Here’s something that stops me in my tracks every time: I’ll be working with a CEO who just navigated their company through a major crisis, made decisions that affected thousands of employees, and maintained steady leadership presence through months of uncertainty. Then I mention they’ll be giving the keynote at the upcoming leadership conference, and suddenly their voice drops to a whisper. They start talking about avoiding the speaking engagement altogether, making excuses, or finding someone else to deliver their message. 

It’s fascinating how managing leadership anxiety in boardrooms feels manageable, but put that same executive on a stage, and their nervous system hijacks everything they know about executive presence. What I’ve discovered through years of coaching executive leadership is that our voice—literally how we speak—holds the key to unlocking deeper leadership self confidence than we ever imagined.

Today’s conversation with Jimmy Cannon completely shifted how I think about the connection between our physical voice and our inner leadership strength. Jimmy brings together voice coaching and behavioral therapy in ways that make sense of why accomplished leaders still struggle with performance anxiety. 

In our time together, he walks us through specific somatic techniques that immediately calm your nervous system and shares voice training exercises that build authentic executive presence from the ground up. 

You’re going to hear practical tools you can use right before your next big presentation, along with insights about why your body’s wisdom might be exactly what your leadership has been missing.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why accomplished executives still freeze when speaking publicly – and how this connects to deeper patterns in leadership self confidence
• The three peak moments of anxiety that hit leaders before, during, and after presentations (the third one will surprise you)
• A simple breathing technique that immediately signals your nervous system to calm down – Jimmy demonstrates this live during our conversation
• How your voice placement directly impacts your executive presence and why society’s perceptions affect how leaders are heard
• The “resonance ladder” technique for discovering untapped vocal power you didn’t know you had
• Why most leaders use only 20% of their vocal range – and how expanding it transforms your leadership presence
• Somatic techniques that connect your mind and body to reduce performance anxiety in real-time
• The shift from “authenticity” to “sincerity” – and why this reframe changes everything about managing leadership anxiety

Jimmy’s insights remind us that leadership presence isn’t just about what we say—it’s about how our entire being shows up when we communicate. The connection between our voice, our breath, and our confidence runs deeper than most of us realize, and when we learn to work with our body instead of against it, everything about our executive presence shifts. 

I’m curious: what’s one speaking situation that still makes your heart race, even though you’ve mastered so many other aspects of leadership? If today’s conversation resonated with you, I’d love to continue this dialogue—connect with me on LinkedIn where I share more insights on the inner work of leadership that creates lasting impact.