Do you or your ideas in meetings get overlooked no matter how well you explain them?
Or maybe you just want to be a more interesting person.
Today's the day for that.
Welcome back to Speak Up, the podcast for high-performing introverts, including you, social introverts where we reveal the charisma and communication secrets of A-listers so that you get the recognition and the opportunities you have earned.
I am your host, Laura Camacho, your magical executive presence coach, godmother, and strategist.
And by the end of today's episode, you will know the fastest way to sound like an industry leader without talking more or louder.
Five easy to use tactics to elevate your messaging and become unforgettable in a positive way in your meetings.
And then why connecting two unexpected worlds build executive presence instantly.
So this episode was inspired by something I saw in real time while working with some senior leaders last week.
I was delivering a speak of executive presence training for leaders at Pernod Ricard and learned about absolute vodka with Tabasco.
Like that's a product.
I learned about it from a T-shirt they gave me.
Now, literally no one wakes up thinking, you know what's missing from vodka?
Heat.
And yet when you hear it, your brain does something interesting.
It pauses.
It perks up.
It leans in.
It's like, what?
And then, you know, if you drink Bloody Marys, then you are pretty excited, right?
Even if you don't drink Bloody Marys.
That pause is what executive presence actually feels like in a room.
Absolute Vodka and Tabasco do not need each other.
They're in different product categories.
But the partnership works because it does two things.
It breaks expectations and it still feels credible.
And that is like the filet mignon of executive communication.
So you've got a combination of contrast plus legitimacy, like peanut butter and dark chocolate with a little salt on top.
That's what senior leaders and other people respond to.
And it's a really fast way to stop sounding like another corporate cog leader, someone who is there doing the work but is not very interesting.
So I'm going to remind you of some other unusual pairings, like the Van Gogh Museum and a Pokemon collaboration.
Nike did a collaboration with Tiffany.
Performance meets prestige.
I did an episode, I'll link it in the show notes, about the late designer Virgil Abloh.
All of his work was fusioning distinct worlds.
He reframed streetwear as a luxury product.
Lego partnered with NASA.
And none of these partnerships are random.
They are connecting two worlds that we usually keep mentally separate.
And in doing so, we elevate perceptions.
And that is executive presence.
So it's really not about sounding polished and holding up your pinky when you drink tea.
It's about creating contrast. without losing credibility.
So I want you to think about sounding distinct instead of focusing exclusively on getting everything exactly, precise.
And I know there are times you need to be precise, but there are also opportunities to make it more interesting and you can create an unusual pairing.
And there's unlimited ways to do that.
I'm going to give you some tips though on how to do that.
Because yes, explaining, clarifying, being accurate, that's important.
I would say for you, in your executive presence, being directionally accurate is more important most of the time than being accurate.
But that's, you know, it's speaking from one lens.
It's staying inside your lane.
It's sounding reliable.
It's a single ingredient brand, right?
But what people want from you is not just your expertise.
They want your interpretation, a different pairing.
Right.
So what does this look like at a meeting?
Here's an example.
Very simple example.
Such and such is a cost issue.
OK.
Yeah.
How are we going to get the cost down or deal with the cost issue?
How about that?
That's option A. Option B.
This is a cost issue with timing risk attached.
Oh yeah, we know that cost issues are often related to timing, but maybe making that explicit connection makes it more interesting.
Instead of saying we need to move faster, we can say speed buys us momentum, but it also changes our risk profile.
Or you could say this is operational, or you could say operationally it's solvable, but strategically, what signal does it send?
That's the absolute Tabasco energy that I love.
Unexpected, clean, impossible to ignore.
And why do people respond even super busy, overwhelmed senior executives, because they're not listening for effort.
They don't care how long it took you to prepare the presentation.
What they're listening for is your judgment, your ability to see second order effects, to translate across domains, to name what other people are feeling but have not articulated.
And that's why the late Virgil Abloh didn't just design clothes.
He changed how people interpreted them.
And that's why executive presence is not about talking more.
It's about making connections faster.
So unusual partnerships work because they combine contrast, like this is not what I expected.
