The Look & Sound of Leadership - Details, episodes & analysis

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The Look & Sound of Leadership

Essential Communications - Tom Henschel

Business

Education

Frequency: 1 episode/27d. Total Eps: 277

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

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Data updated on 05/11/2026

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How to Rehearse Without Sounding Rehearsed

Episode 273

Thursday, November 5, 2026 • Duration 22:26

A corporate leader, wanting to grow into the next level of presenting, asks her coach how she should think about her rehearsal time in order to get the most out of it.

Don’t rehearse to memorize and recite. Instead, imagine yourself as the ski guide in Tom’s analogy. Own the mountain and you’ll only need to remember the banners.

Tom’s six tools for supercharging your rehearsals:

Imagine that “sounding rehearsed” means knowing your material so well you can say it any number of ways.
Rehearse in chunks. Don’t rehearse to repeat and recite. Rehearse with the intention of saying it differently from your last rehearsal. Build muscle.
Commit to rehearsal time. Put it on your calendar. Make it part of your work.
Be sure you know how long you’re expected to speak. Then rehearse with a watch and make sure you keep your side of the agreement.
Drill your opening until you can do it without thinking. It will allow you to start strong.
Explain your ideas. Why is this idea important? Why are you telling it to us? Your answers may help clarify ideas.

Two PDFs from our tools bin can help improve your rehearsals:

Before You Write Your Presentation and Sorting & Labeling

If you’re looking to deepen your presentation skills, three categories in the podcast library have episodes that will help:

Communication Skills

Executive Presence

Presentation Skills

Five specific episodes you might listen to are:

#137Executive Presenting

#230How to Command a Room

#254How to Talk So People Understand You (This is Sorting & Labeling!)

#214How to Turn Data into Stories

#160Prepping like a TED Talker

If you’re ready to explore coaching, reach out to Tom here.

Our monthly email always has additional resources.

You can read a transcript of the episode here.

Thank you all for being in touch. You are the BEST!

From all of us here at The Look & Sound of Leadership, all our gratitude.

See you all next month!

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How to Stop Fighting at Work

Episode 272

Thursday, October 1, 2026 • Duration 24:53

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 going
Choose a different mindset – stop justifying your anger
Self-Management – choose new behavior

If you want to work on SELF-AWARENESS, you might listen to:

# 204 Blind Spots

# 209 How to Build Self-Awareness

# 103 Self-Awareness & Self-Management

# 190 Thinking Errors

If you want to more tools to STOP FIGHTING, you might listen to:

# 221 Conflict

# 222 The Conflict Conversation

# 235 The Conflict Resolution Wheel

# 189 “Don’t Take Anything Personally”

How to Deal with Difficult People

Episode 271

Thursday, September 3, 2026 • Duration 28:01

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.

Listen to the stories you tell yourself. If you hear villains and victims, are most likely ascribing bad intent. Don’t make up stories that create adversaries.

In addition to the tools discussed during this episode, Tom also talks about:

“Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High.”

Conversations with Coaches – Episode #184

Executive Coaching Special Interest Group

The Feeling Word Grid

This episode is tagged in three categories in the Podcast Library:

Overcoming the Barriers of Leadership

Episode 270

Thursday, August 6, 2026 • Duration 20:54

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 humble.

Resources for humilty:

Humility as Strength

Humble Inquiry

If you’re like Michelle and feel yourself being star struck in the face of corporate celebrity, these episodes might help:

252 - How to Build Self-Esteem

219 - How to Set Boundaries

241 - Conquering People Pleasing

JOIN US FOR DINNER!

Tuesday, September 1, 2026, Irvine, California.

The Three Elements of Effective Delegation

Episode 269

Thursday, July 9, 2026 • Duration 23:22

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.

Want to strengthen your ability to talk with people about their growth and development? Listen to these episodes:

#262 – How to Grow Your People – December 2025

#212 – How to Coach Your People – October 2021

#132 – Coaching Your People – April 2015

Ready to try the Responsibility Charting exercise with your team?

Listen to the episode here.

Download the Charting tool here.

Managing Emotions

Episode 268

Thursday, June 4, 2026 • Duration 17:05

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:

Physical
Internal
External

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 Library Categories:

Managing Yourself

Perception – How You Perceive Yourself

Self-Talk

Related Episodes

216 - 7 Steps to Stop Emotional Hijacks

Getting Your Voice Heard

Episode 267

Thursday, May 7, 2026 • Duration 19:47

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 success? (5% improvement)

During the episode, Tom gave Neela four pieces of homework to help her get her voice heard:

Count the number of times you have an idea and choose not to say it out loud;
Listen for your self-limiting beliefs. Look for patterns that trigger them. Who are you with? What’s the setting?
In meetings, speak in the first ten minutes;
In meetings, get your name “on the record” with regularity.

Curious about coaching? Reach out to Tom here.

There are always more resources in our monthly email.

Related Library Categories:

Developing New Behaviors

Executive Presence

For Women

Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office

Episode 266

Thursday, April 2, 2026 • Duration 25:53

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 me if you want to know more. We’d love to have you. You’ll get CCE’s, too!

Related Library Categories:

How to Conquer Nervousness

Episode 265

Thursday, March 5, 2026 • Duration 23:49

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 endings
Celebrate incremental improvement
Externalize your nasty voice
Ignore your nerves

Applying 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 monthly email.

If you’d like to explore Private Coaching with Tom, reach out to him at: tom@essentialcomm.com.

COACHES!

Come join us at the Executive Coaching Special Interest Group sponsored by ICF Los Angeles. You’ll get CCE’s, too!

Related Library Categories:

Humility as Strength

Episode 264

Thursday, February 5, 2026 • Duration 25:02

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:

> Are humble leaders perceived as weak?

Some people may see humble leaders as weak, but humble leaders are actually confident in their authority.

> If humble leaders need confidence, will they be seen as arrogant?

No, because humble leaders do not fight for dominance. They invite the opinions of others and are non-defensive when challenged.

> How can I tell whether I am humble?

Ask yourself, “When I am challenged, what feelings do I experience?” Leaders who respond non-defensively are high in humility.

> What practices can I adopt to develop more humility?

Ask yourself frequently: “How might I be wrong about this?"

> What are the benefits to being a humble leader?

Your team will experience psychological safety and move towards high performance.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

The Look & Sound of Leadership - Details, episodes & analysis

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The Look & Sound of Leadership - Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

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Other99+

Amazon61

YouTube11

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

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Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other99+

Amazon61

YouTube11

Apple Podcasts

Spotify