Communicate to Lead

Hosted by Kele Belton

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Jun 2026

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Ready to step into your full potential as a leader? Join communication expert and leadership coach Kele Belton for conversations that go beyond traditional leadership advice. Each week on Communicate to Lead, discover practical strategies to strengthen both your leadership presence and communication impact. Through solo episodes and inspiring guest interviews, Kele tackles the real challenges women face in management - from mastering high-stakes conversations and building executive presence to overcoming perfectionism and imposter syndrome. Whether you're an experienced manager or an aspiring leader, this podcast delivers actionable insights to help you navigate workplace dynamics, amplify your voice, and lead with authentic confidence. Tune in to transform challenges into opportunities and build the leadership career you envision.

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June 15, 20265 min

177. How to Talk to Your Manager About Your Workload

Send us Fan MailYour plate is full, and your manager keeps adding to it. You know what needs to come off so you can focus on the work that matters most, but every time you bring it up, the conversation goes the same way. You explain how stretched you are. Your manager listens, acknowledges the load, and nothing actually changes.Here is what most women leaders miss: this conversation is not really a request for relief. It is a decision the two of you need to make together about where your time creates the most value.In this Monday Momentum episode of Communicate to Lead, Kele Belton continues the June series on the difficult conversations women leaders walk into, braced for a fight. This third episode reveals why asking your manager for relief rarely works, and how reframing the conversation as a strategic decision changes what your manager hears, how they respond, and what actually shifts on your plate.What You’ll LearnWhy asking for relief often lands as a personal problem instead of a business problem.The difference between a real negotiation, like asking for a raise or promotion, and a working agreement about how your time is spent.A simple opening phrase you can use to lead with the decision instead of the overwhelm.One follow-up question that helps you uncover where your manager sees your time creating the most value.Who This Is ForThis episode is for women leaders, managers, and high-performing professionals who want to have a better conversation about workload, priorities, and time without sounding overwhelmed or asking permission.Your Action StepIf there is a conversation you have been putting off about your workload or what needs to come off your plate, prepare it as a decision. Have the conversation this week and lead with how you are thinking about your priorities. Then ask where your time creates the most value. Notice what changes when you stop walking in to ask for relief and start walking in to decide.AI PromptUse this prompt to prepare for a workload or priorities conversation with your manager. Paste it into your preferred AI assistant and answer the questions as they come.I’m a [role] in [industry]. I have an upcoming conversation with my manager about my workload, my priorities, or something on my plate that needs to shift. Help me frame this as a decision we’re making together rather than a request for permission to let something go.Ask me 3 questions:What is currently on my plate, and what do I think needs to shift?Where do I believe my time creates the most value for the team or the business?What outcome do I want this conversation to produce?Then write:One opening phrase that frames this as a decision we’re making together about my time, not a request for permission to let something go.One follow-up question that surfaces where my manager sees my time creating the most value.Constraints:Forward-facing tone.No language that signals overwhelm or asks permission.Must carry the same weight as “I want to walk you through how I’m thinking about my priorities, and figure out together what needs to shift.”Must sound like a leader bringing a strategic decision to a peer, not someone asking for relief.Avoid softening language like “just,” “a little,” “maybe,” “I was thinking,” or “I wanted to mention.”The follow-up question must invite real information about priorities, not a yes-or-no response.Example output style:Opening phrase: “I want to walk you through how I’m thinking about my priorities, and figure out together what needs to shift.”Follow-up question: “Where do you see my time creating the most value right now?”Common Questions About Workload ConversationsWhat should I say when my manager keeps adding to my plate?Lead with how you are thinking about your priorities and frame the conversation as a decision about where your time creates the most value.How do I talk about workload without sounding overwhelmed?Focus on priorities, business impact, and what needs to shift rather than describing how stressed you feel.What is the difference between asking for relief and making a decision about workload?Asking for relief often sounds personal, while a decision conversation focuses on where your time creates the most value for the team or business.Ready to Go Deeper?Book a complimentary Leadership Strategy Call with Kele to talk through where you are, where you want to go, and what it will take to get there.About Your HostKele Belton is a communication and leadership trainer who specializes in helping women leaders develop confidence and impact through strategic communication and practical leadership frameworks.Connect with KeleLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kele-ruth-belton/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetailoredapproach/Website: https://thetailoredapproach.com