And they bring credibility, right?
And contrast is a extremely powerful communication tool.
And I know that what you're thinking now is like okay Laura, but how am I actually going to come up with that second domain in the moment?
That sounds like Mission Impossible.
So I'm gonna give you five tips To find your second domain, you know, to find your Tabasco to go with your absolute vodka.
You don't need to be some kind of creative genius.
You don't need to be a master of metaphors or the queen or king of wit.
You just need an additional lens, an additional point of view.
Think of this as you're not just a talent stack, but executive presence stack.
So tip number one, ask.
What else is this about?
This is your fastest ticket because you're going deeper.
You're taking the time and the effort to go a little bit deeper.
So before you speak, you ask yourself, okay, sure, this is a cost issue, but what else?
Sure, this is a delivery problem, but what else?
Or this is a technical constraint, but what else?
I want you to look for the what else.
For example, With cost, you could often use the second domain of timing.
With speed, you have the risk.
With efficiency, you can have credibility.
With performance, you can have trust.
With process, you can have signal.
And that is you moving from functional strategic by just going deeper and finding that additional domain to connect to what you were going to say in the first place.
All right, tip number two.
Pair the execution with consequence.
In other words, connect to impact.
Most people don't care about your activity and how long it took you and how much work.
They want to know what sets things in motion.
They want to know about outcomes, signals, trade-offs.
Example, oh, this will improve our efficiency.
No, this improves efficiency more.
And it changes the way other teams engage with us.
That is where the executive presence lies in that second lens.
Tip number three borrow a lens from the room, especially if you have a cross-functional meeting or senior leadership meeting.
Read the room.
Who is listening?
Who do you want to reach?
What world does this person or these people, what world do they live in?
So if you're speaking to finance, you add the lens of risk or margin or timing.
If you're speaking to senior execs, you can add the lens of reputation or market confidence or signal.
If you're speaking cross-functionally, you can add alignment, narrative, trust.
And that is exactly why Absolute Times Tabasco worked.
For Pinot Ricard.
They took the same product.
Different lens made it more relevant, at least to talk about right.
To get people to talk about the vodka.
And I assume Tabasco also.
All right, tip number four.
Oh my gosh, this is the best as far as a template for using this unusual pairings tip.
Use the looks like slash actually is move.
So this is so calm, so relaxed.
This looks like X, but actually it's Y, And that's you being so strategic and uncovering so much value.
This looks operational, but actually it's reputational.
It looks like a people issue on the surface, but really, actually, it's an issue of priorities.
This seems to be tactical, but it's shaping long term expectations, right?
So use this looks like slash actually is.
I mean, write that down.
That's how you can add dimension, add executive presence.
And finally, tip number five, keep your pairing simple.
Don't overcomplicate.
Don't use, you know, three or four lines.
Don't make a TED talk out of it.
Don't make it a paragraph of explanation.
Just one unexpected pairing can juice up an entire presentation or even speaking up at a meeting, make you the one they talk about the whole day.
One clear sentence and then stop.
So think, you know, Nike, X, Tiffany, not everything, everywhere, all at once.
So this will change how you are perceived.
And it is using your creativity because you're bringing in a second domain and people stop thinking about whether you're good at your job.
And they're like, whoa, he or she sees things.
You are shifting from contributor to advisor, from expert to leader to From reliable to trusted.
And all of that happens without more airtime.
So I want you to practice at your next opportunity before you speak.
Identify the second lens.
Take three minutes.
You can think about this when you're driving.
What are you going to talk about?
What do you need to talk about?
What do you need to communicate?
And what is an additional lens you can bring to that?
What unexpected connection that will feel obvious in hindsight.
That will work like absolute Tabasco Lego NASA.
So I don't want you to think about explaining it well.
Think about what kind of worlds you can connect.
I hope this has blown your mind.
I hope you will use it.
I am very proud of you for listening to this point.
I hope you've taken notes.
You may want to listen to it again.
If you have any questions, you can email me at hello at speakupwithlauracom, and have a fantastic day and I will catch you in the next episode.
