Speaking with Confidence with Cat Matson: communication coaching for humble leaders

Cat Matson
  • 4.3 (3)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

If you ramble, lose your words or struggle to make yourself heard, this podcast is for you. This show is for humble leaders - public servants, corporate hippies & business owners - who want to speak up and be heard without sounding pushy or arrogant. I’m Cat Matson and I coach people to speak with authenticity and impact in ALL settings. Whether you want to lead your team better, host webinars, speak impactfully when put on the spot or start speaking on stage, this podcast will teach you how to collect your thoughts and confidently communicate with humility, authenticity, authority and impact.

  1. 6d ago

    205 - Speaking Up When It's Risky

    How do we find the courage, or the skill, to speak up for issues we feel strongly about when there is a real risk of consequences? That’s exactly what I’m exploring in this episode. I’ve recently decided to focus my ‘change the world’ energies into one cause - housing affordability - and in doing so I’ve had to confront my concerns about negative consequences. Being seen as ‘political’. Being seen as a left-wing hippie (proud to be one, if I’m honest). Potentially losing work because of my views. There can be real risks that need to be managed when we speak up, so I’m sharing the process, the thinking, that I’m using to feel ‘safe enough’ to speak up. Listen in to hear: Why ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ is s****y advice How I’m both amplifying others’ voices as well as speaking up myself How I assess the risk of speaking up, and then manage those risks (not eliminate them) Why being mindful of, and speaking into, nuance and complexity is important How to NOT get caught up in well-meaning but not productive moral outrage and righteous indignation How I’m ‘practising’ in lower risk environments Why I’m choosing housing affordability out of all the other causes I care about Other episodes mentioned: 174 - How Personal Is Too Personal 170 - How To Make A Difference Over The Long Term 171 - Managing Conflict & Disagreements -  You can follow and DM me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/catmatson/ And you can get into a deeper discussion on substack - https://catmatson.substack.com/

  2. Aug 6

    204 - How To Speak With Authority Without Sounding Demanding

    If you overthink or second guess how you're going to express yourself in team meetings, this episode is for you. In our reluctance to NOT appear 'bossy' we sometimes overthink our messages, try to facilitate a discussion when really, our recommendation is appropriate and prioritise consensus over getting things done. Inspired by a real conversation in my Communicate with Impact program, in this episode I'm sharing some practical and mindset tips to help you say what you want to say, with authority and credibility, without sounding pushy, bossy without feeling awkwardly assertive. Listen in to hear: Mindset shifts for confident recommendationsHow to own your expertise in meetingsLanguage hacks to soften any potential harshnessMoving from asking for permission to making direct recommendationsThe impact of imposter syndrome on speaking up Other episodes mentioned: # 7 - Why Me? Overcoming 'I'm Not Good Enough' Get my FREE How To Stop Rambling Masterclass

  3. Jul 24

    203 - The Lost Art of Casual Conversations (and the cost to our relationships)

    I've become very present, recently, to how our work-from-home, online world, is reducing our casual conversations. And with that, we're losing the key human skills of building relationships through conversations. In this episode I'm 'working out loud' on this 'trend' ... Listen in to hear: my 'evidence' for this diminishing human skill of conversations and connectionwhy relationships are a key part of a successful (meaningful, satisfying) career or businesshow conversations - imperfect, flawed, unscripted - are the building blocks to relationshipswhy I think we need to consciously create time to build relationships - and not just through asynschronous text and voice notes, or social media comments I would love to know what you think. Leave a comment below. I'd also love to answer your questions in a future episode - leave them below DM me on instagram And if you'd like to better understand why you ramble, and how to manage it, you want my FREE How To Stop Rambling Masterclass

  4. Jun 30

    202 - Why I Ramble, And How I Don't (when I don't want to)

    It will probably suprise you to learn that, despite being a communication and speaking coach, my natural tendency is to ramble. In fact, it was my rambling, and my deep frustration that I wasn't making sense to my colleagues (despite my intelligence and experience) that inspired me to start my business and podcast. So in this episode I want to share what I now understand to be the causes of my rambling, and how I manage it so I can be an impactful communicator, without stifling my thought process or my personality. Listen in to hear: how it was reading about split-brain experiements that was the 'a-ha' for me about what I now understand is verbal processingthe gorgeous experience with a friend that had me realise that verbal processing wasn't necessarily normal (who knew?!?!)the reasons why verbal processing works for different neurodivergent minds (and what rings true for me)how I signal to my listeners, when I can, that I am 'thinking out loud', so I can still 'think' but they don't have to follow the (crazy-to-them) detailswhy feeling like I need to defend my position will also cause me to ramble, differently to the verbal processing stylehow I'm learning to trust my contribution without third party credibilityand how, when rambling really isn't ok, I manage to collect my thoughts and land them to move my listener closer to where I want the to be Also mentioned in this episode. My FREE SpeakEASY Community Call, Friday 3 July. Click here for details My IMPACTFUL newsletter - subscribe to be the first to know of future SpeakEASYs and other eventsThe book: 'Who's In Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain' by Michael GazzinagaWant to ask a question? Let me know what resonated? Instagram is the best place to do that, or, if you're listening on Spotify, simply comment here!