June 12, 202621 min

176. How to Get Promoted When You Work Remotely: The Remote Visibility Framework

Send us Fan MailGetting promoted from a remote role is not only a visibility problem, it is a perception problem. You are good at your job. You hit your deadlines. Your manager respects you. And yet when promotion conversations happen, your name is not the first one that comes up, and you suspect it is because you are remote. No one has said it to your face, but you feel it. The truth is, remote is not a career limitation. It is a communication and strategy problem, and those are solvable.In this episode of Communicate to Lead, Kele Belton walks through the Remote Visibility Framework, a three-part strategy for high-performing women leaders who are doing excellent work remotely and still being overlooked for promotion. Through the story of Simone, a composite client who had not been promoted in two years despite strong performance, Kele unpacks why remote workers often face a double bind: their work and thinking are not consistently reaching decision makers (a visibility problem), AND decision makers form quiet assumptions about their ambition that are never challenged (a perception problem). The framework gives you three specific strategies for solving both, without requiring you to be in an office you are not in.What You Will Learn:The two problems that hide behind the question of remote advancement, and why most advice only addresses one of them, leaving you stuck even after you have done everything right.The 2-3 sentence framing technique that turns any project handoff into a window into your strategic thinking, in less than two minutes per message.How to replace the hallway conversation when you cannot be in the office, with three calibrated options depending on what your organization's culture actually supports.The exact sentence one client used to surface the assumption her manager had quietly formed about her remote status, and how to adapt it for your own career conversation.Why the senior leader you are nervous to reach out to is often more open to a 15-minute learning conversation than you expect, and the framing that makes the ask land.The simple Friday message structure (three sentences) that built one client's visibility with leadership in under a month.Your Action Step:Identify which of the three strategies is the most urgent for you right now, and take one step this week: If your thinking is invisible because you are delivering work without explaining your reasoning, add two to three sentences of framing to your next project handoff.If you are doing excellent work in isolation, identify one senior stakeholder you want to build a meaningful touch point with this week, and take one step toward that.If there is an assumption in the silence that you have never corrected, ask your manager for a dedicated career conversation, not in the margins of your regular check-in, with that as the agenda.Mentioned in This Episode:The Executive Presence Series: Episode 168 (Visual), Episode 170 (Vocal), Episode 172 (Verbal), Episode 174 (Integration).About Your Host:Kele Belton is a communication and leadership facilitator, coach, and consultant who helps high-performing women in middle management build the communication and leadership strategies that get them recognized, sponsored, and promoted.Connect with Kele:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kele-ruth-belton/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetailoredapproach/Website: https://thetailoredapproach.comBook a Leadership Strategy Call (30 minutes, complimentary): https://calendly.com/kele-thetailoredapproach/leadership-strategy-call

