Podcast · Business

The Look & Sound of Leadership

by Essential Communications - Tom Henschel · English · Business

An ongoing series of Executive Coaching Tips designed to help you be perceived in the workplace the way you want to be perceived.

New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 23 min
Latest: 1 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

1 Oct 2026 · 25 min

How to Stop Fighting at Work

Two leaders in a long-running feud both want the fighting to stop but cannot find their way to peace. Their coach gives them each homework to quiet the ill intent they ascribe to the other, allowing respect to emerge. It’s hard to stop fighting with a person who feels like sour milk. Tom’s three steps to help stop a fight are: Self-awareness – how are you contributing to keeping the fight goingChoose a different mindset – stop justifying your angerSelf-Management – choose new behavior If y...

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

E271 · 3 Sep 2026 · 28 min
How to Deal with Difficult People
A highly effective leader finds herself in the middle of a terrible mess, not of her own making. When her coach marvels at her ability to stay calm amidst the chaos, she shares a lesson she learned from her dad. Tools and concepts in this episode: “People are doing their best” embodies acceptance, and acceptance creates better outcomes. Quiet cycles of doubt by: Clarify what exactly are you upset about;Identify what you feel about having those feelings;Decide what action you want to take....
E270 · 6 Aug 2026 · 21 min
Overcoming the Barriers of Leadership
A chief officer reflects on the burdens of senior leadership. While grateful for its privileges, he’s keenly aware his title can put up barriers between himself and others. Typical burdens of leadership: People put up barriers because of your power;You are a public figure and will get judged, often harshly;You are always on display;Feeling entitled because of your heavy lifting. Tom suggests three tips to help you manage your power: Get conscious about your power;Share selectively;Be...
E269 · 9 Jul 2026 · 23 min
The Three Elements of Effective Delegation
With her company on the brink of disaster, a leader hungrily tackles the art of delegation, learning three models on the way. The episode frames delegation as being primarily about getting your people ready. To get people ready, screen each delegated task against three filters: Skills & Will – do people need training or coaching?Control – who has it and how much?Measurement – what is each person’s responsibility? Our latest Tool has all three filters. Download it for free here.&n...
E268 · 4 Jun 2026 · 17 min
Managing Emotions
A chief officer finds himself repeatedly triggered by a peer. Afraid he’s going to say or do something he’ll regret, he asks his coach for tools. Three categories of self-regulation tools: PhysicalInternalExternal A visual tool with specific tools in each category is in our Tool bin. Ready for coaching? Reach out to Tom here. There are always more resources in our monthly email. Hear Tom’s most recent conversation on the Beyond Potential podcast here. Related Libra...
E267 · 7 May 2026 · 20 min
Getting Your Voice Heard
A brilliant but rather shy leader is challenged by her management to be bigger, more executive, speak up more. She is grateful to work with a coach. You can build muscle around getting your voice heard by creating homework for yourself. Think of it like going to the gym: working out regularly helps you build muscle. When creating homework, ask yourself three questions: What am I going to pay attention to?What specific behavior am I going to start or stop?How will I measure succe...
E266 · 2 Apr 2026 · 26 min
Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office
Tom interviews Dr. Lois Frankel about women in the workplace and other ideas in the just-published third edition of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office. Listen to the full, unedited conversation here. Get the “Nice Girls” book, here. If you’re curious about a chemistry call, pop Tom an email. There are always more resources in our monthly email. COACHES! You are always welcome at the Executive Coaching Special Interest Group sponsored by ICF Los Angeles. Reach out to ...
E265 · 5 Mar 2026 · 24 min
How to Conquer Nervousness
Before testifying in a high-stakes case, a theorist and his coach swap horror stories about their nerves hijacking them and the lessons they learned. Tom’s top four idea for conquering nervousness: Write happy endingsCelebrate incremental improvementExternalize your nasty voiceIgnore your nervesApplying these techniques using our free PDF about mastering nerves. The clip of Emma Stone battling her anxiety before a global audience is here. Each month, we share additional tools in our m...
E264 · 5 Feb 2026 · 25 min
Humility as Strength
A leader is getting pressured to stop being so prickly and gain some humility. With her coach, she explores whether it’s even possible for humility to ever be a strength. Core concepts in this episode: Humility is confidence without defensiveness.Assess yourself on the humility scale. “How do I respond to challenges?”Humble leaders are confident in their authority.Ask frequently: “How might I be wrong about this?”Humility requires active listening. Questions addressed in this episode...
E263 · 8 Jan 2026 · 23 min
Leading When Ego at the Top Is Unchecked
A chief officer is infuriated by the behavior of his egomaniacal CEO. With his coach, he explores how to be a healthy leader while reporting to a boss he doesn’t respect. Core concepts in this episode: Egomaniacs rattle our sense of self.They will not change.Worrying does not help.Be accountable for how you show up. Manage yourself.Don’t take anything personally. They’re just a piece on a chess board.Ask yourself: “Am I seeing this person clearly?” Don’t allow emotions to drive your actions.A...
