Have you ever walked out of a high stakes meeting knowing that you had more to say, but you couldn't quite get it across?
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, pod mother, and strategist.
And by the end of today's episode, you will know how slowing down and reading the room instantly improves your influence and clarity.
Why intuition, according to our guest Saren Silva, is a hidden leadership skill that can dramatically impact performance and results and how to communicate with authority and authenticity without adopting some fake leadership persona.
So today we're talking to Saren Silva in Boulder, Colorado.
She used to work in advertising and has worked with a bunch of very large companies that you would know.
But we're going to really tune in on her approach to executive presence and she focuses a lot on intuition.
So I'm excited to learn about that, like how to know.
So welcome to the show.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah.
So how did you come to realize that executive presence is a thing and that can be helpful?
And I want to ask you if that in any way connects to your background earlier with advertising, because I see executive presence as a way of advertising marketing ourselves.
What do you think?
Yep, absolutely.
So from the time I don't know I was in my first few years of my career, we were really taught in terms of client relationship and presenting ideas sometimes complex ideas to focus on how we were conveying those ideas.
And we were doing that in an old school way at the beginning.
One of the advertising agencies that I worked for could be Silverstein and Partners, which is famous for the gut milk campaign, among many others.
They really eschewed using the computer for presentations and had us do things standing up paper and pen on a flip chart and presenting in that way to connect people to the content and connect people to the conversation as opposed to.
Here's my slide deck.
Sit down, let me flip you through these slides.
We're all going on this trip that nobody really wants to go on.
We're going to go through these slides.
And this was like, no, ideas and presenting information are exciting.
And so, in order to advance your career, particularly in that sector and in marketing as well, it's really essential that you understand how to communicate.
But what I would say to answer your question is I was always told when I was younger that I was a strong communicator.
And I think it was because my parents...
English wasn't their first language.
And so I had to communicate a lot for them.
And so it became a gift.
So thank you, mom and dad.
And then it parlayed its way into marketing, advertising, and then into coaching.
And I'm often asked now to really lean into executive presence with people that I coach.
Yes.
Well, I think that it's come to the surface for several reasons, and one is probably too much PowerPoint.
And also, I think individual contributors don't fit into the leadership training mood.
I mean, they can learn from it obviously, but it doesn't hit as well as say, executive presence training, which is showing up as an executive, but you don't have to have a team of 50 people below you in order to communicate at that level.
I think it's fascinating.
So in this early job that didn't want you to use computers, did you not use slides at all?
Not a lot at that job.
No, they really didn't like it.
There were times, obviously, when we had to.
We were presenting ideas because you know, a lot of advertising is understanding what the product is and then how to best communicate that, and then how to express that creatively.
Okay.
And then being able to justify, provide your rationale for why X, Y, or Z would work.
But they wanted that to be much more of a conversation and allow people to react to the work as opposed to.
Here's my next slide.
And would you be standing up?
Yeah, standing up and walking around the room and working to engage people in that manner.
Yeah, doesn't that sound so like, I don't know, extraterrestrial, you know, today with everything is virtual and PowerPoint or Google slide driven.
So I think that's super interesting and a great training for you.
And also since you're the daughter of people for whom English was not the first language, a lot of our listeners speak English as a second language.
And I'm married to someone who's in that same category.
I find the accents just, you know, intoxicating.
I think they're so cool.
My kids always say, if my husband loses his accent, he's out.
Of course, I'm joking.
We're just joking.
But a lot of people worry about it, I think, far more than they need to.
So what do you have to say to our listeners who speak English as a second language?
Well, coming off of my own experience, I think my parents felt shame around it, not being able to communicate effectively, insecure.
My mother-in-law also speaks another language, English as their second language.
I've been around, I grew up around a lot of people who spoke a lot of different languages.
Which means they're super smart!
Like, hello!
Well, I got to see so many different perspectives.
Yes.
But now when I'm coaching people who were English as a second language...
Depends on what stage of their career as well and what they've had to overcome to get to that point.