June 8, 20264 min

175. How to Stop Defending Your Decisions at Work

Send us Fan MailYou made a decision. You stand behind it. Then someone questions it, and before you realize what is happening, you are explaining, justifying, and trying to prove your point.That moment can feel personal, especially for women leaders who are used to being second-guessed, interrupted, or expected to over-explain. But not every challenge is an attack. Sometimes what feels like pushback is actually an invitation to clarify your thinking.In this Monday Momentum episode of Communicate to Lead, Kele Belton continues the June series on the difficult conversations women leaders walk into braced for a fight. This episode explores why defending your decisions can weaken your authority, how to tell the difference between defense and clarification, and the small language shift that helps you respond with more confidence, clarity, and executive presence.What You’ll LearnWhy the instinct to defend your decisions can undermine your position before the conversation even starts.The difference between defending a choice and explaining your thinking from a place of ownership.A simple phrase you can use when someone questions a decision you made.One follow-up question that helps you discover what the other person actually needs from you.Who This Is ForThis episode is for women leaders, managers, and high-performing professionals who want to respond to pushback without shrinking, overexplaining, or losing authority.Your Action StepThe next time someone questions a decision you made, pause before responding. Ask yourself: am I about to defend, or am I about to clarify? If you can name the moment as clarification, lead with the phrase from this episode. Then ask the follow-up question and notice how the conversation changes.Your AI PromptUse this prompt to prepare for a moment when someone is likely to question a decision you made. Paste it into your preferred AI assistant and answer the questions as they come.I’m a [role] in [industry]. I made a decision about [briefly describe the decision and the context], and I’m anticipating that my [manager, peer, stakeholder] may question it. Help me prepare a response that signals ownership rather than defense.Ask me 3 questions:What was I solving for when I made this decision?What perspective or vantage point shaped my thinking?What might the other person actually need to understand about the decision in order to support it, act on it, or align their work with it?Then write:One opening phrase I can use to explain my thinking from a place of ownership rather than defense.One follow-up question I can use to surface what the other person actually needs from me.Constraints:Forward-facing toneNo language that signals defense or justificationMust carry the same weight as “Here’s where I was coming from”Must sound like a leader explaining her thinking, not someone defending her choiceAvoid softening language like “just,” “a little,” “maybe,” “I was thinking,” or “I just wanted to mention”The follow-up question must invite real information, not a yes-or-no responseExample output style:Opening phrase: “Here’s where I was coming from.”Follow-up question: “What’s prompting the question?”Ready to Go Deeper?Book a complimentary Leadership Strategy Call with Kele to talk through where you are, where you want to go, and what it will take to get there.About Your HostKele Belton is a communication and leadership trainer who helps women leaders build confidence, clarity, and impact through strategic communication and practical leadership frameworks.Connect with KeleLinkedInInstagramWebsite

June 4, 202622 min

174. Executive Presence Under Pressure: How to Show Up in High-Stakes Moments | Part 4 of 4

Send us Fan MailExecutive presence shows up most clearly in the moments that test you. The hard question. The skeptical room. The presentation that matters. In this finale of the Executive Presence Series, we follow Diane, a composite client you may remember from Episode 172, into her first high-stakes boardroom moment as a new operations director. We walk through her presentation in four chronological moments: the walk-in, the opening sentence, the hard question, and the close, so you can experience how the visual, vocal, and verbal pillars actually work together when the pressure arrives.In this episode of Communicate to Lead, Kele Belton closes the four-part Executive Presence Series by bringing all three pillars together in one real high-stakes moment. The episode is built around a single scenario: Diane, the composite client from Episode 172, now presenting a major vendor contract restructuring proposal to senior leadership. Through four chronological moments- the walk-in, the opening sentence, the hard question, and the close - Kele shows how the Three Anchors of Embodied Presence, the four vocal behaviors, and the language of authority all integrate when the pressure is real.This is the finale of the four-part Executive Presence Series. Each part built one layer of presence: Episode 168 on the visual pillar, Episode 170 on the vocal pillar, and Episode 172 on the verbal pillar. This episode integrates all three into a single high-stakes moment. The series moves from being seen, the throughline of the April visibility series, to being felt, which is what executive presence delivers.What You Will Learn:How to enter a high-stakes room so the people inside it have already started calibrating to your leadership before you make your case.The grounded breath that settles your pitch in the seconds before you speak, so your opening sentence lands with weight instead of nerves.What to do in the two seconds after a hard question that separates a defensive answer from an authoritative one.Why you cannot consciously think about three pillars in a live moment, and what to practice instead, so executive presence shows up automatically when it counts.How to close a presentation in a way that lands the ask cleanly, without the apologetic trailing-off that signals you are unsure of your own recommendation.The single most important reframe of the entire series: executive presence is not a costume you put on to look like a leader. It is the practice of letting the leader you already are come through clearly.Your Action Step:Pick one upcoming high-stakes moment and prepare for it across all three pillars:Choose one behavior from each pillar: one anchor from Episode 168 (visual), one vocal behavior from Episode 170, and one language swap from Episode 172.Write your three choices on a sticky note before the meeting. Then, in the moment, do not run a checklist. Be present.Afterward, reflect on which of the three came most naturally and which one needed the most attention. That tells you where to keep practicing.Listen to the Complete Executive Presence Series:Start the series with Episode 168: How to Build Executive Presence: 3 Anchors for Women Leaders (Part 1 of 4), on the visual pillar and the Three Anchors of Embodied Presence.Continue with Episode 170: Vocal Presence for Women Leaders: 4 Behaviors That Build Authority (Part 2 of 4), on pitch, pace, volume, and intentional pauses.Then Episode 172: The Words That Undermine Your Presence (Part 3 of 4), on the verbal pillar and the language of authority.About Your Host:Kele Belton is a communication and leadership facilitator, coach, and consultant who helps high-performing women in middle management build the communication and leadership strategies that get them recognized, sponsored, and promoted.Connect with Kele:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kele-ruth-belton/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetailoredapproach/Website: https://thetailoredapproach.comBook a Leadership Strategy Call (30 minutes, complimentary): https://calendly.com/kele-thetailoredapproach/leadership-strategy-call