  5. Jun 16

    201 - Breathing Space for Greater Impact

    What happens when you take a few deep breaths? You feel better. Every time. Well, your messages need breathing space, both at a micro-level as well as at a macro-level, and that's what I'm talking about today. As I click over into the next century(!) of this podcast with episode 201, I'm changing the pace and style (a smidge) of these podcasts. Listen in to hear: how the algorithm-obsessed rule of 'consistency' does not mean frequency (even though we've conflated the two)why any good message needs space around it to breathe and to be receivedhow I'm approaching visibility and 'findability' while pushing back on the notion of volumewhy I think less really is moremy thinking on more 'working out loud' episodes rather than 'teaching' episodesMentioned In This Episode Episode 200! (it's the episode before this one!) How To Stop Rambling Masterclass - it's free and it's on-demand. Get it here

  6. Jun 1

    200 - Lessons in speaking, podcasting & imposter syndrome!

    A milestone episode, the 200th, deserves a celebration! 🥳 To do just that, in this episode I’m answering a series of listener questions about speaking, podcasting and speaking highlights, as well as sharing what I’ve learned, and what’s coming next, for the Speaking with Confidence with Cat Matson podcast. Listen in to hear: The most popular episode of all time The common mistakes people make when they start working on their speaking skills The ‘thing’ that keeps coming up, over and over again, in my coaching work The number one insight I’ve gained, as in, the ONE THING that is most impactful when communicating What surprises me the most about this podcast and this work My speaking highlight (and no, it’s not the biggest stage I’ve spoken on) How I record these episodes without a script and keep my voice calm and inviting Why I think speaking in THE MOST valuable skill you can have What I’ll be sharing in episodes 201, onwards Also mentioned in this episode: The most popular episode of all time - How To Get The Right Words To Come Out https://open.spotify.com/episode/6zvje5YEEpFaEejTa9TFay?si=0c4f43ba393841d2 The interview with Denise Duffield-Thomas https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Yfa9VK2Hf0r7Dj50W07v1?si=9J3n_ebUQD2hCH58z2kBzg The interview with Dr Martine Rothblatt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp5w47HjLKM  My newsletter, Impactful, on substack (best way to hear about the cool stuff coming up) https://catmatson.substack.com/ Instagram - where you can chat with me about anything ☺️ https://www.instagram.com/catmatson/

  7. May 26

    199 - Making It Simply Obvious

    Nothing is obvious to the uninformed ... yet so often when we communicate we assume that our audience knows what we're talking about. I've been reading award entries this week and so many of them don't make it obvious what they do. It's a lost opportunity for them to make an impression and to make an impact with the judging panel. It's not just award entries where this happens though: describing your businessdescribing your role in governmentintroducing yourself at networking functionsIn this episode I explain how to make it simply obvious to your audience. Listen in to hear: why nothing is obvious to the uninformedhow to think about what you do so you can describe it in a way that landshow thinking in 'sesame street terms' might help you simplify your messagehow being cute, jargonistic or extra clever doesn't helpmy simple framework for explaining what you do, simplyTo learn more about my Earn The Right Framework, listen to Episode 7 - Why Me? Overcoming I'm Not Good Enough Help me celebrate 200 episodes. Leave a question or a toast below or, head over to instagram and leave your question or toast there Subscribe to my juicy almost-weekly newsletter to be the first in the know about my upcoming Masterclasses, events and 'work out loud' with me

  8. May 19

    198 - Speaking with substance (and length) without a script

    Speaking with Confidence with Cat Matson: communication coaching for humble leaders

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About

If you ramble, lose your words or struggle to make yourself heard, this podcast is for you. This show is for humble leaders - public servants, corporate hippies & business owners - who want to speak up and be heard without sounding pushy or arrogant. I’m Cat Matson and I coach people to speak with authenticity and impact in ALL settings. Whether you want to lead your team better, host webinars, speak impactfully when put on the spot or start speaking on stage, this podcast will teach you how to collect your thoughts and confidently communicate with humility, authenticity, authority and impact.

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