What if the real reason you're not seen as executive material is because you're solving the wrong problems?
Welcome back to Speak Out, the number one ranked business communication podcast, where we help high performing introvert leaders, including new social introverts, turn your ideas into influence and improve business outcomes.
Because being brilliant does not automatically make you influential.
I am your host, Laura Camacho, your career accelerator and executive presence strategist and godmother.
By the end of today's short episode, you'll know how to deliver insights with clarity and authority, without saying too much.
The simple editing framework, three skills that top leaders use to sound strategic instantly and which communication mistakes signal a lack of executive judgment.
Today's episode is a little unexpected.
I'm bringing you a different twist.
We're talking about luxury hotels.
We're talking about Rick Rubin in the studio.
And somehow we're also talking about getting you promoted.
So stay with me.
I was just reading this newsletter by Pauline Brown.
She is the former chairman of LVMH North America, which means she operated at the highest levels of the luxury world.
And she's also the author of Aesthetic Intelligence.
All about taste and discernment and how those drive business success.
She actually taught a class at Harvard called Aesthetic Intelligence that she created.
I don't know if she's still teaching it.
But in this newsletter, she explains what actually creates a luxury experience.
So most people think luxury means more options, more features, more everything.
But that's really not it.
It's not about more.
Luxury is about editing.
And she tells the story of Cesar Ritz, the founder of the Ritz Hotel.
I think now they're more known as Ritz Carlton.
And they may not be what they used to be, but...
It's a pretty big name in the luxury hotel business, and he certainly did not invent luxury.
He was actually the son of a farmer, but he studied how these aristocrats lived, and then he edited that experience into something that others could experience.
By observing the wealthy class in their own habitat.
That helped him decide what to include, what to refine, what to remove.
And this is key, how it unfolds over time.
The result is an experience that feels effortless, but it's actually highly composed.
So here's the part that most super smart professionals miss, right?
Executive presence works exactly the same way.
People are thinking, oh, I need to say more.
I need to prove more.
I need to explain more.
No, you don't need to add more.
What you need to do is edit better.
I'm serious.
Let me say something a little bold.
It's not usually a confidence problem that makes you not have executive presence.
It's an editing problem, or you can even see it as a decisiveness issue.
The problem is when people are thinking out loud over explaining, adding in every detail, answering questions that were not even asked.
They're just giving too much information.
And what does that signal to executives?
Not brilliance, but a lack of clarity, a lack of prioritization, a lack of executive judgment.
And now I'm going to throw in Rick Rubin into the mix.
If you don't know him, he's one of the most influential music producers of all time.
He's worked with everyone from Johnny Cash, who was my dad's favorite, to Jay-Z.
And here's what's fascinating.
He's not known for adding more to the music.
He is known for stripping things away.
That's what he does.
He helps the artist figure out what part matters, what needs to go, and what makes a song hit.
That's executive presence.
You're not adding more noise.
You're editing for impact.
So here's a real example.
One of my clients, brilliant high performer, was presenting to the executive leadership meetings where he was not very comfortable.
And he would start by saying, there are a few different factors to consider.
And I just want to give a bit of background before I get into the recommendations.
So basically over the past quarter, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And by the time he got to that point, people were already mentally checked out.
I worked with him to apply the concept of editing.
And so he learned over time to get to it.
Here's the recommendation.
We should delay the launch by two weeks to fix the onboarding issue.
This is what we need to do and why.
This is what I recommend and why.
Another example, this issue is causing a 30% drop-off in the first 24 hours.
If we fix it now, we protect long-term adoption.
That's it.
Same brain, different editing.
So he began to be seen as strategic and getting, of course, pulled into higher level conversations and getting better feedback.
So it's not that he became smarter.
He was already super smart, but he became a better editor.
And that's where your confidence comes into play.
It's confidence in your ability to edit and curate.
That means deciding what the people you're talking to need to know out of everything.
They don't need the whole enchilada.
So let's break this down into three quick skills you can start using immediately.
First of all, think of editing as discernment.
Before you speak, think, what is one thing they actually need from me?
Or what is one thing that will help move this forward?
Not everything, just what matters.
Because executive presence begins when you decide what not to say.
Number two, editing as restraint.
High status communicators do not fill in every silence.
They do not over-answer.
They don't prove every step.
When you get to be in the C-suite, you simply don't have time to do that.
And also being comfortable with silence is definitely an executive skill that you want to cultivate.
But clarity is the goal and restraint is what turns competence into earned authority.
And then the third editing skill is sequencing.
Most people just drop that information.
They share everything they know or they tend to go in chronological order, which makes sense at some level, but not at the executive decision-making level.
Executives design how it lands, not context, context and then the point.
But it's here's the point, which is the bottom line.
Here's why it matters.
Here's what we should do.
No friction, no confusion.
So when you hear people speaking like this, this is what's going on.
This is why it's important.
This is what we need to do.
It may feel effortlessly, but it's actually highly edited.
And, of course, once you develop the skill, it is effortless, but it's not effortless necessarily to develop the skill.
When you hear someone sound confident, what you're really hearing is well-curated thinking.
So it's Friday.
It may not be Friday when you're listening, but it's Friday when I'm recording.
And I want, in your next meeting email slot message.
I want you to ask yourself If I were editing this for maximum impact.
What should I cut?
And then cut it.
Cut 30%, cut 50%.
I want you to say less, but make it land harder.
So the next time you're about to speak or preparing that presentation, think about say, Sir Ritz, think about Rick Rubin.
And it's not about what else can I add, but what can I remove?
What is the part that actually matters?
How do I make this land?
It's not more words, it's better editing.
So if you want to master this at a higher level without investing in executive coaching, I strongly recommend that you get on the Speak Up Summer Camp waitlist.
What is Speak Up Summer Camp, you ask?
It's a 24-day private podcast series coming out July 6, super short, to help you strengthen your executive presence, to sound clear, confident and ready for the next level.
Each episode will be around five minutes and will give you one practical communication or executive presence rep you can use right away.
So if you've ever felt like you're doing great work, but your ideas aren't landing the way they should, this series will help you change that.
So get on the wait list.
The link is at the top of the show notes.
Have a glorious day.