June 1, 20267 min

173. When Disagreement Is Actually Alignment

Send us Fan MailShe had spent three nights preparing her counter-argument. Data, stakeholder feedback, a slide deck she wasn’t even sure she would get to use. By the time she sat down for the meeting she was dreading, the knot in her stomach was already there.She was preparing to disagree with her VP. But that wasn’t the real conversation.In this Monday Momentum episode of Communicate to Lead, Kele Belton kicks off a five-part June series on the difficult conversations women leaders walk into braced for a fight. This episode shows why the conversation you name before you walk in shapes everything that happens inside it, and how reframing disagreement as alignment changes your tone, your language, and the response you get back.What You Will LearnWhy high-performing women leaders often over-prepare for disagreement, and what that costs them over time.The difference between debating to win and aligning to make a better decision.A simple opening phrase and follow-up question you can use to stay grounded, surface your perspective, and keep the conversation productive.Your Action StepIdentify one conversation this week where you’ve been preparing to disagree with someone. Before you walk in, ask yourself: what do I actually want to walk out of this room having accomplished?If the answer is, “I want us to make the best decision,” then this is not a disagreement. It is an alignment. Walk in with that frame, use the phrase and question from this episode, and notice what changes.AI PromptUse this prompt to prepare for your next alignment conversation. Paste it into your preferred AI assistant and answer the questions as they come.I’m a [role] in [industry]. I have an upcoming conversation with my [manager, peer, stakeholder] in which I see the situation differently from them. Help me reframe this conversation from a disagreement to an alignment.Ask me 3 questions:What decision is being discussed, and where do I see it differently?What outcome do I actually want to walk out of this conversation having accomplished?What might my counterpart be seeing that I am not?Then write:One opening phrase I can use to surface my perspective without sounding defensive.One follow-up question I can use to invite their thinking and find the real gap.Constraints:Forward-facing toneNo language that signals confrontation or asks permission to speakMust carry the same weight as “surface it” or “flag it”Must sound natural when spoken aloudAvoid softening language like “just,” “a little,” “maybe,” “I was thinking,” or “I wanted to mention”Example output:Opening phrase: “I’m tracking something different on this, and I want to surface it before we decide.”Follow-up question: “Can you walk me through how you got there?”Ready to Go Deeper?Book a complimentary Leadership Strategy Call with Kele to talk through where you are, where you want to go, and what it will take to get there.About Your HostKele Belton is a communication and leadership trainer who specializes in helping women leaders develop confidence and impact through strategic communication and practical leadership frameworks.Connect with KeleLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kele-ruth-belton/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetailoredapproach/Website: https://thetailoredapproach.com