E262 · 11 Dec 2025 · 23 min
How to Grow Your People
A senior vice-president worries that attention on his people’s development will get overwhelmed in the volume of work. He asks his coach for tools to make the process effective and efficient. Download our free tool that maps the Three Conversations Development Plan. Core Concepts Prioritizing professional development is hard. The 3-Conversation model makes development easy for the leader and meaningful for the person. The three conversations in summary: Define ‘what,’ ‘w...
E261 · 6 Nov 2025 · 21 min
How to Motivate and Inspire
After a leader turns around the performance of one of his direct reports, he and his coach explore how it happened. And how to make it stick. Core ideas in the episode: Workplaces improve when positive feedback is presentOur natural human negative bias is a barrier to giving positive feedback.Learn to notice when things go well.Tell people how they are helping solve the puzzle that is work.Research says the most effective feedback ratio is 4-to-1, positive to developmental. Positive...
E260 · 2 Oct 2025 · 23 min
How to Guarantee Psychological Safety
A toxic boss destroys psychological safety on her team. One of her direct reports talks to his coach about how to survive. And how to keep his own team safe. Core ideas in the episode: Don’t take other people’s bad behavior personally.You are not a victim. You have choice.Document repeated bad behavior.Openly discussing mistakes without blame creates safety on a team.As the leader, be willing to admit your own mistakes.Ask people: “How do you think that went?” and “What could we do di...
E259 · 11 Sep 2025 · 24 min
How to Supercharge Introversion
Concerned his introversion makes him less effective, a corporate vice president asks for coaching – from an extrovert! Together, the coach and client explore ways to assure his introversion is a strength. Myers Briggs Type Indicator assesses four preferences. One is Introversion and Extroversion. Download a free sample of the profile report here. The six tools unpacked in this episode are: Manage your energyMonitor your self-talkHave ideas readyManage your calendarShar...
E258 · 7 Aug 2025 · 28 min
How to Manage Defensive People
A leader with a direct report who is, she says, the most defensive person she’s ever known, devotes an entire coaching session to gathering tools to help her cope. All the tools and ideas and scripts in this episode are in an easy-to-understand infographic. Download it for free here. To work on “deserving” dive into The Four Agreements. Dig into more tools for managing defensive people in our podcast library in these three categories: Communication Skills Management Skills R...
E257 · 10 Jul 2025 · 22 min
How to Own Healthy Assertion
Still traumatized over an angry explosion she’d aimed at an abusive leader years before, a leader asks her coach to help her access healthy assertion to use during moments of conflict. Where are you on the assertion scale? Our assessments will tell you. In the episode, ASSERTION got divided into two skills: AWARENESS and EXPRESSION. The four-step script to build healthy ASSERTION is: SituationFeelingWantOutcome Part of assertion is EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE. Our tool defines ...
E256 · 5 Jun 2025 · 21 min
How to Create Engagement Online
Convinced that participants need to engage in order to learn, a leader is discouraged after the cheerless rollout of her online learning program. She turns to her coach for help facilitating virtual groups. Tools in this episode: Tone-setting at the opening: Get people engaged by using the chat to think together;Get people engaged by thinking about how they will show up (ground rules);Ask: “How engaged do you want to be?” Rank 1 – 7 in chat. (#3 came from Michael Bungay Stanier who wrote...
E255 · 6 May 2025 · 27 min
How to Deepen Relationships at Work
Knowing she’s never been good with people, a leader seeks coaching to her deepen relationships in ways she can tolerate. Two ways to deepen workplace relationships: Matching & Curiosity 4 Ways to Match: Match Purpose Match Energy Match Conversations Match Vulnerability Express Curiosity by Asking Deep Questions Make sure your questions are open-endedInvite reflectionKeep the other person talking Answering questions powerfully is another way to deepen relationships...
E254 · 3 Apr 2025 · 23 min
How to Talk so People Understand You
A leader is losing credibility with her senior leaders. Her boss thinks she can turn it around by learning the sorting tool that transformed him as a communicator, so he brings in the coach who taught him. Sorting & Labeling! The grandaddy of all communication tools. If you can sort and label you will sound like a leader. The four steps in Sorting & Labeling: Use a headlineUse a numberLabel each numberTransition with clarity See it all for yourself in our free Sorting & Label...
E253 · 6 Mar 2025 · 23 min
How to Answer Questions Powerfully
A leader was given one goal for his coaching: improve how he answered questions. Knowing he struggled with this not only at work, but at home, he asked his coach for tools. Our free PDF shows the two scripts: one for closed-ended questions, one for open-ended. Download it here. Don’t assume you know why people ask what they ask. You don’t. Ever. The closed-ended script: Answer what’s askedMatch LengthCheck for understandingThen add your detailsNo mattress stuffing! I...
E252 · 6 Feb 2025 · 24 min
How to Build Self-Esteem
