The Look & Sound of Leadership

Essential Communications - Tom Henschel
  • 4.8 (1.2K)
  • MANAGEMENT
  • UPDATED BIMONTHLY

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

  1. JAN 8

    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.Ask yourself: “How do I want to show up?” You have choice about what you prioritize and how you react in the workplace. Resources mentioned in this episode: Crucial Conversations provides scripts and thoughts that will help you manage yourself when dealing with difficult people.  Tom and host Dave Stachowiak discussed “How to Handle a Boss Who’s a Jerk” on this episode of Coaching for Leaders. Great tools if you have a challenging boss. Before sharing your reactions in the workplace, consider the politics around you. These two episodes will get you “Leading with Political Savvy” Parts 1 and 2.   Each month, there are additional tools in our monthly email.  If you’d like to explore Private Coaching, reach out to Tom. tom@essentialcomm.com. This episode is tagged in three categories in our podcast library: Managing Yourself Leadership Perception – How You Perceive Others RELATED EPISODES 239- 5 Strategies for Dealing with Narcissists 189 - “Don’t Take Anything Personally” 245- Giving Upward Feedback 114- Gravitas 133- The Narcissist Executive Thank you, thank you, thank you for your reviews! Wishing you a year of growth and development!  From The Look & Sound of Leadership team, thank you so much for listening.

    23 min

  2. 12/11/2025

    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,’ ‘why’ and give homework;The person reflects on the homework and how they plan to improve;Periodic check-ins about the homework. ‘What are you learning?’ The leader’s role in these conversations:  Clarify the ‘what’ and ‘why’ Listen and encourageAsk, ‘What are you learning?’ You can sign-up for more resources and tools in our monthly email.  If you’re thinking about coaching for yourself, or for someone on your team, let’s talk. tom@essentialcomm.com. This episode is tagged in three categories in our podcast library: Feedback Leadership Management Skills RELATED EPISODES 132  Coaching Your People 212  How to Coach Your People 258  How to Manage Defensive People 83  Leadership and Listening 206  Understanding Feedback Thanks, as always, for your reviews! Happy holidays.  Until next time, thanks so much for listening. From The Look & Sound of Leadership team

    23 min

  3. 11/06/2025

    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 Feedback might sound like this: Recognize what’s going well – and be specificAppreciate how it’s helping solve the puzzleExpress your thanks Developmental Feedback might sound like this: Describe what happened – and be specificExplain how it affects the puzzle solving effortExpress your hope for a different outcome You can Sign-up for more resources and tools in our monthly email.  If you’re thinking about coaching for yourself, or for someone on your team, let’s talk. tom@essentialcomm.com. This episode is tagged in three categories in our podcast library: Managing Yourself Perception – How You Perceive Others Relationship Building Related episodes to listen to are: 146 - Building Empathy 119 - Creating Devoted Followers 212 - How to Coach Your People 255 - How to Deepen Relationships at Work 260 - How to Guarantee Psychological Safety Thanks, as always, for your reviews! Until next time, thanks so much for listening. From The Look & Sound of Leadership team

    21 min

  4. 10/02/2025

    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 differently?” Then listen without debate or rebuttal. A free infographic supports this episode. Download it here.  The episode referred to about creating strong personal relationships is: #199 Personal Connections. Sign-up  for monthly resources and tools in our monthly email.  Curious about coaching for yourself or someone on your team? Let’s talk. tom@essentialcomm.com. COACHES! Want to see this year’s pricing survey results? Pop me an email at: tom@essentialcomm.com. And come join the Executive Coaching Special Interest Group. Check it out here.   Get additional tools for keeping yourself and your team psychologically safe in our podcast library in these three categories: Assertiveness Leadership Managing Yourself Additional episodes to listen to are: 187 - Agreeable Disagreement 70 - Assertion Versus Aggression "75 - Don’t Take Anything Personally” 222- The Conflict Conversation 181 - Inviting Dialogue Your reviews help the show stay ad-free.  Until next time, thanks! From The Look & Sound of Leadership team