May 28, 202625 min

172. The Words That Undermine Your Presence | Part 3 of 4

Send us Fan MailExecutive presence is not only about how you carry yourself or how you sound. It lives in the words you choose. Consider this: "Sorry, I just wanted to quickly jump in here. This might be a silly question, and I could be totally wrong, but I was kind of wondering if maybe we should look at the numbers again before we decide? Does that make sense?" In a few seconds, that leader undermined herself nine times. Her idea was strong. Her language was apologizing for it. If you have ever walked out of a meeting wondering why the room did not respond to a recommendation you knew was right, this episode hands you the exact words working against you, and the swaps that turn your competence back into authority.In this episode of Communicate to Lead, Kele Belton goes deep on the verbal pillar of executive presence: the actual words coming out of your mouth. She walks through four categories of language that quietly drain authority from strong ideas, the apologies, the minimizers, the hedges, and the filler words, and gives you the specific swaps that change how the room hears you. Through the story of Diane, a composite client twice passed over for a director role until she changed her language, Kele shows what shifts in your executive presence when your competence is no longer hidden by the words around it.This is Part 3 of the four-part Executive Presence Series. It follows Episode 168 on the visual pillar (the Three Anchors of Embodied Presence) and Episode 170 on the vocal pillar (pitch, pace, volume, and pauses). Each part builds your executive presence one layer at a time, leading to Episode 174, where all three pillars come together in a real high-stakes moment.What You Will Learn:Why women learn these speech patterns early, so you can stop blaming yourself for habits that were once rewarded.The gratitude reframe that lets you stay warm without lowering your standing in the room.Why the word "just" is a verbal apology for the size of your own thought, and the one-second fix that makes any sentence stronger.How a hedge at the front of a sentence quietly instructs the room to dismiss what you are about to say, before you have even said it.The phrase Kele gives every client to replace the question "Does that make sense?", which keeps your authority intact and still invites a real conversation.Why filler words are not the villain, except in the moments that matter most, and how the pause does the same job with the opposite effect.Your Action Step:Pick one word and hunt it for one week:Choose either "just" or" sorry", whichever shows up more in your speech.When you catch it before it comes out, delete it. When you catch it after it comes out, notice it without self-criticism, and keep going.Bonus: Write your three favorite swaps on a sticky note. "Sorry" becomes "thank you". "Just" gets deleted. "Does that make sense?" becomes "What questions do you have?"Mentioned in This Episode:Continue building your executive presence with Episode 170: Vocal Presence for Women Leaders (Part 2 of 4), on pitch, pace, volume, and pauses.Start the series from the beginning with Episode 168: How to Build Executive Presence with 3 Anchors (Part 1 of 4), on the visual pillar.Book a Leadership Strategy Call (30 minutes, complimentary): https://calendly.com/kele-thetailoredapproach/leadership-strategy-callAbout Your Host:Kele Belton is a communication and leadership facilitator, coach, and consultant who helps high-performing women in middle management build the communication and leadership strategies that get them recognized, sponsored, and promoted.Connect with Kele:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kele-ruth-belton/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetailoredapproach/Website: https://thetailoredapproach.com

