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