    23 min

  5. 09/11/2025

    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 calendarShare comfortably about yourselfDevelop both your thoughts and your skills Listen to Tom’s conversation with Tom & Tom on the Beyond Podcast episode. Learn “How to Make Small Talk with Executives” on the Coaching for Leaders podcast. Curious about coaching? Shoot me an email. tom@essentialcomm.com. Visiting the website? Sign-up for tools and resources in our monthly email.  Help yourself to our free infographics in the Essential Tools bin. Get more support for supercharging your introversion in our podcast library in these three categories: Managing YourselfSelf-TalkSocial Skills Additional episodes you could listen to are: 241 - Conquering People Pleasing 210 - How to Grow Your Self-Management 211 - How to Show Up as More of Yourself 254 - How to Talk so People Understand You 247 - Mastering Anxiety Your reviews help the show stay ad-free.  So? Were these tools about introversion helpful? Let me know! Until next time, thanks! From The Look & Sound of Leadership team

    24 min

  6. 08/07/2025

    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 Relationship Building Additional episodes you could listen to are: 216 - 7 Steps to Stop Emotional Hijacks 60 - Be Impeccable with Your Word  35 - Handling Defensive Behaviors 173 - Managing Bad Behavior 138 - Managing Disruptive Executives 198 - Psychological Safety Additional tools and resources are in our monthly email. Sign up here. Curious about coaching? Shoot me an email. tom@essentialcomm.com. All our free infographics are in the Essential Tools bin. Your reviews help the show continue as an ad-free podcast.  Let us know how we can support you. Until next time, thanks! From The Look & Sound of Leadership team

    28 min

  7. 07/10/2025

    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 EQ and gives exercises. Download it here. “Unlocking Executive Presence Through Emotional Intelligence” Episode 232. The concept explained and tools provided. Download “The Feeling Word Grid” here. Ready for an amazing growth experience? Explore Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead course. Often recommended. Always helpful. Crucial Conversations. More tools in the ASSERTIVENESS category in the archive. Episodes with assertiveness tools:  220 - Holding Boundaries 219 - How to Set Boundaries 210 - How to Grow Your Self-Management 86 - Intimacy in Business: Setting Boundaries 198 - Psychological Safety Considering coaching? Talk with Tom. Send him an email here.   Additional resources are in our monthly email. Sign up here. Until next time! Thanks! from The Look & Sound of Leadership team

    22 min

  8. 06/05/2025

    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 The Coaching Habit and hosts the Change Signal podcast. Much gratitude!) Three facilitation skills: Use learning questions;Redirect; don’t be the hub;Activate your deadpan. All our infographics are available for free in our Tools Bin. Help yourself.  Tom’s most recent conversation with Dave Stachowiak on Coaching for Leaders explored How to Take Initiative. A lively, thought-provoking episode. Coaches! Join us at ICF Los Angeles’s Executive Coaching Special Interest Group. Check us out on the ICF-LA website, then come join us! Categories in the archive to explore for more ideas about deepening relationships: Communication Skills Leading Teams Episodes with more tools for engagement: 141 - High-Stakes Meetings 253 - How to Answer Questions Powerfully 213 - How to Re-engage a Team 34 - Keeping Repeated Material Fresh 175 - Leading Offsites 143 - Powerful Tools for Team: Plus / Delta 148 - Taming Meetings Are you coach curious? Talk with Tom. Send him an email here.   Additional resources are in our monthly email. Sign up here. Until next time! From The Look & Sound of Leadership team

    21 min
See All (267)

4.8
out of 5
1,153 Ratings

About

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

Information

  • Creator
    Essential Communications - Tom Henschel
  • Years Active
    2008 - 2026
  • Episodes
    267
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Look & Sound of Leadership
  • Show Website
    The Look & Sound of Leadership

You Might Also Like