For me, it's second nature.
I don't blink at it.
But I find a lot of it is needing to help them with the insecurity around that and how they communicate.
Well, most of the people that you're talking to are around directors.
Senior director vice president.
They have made it by working extremely hard, delivering results, but somehow get intimidated in certain meetings.
I mean, I think everybody does.
It's just that some people manifest that differently, right?
So what are the mindset shifts that you find?
Help people to step into the senior leadership presence and mindset.
That it's okay that you speak a different language and that that's a sign of intelligence.
So in terms of the mindset shift, a lot of times I find it's permission.
So permission for people to be who they are and to accept that and appreciate that about themselves.
Could you give an example?
I was coaching someone from Hewlett Packard.
And one of the things they said to me is like, this is someone who's established in their career.
I would have gone much further, much faster.
I'll never make as much money as I possibly could have made just because of my accent, because sometimes people don't understand fully what I'm trying to say.
The meaning is lost.
Sometimes it's some intimidation, but sometimes it's also.
I can't express the thing that I'm trying to express in the way that I best know how.
So I have to grab a second or a third way of communicating something that's not as effective.
Go study more English.
That's not really the answer.
The answer is really about embracing who you are And seeing that, for all that it brings in terms of experiences and knowledge and the ways of being.
So how do you connect showing up in a scary meeting or a key high stakes presentation with being yourself and then being effective like meeting your objective in that scenario?
Well, confidence is a key piece of that, right?
So if I don't feel confident in who I am and can't trust myself because I think I have some deficit because I speak another language, it's absolutely going to affect my stress level and how I come across in the meeting and how I might command the room.
And I also and I wrote about this yesterday actually on LinkedIn which is about People feeling like they have to adopt a persona that is not their persona in order to be successful.
Okay.
And they stress about that.
Well, I want to be a leader.
So if I read this book, I'm going to be a leader, right?
No, you might get some good insights, right?
You might understand where you're tripping up.
But there is a part that is outside of the mind.
Mm-hmm. that plays a role.
And when I coach, that's what I'm working with.
I could give you 10 tips, Laura, not that you need them on.
Here's executive presence.
But it's different if I look at you as a whole person and say, okay, who are you?
And in this meaning, who are you?
And I don't mean come in with a whole other persona.
One of the things I wrote about yesterday was What are your values in your life?
What are your personal values?
And then how do those values ladder to your leadership style and how you communicate and carry yourself?
And do you think that anybody can be a leader if they want to?
I do.
I do too.
But I like how you ask the question around, do I think if people want to that they can lead?
And I think the key part of that question is around want.
Because I think sometimes we think we want to be a leader.
But we know here that that's not our thing or vice versa.
So really getting in touch with the self, I think, and feeling comfortable is important.
Yeah, I think so too.
And then thinking about, how can you help them?
Like that's really your, where you can add value, no matter what languages.
Personality traits like you know how to help people.
Absolutely.
So what are the communication tips that you find most useful for people to communicate under stress or getting a point across where it's you know?
I always say if you're passing out Ben Franklin's, You don't need to be a good communicator, right?
Everybody's all ears.
But otherwise, yes, you might need to sell it a little bit.
Yeah.
I think my first communication tip is probably go slowly.
I know it's hard to say sometimes in a high stakes situation.
I remember one time I had to present to Apple for their business.
Whoa.
Yeah, that's definitely.
And I walked into a room at their office in California and There was a table about 20 people and then there were video monitors connecting more people to the call to the presentation.
And then were people on speaker as well.
So there were probably I don't know 30, 40 people and they were all really important to the process, or so it was communicated, because they were international constituents.
And Going slow there was really important.
We had a really diverse group of people that I was presenting to because they wanted to make sure that they had a global buy-in for what we were presenting.
And so if I speak really fast, not everyone's going to get it.
And at the same time, different cultures, they'll go faster or slower.
So I think my first is go slow.
When in doubt, go slow.