A leader suddenly hears how harshly she speaks to herself. Wanting help, she turns to her coach who gives her tools to build a practice of self-esteem. The three self-esteem practices are: Self-Acceptance: Practice being FOR yourselfSelf-Worth & Happiness: Practice saying, “I am worthy of being happy”Live in Reality: Practice acknowledging what is and what is not. Download our free Feeling Words Grid. The Tools bin with other free resources is here. Four ways to...
E251 · 9 Jan 2025 · 26 min
How to Build an Executive
A coaching client wonders what elements need to be present for someone to appear ‘executive.’ Two executive coaches ponder this question and come up with five elements they deem essential. Categories in the archive to explore: Developing New Behaviors Executive Presence Perception – How You’re Perceived Six episodes to dive into: 189 - Don’t Take Anything Personally 178 - Executive Presence – Three Pillars 168 - Influence 108 - Shouldering the Burden of Leadership 23 - Speed of Thought ...
E250 · 5 Dec 2024 · 21 min
How to Answer “Tell Us About Yourself”
A senior leader, upset about having flubbed her reply to ‘Tell us about yourself’ during a high-stakes interview, talks with her coach about how to prepare for what she considers to be an incredibly stupid question. Categories in the archive to explore: Communication Skills Executive Presence Presentation Skills Six episodes to dive into: 34 - Keeping Repeated Materials Fresh 77 - The Power of Rehearsal 65 - Sorting & Labeling 180 - Becoming Expert 114 - Gravitas 124 - Personal ...
7 Nov 2024 · 22 min
How to Tackle Overtalking
A chief officer had known for years he was an over talker. His CEO, desperate for improvement, gave him a coach. This episode highlights their first coaching conversation. Two mindsets from this episode: When you speak, have a destination in mind. Ask yourself: “What is my point exactly?” and “Why is this something they need to know?” Pay attention to your listeners. Respond to their interests.Ask yourself: “Does what I’m talking about right now help us get to the destination?” I...
E248 · 3 Oct 2024 · 23 min
Building Listening
A vice-president gets kudos for likability but knocks for her inability to listen. With her coach, she talks about listening repeatedly. This episode features one of those conversations. The 3 listening mindsets: Listen to learnFeelings are naturalStay separate Download the free multi-page learning tool about listening here. This episode is tagged in three categories in our podcast archive: Communication Skills Managing Yourself Relationship Building Five episodes you might...
E247 · 5 Sep 2024 · 19 min
Mastering Anxiety
Battling perfectionism and anxiety, a leader asks her coach for help and learns a tool that helps her tame her terrors. This episode dovetails with many ideas in last month’s episode about Coaching versus Therapy. Tom talks about his own bout with anxiety and a near career-ending attack of nervousness in this episode from April. https://essentialcomm.com/podcast/mastering-nerves/ Pixar’s Inside Out 2 has a powerful depiction of a 13-year-old girl suffering a full-blown anxie...
E246 · 8 Aug 2024 · 23 min
Coaching versus Therapy
Tired of feeling like a fraud, a leader searches for help down different paths. She and her coach talk about how coaching is, and is not, like therapy. The leader in this episode wrestles with feelings of being a fraud. Tom talks about three resources to help manage that feeling: “The Executive Impostor” Episode #176 of “The Look & Sound of Leadership” Self-Esteem at Work by Nathaniel Branden & Warren Bennis The Confidence Code by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman Additional tools ...
E245 · 11 Jul 2024 · 22 min
Giving Upward Feedback
A leader and her coach discuss a three-step model for turning upward feedback into a learning conversation that might allow the boss to hear the message. This month’s coaching conversation explores whether feedback should be given upwards in the first place. If so, are there ways to deliver the feedback effectively? Download the free “Giving Upward Feedback” PDF. In the commentary, Tom tells a story about the Marshmallow Test being debunked. Here’s the column he mentions. Th...
E244 · 6 Jun 2024 · 24 min
Networking Conversations – Part Two
Knowing she’ll need to network to achieve her career goals, an ambitious leader asks her coach what a good networking conversation actually sounds like. Resources for Building Your Networking Skills Leverage the latest algorithm on LinkedIn with this research report. Coaching For Leaders podcast: “How to Grow Your Professional Network” Coaching For Leaders podcast: “Executive Presence with Your Elevator Speech” 10 Rules for Networking Link to 10 Rules of Networking PDF in Essential Too...
E243 · 9 May 2024 · 16 min
Networking Conversations – Part 1
An ambitious leader knows she’ll need to network to achieve her career goals. But, to her, networking feels slimy, so she asks her coach for help. Some core concepts from this episode: The purpose of networking is to know people.Don’t target people. Nurture a relationship.Make networking 5% of your job every week.Networking makes you a more valuable employee.Show interest in the other person. No monologuing about yourself. Listen to Tom’s “Flow” and “Fall” stories on the Coaching Sto...

About The Look & Sound of Leadership

An ongoing series of Executive Coaching Tips designed to help you be perceived in the workplace the way you want to be perceived.

The Look & Sound of Leadership is a English business podcast from Essential Communications - Tom Henschel. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Essential Communications - Tom Henschel
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 23 min
Latest episode: 1 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id280383574
Website: essentialcomm.com/podcast

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