up unprepared, over-scripted, or disconnected from the humans on the other side of the room. I’m joined by speaker, author, and founder of Engagify, Anders Boulanger. After nearly two decades commanding attention on global stages and trade show floors, Anders has cracked the code on what ac...

AI didn’t just change how companies operate. It changed how leadership is evaluated. And here’s the part most leaders are missing: the evaluation isn’t happening internally anymore. It’s happening externally—in the market, the media, with investors, customers, and talent who are watching every move. In this solo episode of The Influence Economy Podcast, I’m spilling the tea on why leadership messaging in the AI era is no longer about keeping people informed—it’s about shaping perception in rea...

If you’ve ever wondered why some leadership teams look polished on the outside but are quietly unraveling behind the scenes—this episode is your wake-up call. Today, I’m sitting down with Joyce Odidison, resilience expert, author of seven books, and host of The Resilience Catalyst Show. Joyce is the yin to my yang. I work on the external signals leaders send to the market—visibility, reputation, influence. Joyce works on the internal dynamics that make those signals credible—or completely colla...

There’s a tech leadership ceiling I see constantly—especially with founders and senior leaders who are exceptional builders but invisible externally. You know the product. You know the data. You know the market. But at a certain stage, that’s no longer enough. In this episode, I break down the moment every leader hits when their role quietly shifts from Head of Product to Head of Perception—and why ignoring that shift costs trust, talent, and opportunity. This isn’t about personal branding ...

Let me spill the tea on something most leadership development programs never touch — identity. Everyone wants more influence. More credibility. More trust. Bigger rooms. Bigger stakes. And yet most leaders are stuck trying to “perform” influence without ever understanding who they are as leaders in the first place. So today, I’m breaking down the real reason external influence feels exhausting, awkward, or ineffective for so many leaders — and why the fix isn’t more content, more confidence, or...

Ever felt the Sunday scaries so deeply it made you question your job altogether? You’re not alone—and that’s exactly where this conversation starts. In this episode, I’m joined by Mary Baird—international workshop facilitator, employee experience strategist, and host of The Simplifiers Podcast. Mary simplifies the chaos of corporate life and brings 18+ years of leadership development experience to the table. We’re unpacking why employee experience isn’t just an HR checkbox—it’s a leadership cre...

You know what I hear from senior leaders behind closed doors more than anything else? “Our leaders struggle to communicate well when it matters most.” And here’s what I always tell them: that’s not a presentation skills problem. That’s a positioning problem. In this solo episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on why most communication training is failing your leaders—and what it actually takes to build executive presence that performs under pressure. I’m breaking down the outdated myths about p...

When was the last time you walked into your closet and actually felt powerful? In this candid and game-changing conversation with personal branding expert and stylist Ellie Steinbrink, we’re unpacking the real reason style isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s a business growth strategy. Too many women are unknowingly dressing in a way that keeps them invisible. In this episode, we dive deep into why your wardrobe might be holding you back, the brain science behind what you wear, and how to recalibr...