The second is really don't forget that human element.
And that's kind of where you and I started the call, when I was talking about the flip charts and not having any slides which, by the way, the end of December I did a training and I did no tech in the training and I did flip charts and it went fantastically for two days.
We did it that way and I just used flip charts.
So that kind of really tees up the second tip, which is just really about connecting to the people in the room and knowing what's going on and reading the room.
If people are looking at their phone or you're just married to your slides because you're like these things are really important well, i'm not here to tell you that they're not important, but i am here to tell you that there's a third element in the room, which is the people who are listening to you.
The third tip is is not uniquely mine, but it's remember that you're the host.
When you're presenting, you are the host.
So, just like when someone comes to your house, if they look thirsty, you're going to offer them a drink.
You're going to offer them something to eat.
You're not going to just sit them down and start firing off the conversation without stopping to see how they are receiving the information.
You're going to want to make sure there's a connection.
You've hosted them into your home and you're giving them an experience.
And I think, in the fast paced how everything is, we sometimes forget that human piece.
Yeah, now with AI, it's like I can generate slides really fast.
Yeah, you can generate slides really fast, so that's great.
How are you presenting those slides?
Because you're still presenting them to humans, you're not presenting them to machines, right?
So what are they understanding?
And then, how are they viewing you as a leader?
So how does intuition play a role in, in leadership and executive presence?
I know that's a big variable or construct that you work with.
I find that fascinating.
How do you do that?
Again, I think I tie it back to my childhood.
You know, my parents didn't speak any English when I was born.
I, you know, I had to learn another.
I learned another language.
Then I had to learn English And a lot of times I had to kind of use my gut instinct to navigate what was happening, because one culture at home, one culture at school.
And so I honed my intuition that way, but didn't know that's what I was doing.
And then, when I got into marketing and advertising, I always had a sixth sense about what was happening with the business, where the opportunity was what client was going to leave, whether or not something was right.
So it grew into this superpower.
Yeah, sounds amazing.
And also helped me with communication because of reading people's expressions and then honing them.
But it plays in the background.
I can't remember who said this, but it is one of human beings like innate defenses.
So, you know, a skunk can make it stink. as its defense tactic.
For humans.
Our intuition is part of what keeps us alive, reminds us to eat, lets us know where there's danger, right.
And so essentially, I've taken that survival instinct and honed it and use it for business.
How does that help?
Last year, I tripled someone's business in nine months.
That's pretty helpful.
Doubled another client's business.
They went from 20 million to 40 million.
Because part of my practice is a strategic advisory.
Yes.
It saves time.
And so I'm really passionate about people slowing down understanding themselves, tapping into their own innate intelligence.
And that's part of the package as an executive.
So for our listeners, and they're like, Saran, I want to do that.
Like, I want to double my business or double my salary or comp or whatever.
What should we do to tune into the real intuition, not fear and not wishful thinking?
It's something I actually train on and I'm about to build a program around it.
But what I would say first is it kind of goes back to going slow.
You have to go slow so you can understand and sense where you are.
So one of the other trainings that I had in certifications is in somatics, which is how the body holds stress.
And when I'm coaching on leadership and communication, if you're stressed out, it affects your ability to tap into any gut instinct because you're like, your body's in survival mode, right?
It's not consciously thinking.
So, you know, working on confidence, insecurities, slowing down, conscious breaks.
I said this a couple weeks ago and somebody started laughing.
I said, the machine is going to outpace us.
So...
Going faster right now, it's a zero sum game.
It's really about intention.
And I'm sure someone's like sure, but have you ever shown up to my work on a Monday and seen how busy it is?
I get that.
But I once had an hour long debate with somebody over why they didn't need to check their email while they were in bed for the first five minutes that they woke up.
And I won because I said, there is a way to do this so you can slow down.
And they said, I can't.
And I said, yes, you can.
And we found a way to make it work.
So you can introduce micro breaks into your day to allow you to be like how do I really feel about this presentation?
How do I feel about my content?