May 25, 20265 min

171. How to Lead With Presence When You Are Running on Empty

Send us Fan MailOn the outside, she looked composed. She was leading her team through uncertainty, delivering on every project, and walking into senior leadership presentations with the same steady presence she had built her reputation on. Nobody around her would have guessed.But she knew. She knew that the energy she was bringing into those rooms was costing her more than it used to. She knew that by the end of the day, there was nothing left.And still, she showed up. Because that is what she does.In this Monday Momentum episode of Communicate to Lead, Kele Belton shares why depletion shows up in the room even when you think you are hiding it, and the two-minute reset that helps high-performing women leaders walk into high-stakes moments grounded and present, even when they are running on fumes.What You Will LearnWhy depletion quietly shapes how you show up as a leader, even when your performance still looks strong from the outside.The difference between leading while tired and leading while depleted, and why one is sustainable while the other costs you the very presence your role requires.A two-step reset you can use in under two minutes before any meeting to shift from survival mode into grounded leadership presence.Your Action StepBefore your next high-stakes meeting or conversation this week, use the two-step reset. Find sixty seconds alone. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, shoulders back, chin level, and take one deep breath and a slow exhale. Then ask yourself one question: what is the one thing I want to leave this room having done well? Say the answer out loud quietly, or write it down.Ready to Go Deeper?Book a complimentary Leadership Strategy Call with Kele to talk through what you are carrying right now and identify the next move that will help you lead with presence without depleting yourself further.About Your HostKele Belton is a communication and leadership trainer who specializes in helping women leaders develop confidence and impact through strategic communication and practical leadership frameworks.Connect with KeleLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kele-ruth-belton/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetailoredapproach/Website: https://thetailoredapproach.com

May 21, 202624 min

170. Vocal Presence for Women Leaders: 4 Behaviors That Build Authority | Part 2 of 4

Send us Fan MailYou had the right answer. You knew the numbers cold. You made your case, and ten minutes later, the room shifted toward someone else's version of the same idea. In the debrief, your manager said: you had the right answer, but you did not sound like you knew it. If you have ever been told you need more gravitas, more confidence, or more executive presence without anyone explaining what that actually means, this episode breaks it down into four vocal behaviors you can practice this week.In this episode of Communicate to Lead, Kele Belton goes deep on vocal presence: how you say your words, not what you say. She breaks down the four behaviors that determine whether your voice supports or undermines your message, namely pitch, pace, volume, and intentional pauses, and names the gendered penalty around women's voices. Kele also looks at what the most recent vocal fry research from 2025 and 2026 shows, and it contradicts a decade of leadership advice given to women.This is Part 2 of the four-part Executive Presence Series, following Episode 168 on the visual pillar and the Three Anchors of Embodied Presence. Part 1 covered what your body is doing while you speak. Part 2 covers what your voice is doing with the words.What You Will Learn:The breath technique that settles your pitch in high-stakes moments, so you sound grounded instead of tense, without forcing a lower voice.What the newest vocal fry research reveals about who uses it, so you can stop fixing a voice that may not need fixing.The one moment to slow your pace that makes the whole room calibrate to you instead of talking over you.How to project authority when you are naturally soft-spoken, the way Dr. Lisa Su commands a room without raising her voice.The three exact moments where a three-second pause reads as authority instead of hesitation.When upspeak costs you, and the targeted fix that does not require changing how you naturally speak.Your Action Step:Pick one of the four behaviors and practice it this week:Choose the behavior you suspect is your biggest growth opportunity: pitch, pace, volume, or pauses.Identify one specific high-stakes moment on your calendar where you will deploy it on purpose.Notice what shifts. Optional: record a sixty-second voice memo and listen back once, using the four behaviors as your lens.Mentioned in This Episode:Episode 168: How to Build Executive Presence: 3 Anchors for Women Leaders | Part 1 of 4Book a Leadership Strategy Call (30 minutes, complimentary): https://calendly.com/kele-thetailoredapproach/leadership-strategy-callAbout Your Host:Kele Belton is a communication and leadership facilitator, coach, and consultant who helps high-performing women in middle management build the communication and leadership strategies that get them recognized, sponsored, and promoted.Connect with Kele:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kele-ruth-belton/• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetailoredapproach/• Website: https://thetailoredapproach.com