How do I look at the audience?
What am I trying to persuade the audience to do as a result of my patient, my program or what I'm building?
That's where the intelligence lies.
It's our third form of intelligence.
The first is the brain.
Second is the body.
And the third is the gut instinct layer, the intuitive layer.
Most of us are only just running around with the brain layer.
Right, right.
And that's what we've been rewarded on.
Absolutely.
For years, years and years and years.
Yes.
Yeah.
So we have to be more human.
More human.
What a great concept.
Yes.
And what does that mean?
Emotionally attuned, present, intentional.
And I use intention a lot when I'm coaching on conflict.
They're like, well, isn't it mean if I say blah, blah, blah?
And I'll go, well, what is your intention in having this conversation?
They'll say, well, I want us to solve this problem.
It's for the business.
I'm like, okay, well, your intention is clean.
Right, right, right.
But the other thing, if you just look at it from a business standpoint environmentally, we're running out of resources.
And so we're going to have to be more intentional about what we produce as well.
So... we're going to have to be more thoughtful around.
We're not able to charge at the speed that we're at.
So why not lean into your own innate gifts?
Whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, I would want to really understand what brings someone's genius forward as a leader and how to really help Haitian to unpack that genius.
Get all of the head trash out of the way.
Like I'm not good enough or my accent's bad or, Move that out of the way.
Who are you?
What do you care about?
What kind of leader do you want?
Okay, let's build that.
Let's go do that.
This has been so interesting.
So slow down, pay attention.
Anything about personal energy?
I know that's another theme that you teach on is what should we, how can we have more of it and not feel depleted?
Well, first is to make it okay for you to take a break.
Okay, fair enough, right?
Yeah okay, i think there's a lot of baggage in the culture around.
Yes, i can't take a break.
We've really got to stop that.
It's not good for our health, our longevity as humans, right?
Especially if we know the machine is going to outpace us.
And really listening to hear versus listening to respond is another one.
Okay, but to me, the longer i coached, the more what I find is that people have ideas in their head of how they're supposed to be that are antithetical to their own personality.
And that gets in the way.
We want your genius.
We want your authenticity.
We want the way you see the world.
And if your employer doesn't want that, or if that's not what comes across the interview, maybe don't go for that job.
Exactly.
Is there something that I haven't asked you, that you think our listeners, who are high performers, highly attractive, want to have a super successful 2026?
Anything else you would like to share with them?
I would say it's okay to want what you want for yourself and to stay true to that.
Yes.
And then use your career as a tool to get that thing.
You're only here for a short time.
Right.
Make it the best that you want it to be.
And don't worry about, you know, I've got to be more like this person or this person.
We want to hear from you.
Well, folks, no pressure, but let's do it.
This is amazing.
I really appreciate your approach, your authenticity, your voice.
This was so helpful.
I'm sure it was helpful to me.
I'm sure it's helpful to our many listeners.
You're welcome.
Yes, I bring you the best and I appreciate your taking your time to talk to our wonderful audience.
Thank you So.
I love talking to Saran.
You know, she has such a different point of view.
And the thing about slowing down, it is so hard for me to slow down because I'm so excited.
But when I do, it makes a difference.
So I hope that you are also able to slow down.
Take your time.
People will listen to you.
You will sound more comfortable interesting, if people don't have to struggle to follow your fast paced message.
And if you find yourself walking into high stakes meetings knowing you have the expertise but still feeling like you're only showing like maybe max 80 of your leadership presence, and it's frustrating because you've worked so hard and you're still feeling invisible or hesitant or second guessing how you come across, especially under pressure.
That's why I created the Executive Presence Scorecard, which is a personal self-assessment.
It's a shortcut for you to see where your strengths and opportunities are, so that you can be a confident, authentic executive, without forcing yourself into a mold that doesn't fit.
In the second paragraph of these show notes.
Click the first link and get instant access to the Executive Presence Scorecard.
Have a fantastic and glorious day and I will catch you on the next episode.