May 18, 20264 min

169. How to Keep Your Team Focused and Motivated When Layoffs Loom

Send us Fan MailShe was leading her team through one of the most stressful quarters of her career. Layoffs were in the air. She was fighting hard behind closed doors to protect every person who reported to her. And in every team meeting, she said the same thing, with all the conviction she could find: everything is going to be fine.She meant it as protection. Her team heard something else entirely.In this Monday Momentum episode of Communicate to Lead, Kele Belton shares what happens when high-performing women leaders try to shield their teams from uncertainty by offering reassurance they cannot guarantee, and the one communication shift that rebuilds trust and refocuses a team in the middle of a shaky moment.What You Will LearnWhy premature reassurance, even when it comes from a place of care, creates distance with the high-performing team members you most want to keep engaged.The difference between managing your team's emotions and respecting their intelligence, and why one builds trust while the other quietly erodes it.A simple two-part communication move you can use in your next team meeting to name uncertainty directly and anchor your team in what they can own.Your Action StepBefore your next team meeting, write down three things: what you know, what you are still working to find out, and one priority your team can own right now. Open the meeting by saying those three things out loud. Close by inviting your team to come to you individually if they need more.Ready to Go Deeper?Book a complimentary Leadership Strategy Call with Kele to talk through what you are navigating with your team and identify the next move that will steady your leadership in this season.About Your HostKele Belton is a communication and leadership trainer who specializes in helping women leaders develop confidence and impact through strategic communication and practical leadership frameworks.Connect with KeleLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kele-ruth-belton/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetailoredapproach/Website: https://thetailoredapproach.com

May 14, 202624 min

168. How to Build Executive Presence: 3 Anchors for Women Leaders | Part 1 of 4

Send us Fan MailYou walk into the meeting. The room has not started yet. People are still settling in. And in the space of about three seconds, something gets decided about you, before you have said one word. You can have done the work, prepared harder than anyone else, and built a track record that speaks for itself, and still feel like something is missing in how you land in that room. That something has a name. It is executive presence.In this episode of Communicate to Lead, Kele Belton kicks off a brand-new four-part series on executive presence by tackling the question most leadership books never answer clearly: what is executive presence, really, and how do you build it on purpose? Kele reframes executive presence as a set of learnable behaviors, not a personality trait, and walks through the three aspects of communication based on Dr. Albert Mehrabian's foundational research. This is Part 1 of the four-part Executive Presence Series, and the natural next step after the April visibility series (Episodes 160, 162, and 164).What You Will Learn:Why executive presence is a set of learnable behaviors, not a personality trait you either have or do not have.The three aspects of communication, verbal, vocal, and visual, and why the body wins when those aspects conflict.The Three Anchors of Embodied Presence and the behaviors under each: Engagement, Aliveness, and Authority, with concrete practices you can use in your next meetingTwo incredible women leaders to study for two different styles of presence: Kat Cole and Mellody Hobson.Your Action Step:Pick one behavior from the Three Anchors and practice it this week:Choose a single behavior. One. It might be holding eye contact a few seconds longer, planting your feet before you walk into a meeting, or letting a three-second pause sit after you make a point.Use it intentionally in one meeting, one conversation, or one call each day this week.At the end of the week, notice what shifted, even slightly. Optional bonus: record yourself for sixty seconds and watch it back, looking for one strength and one thing to refine.Mentioned in This Episode:Episode 160: How Perfectionism Keeps Women Leaders Invisible | Part 1 of 3Episode 162: Why Your Work Environment May Be Blocking Your Leadership Growth | Part 2 of 3Episode 164: How to Communicate Your Value Before You Feel Ready | Part 3 of 3Episode 151: Naming the Tension in Tough Conversations (Mellody Hobson)About Your Host:Kele Belton is a communication and leadership facilitator, coach, and consultant who helps high-performing women in middle management build the communication and leadership strategies that get them recognized, sponsored, and promoted.Connect with Kele:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kele-ruth-belton/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetailoredapproach/Website: https://thetailoredapproach.comBook a complimentary Leadership Strategy Call: https://calendly.com/kele-thetailoredapproach/leadership-strategy-call