Untamed Leader

Lauri Smith
  • 5.0 (11)
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Untamed Leader is a podcast for loving rebels who are ready to speak, live, and lead from the radiant pulse of their purpose—the wild-hearted ones dedicated to transforming the vibe in the room and igniting meaningful change. Through heart-to-heart conversations, breakthrough coaching moments, solo reflections, and inspiring stories from the edge of becoming, Untamed Leader explores what it means to lead from the inside out. Host Lauri Smith weaves together three essential leadership threads: vision, creativity, and voice. Here, leadership is a sacred art. Intuition guides creation.Presence shapes communication.And your voice channels the rhythm already alive in your soul. Whether you’re already visible—or standing at the edge of visibility—something in you knows: It’s time to lead untamed.

  1. 1D AGO

    Forced to Let Go: The Leadership Turn No One Plans For

    Send Lauri a message What does it actually take to let go — not because you're wise enough, but because your back gave out and you had no other choice? Entrepreneur and business coach Chris Shurian started his first company the hard way: handling every nail, every conversation, every quality check himself. Then he herniated a disc playing softball. Two weeks flat on his back, no cell phones, and two employees who turned out to be better carpenters than he was. That injury became a turning point — and the start of a career built on a deceptively simple principle: trust your team, hold the guardrails, and get out of the way. In this conversation, Chris and Lauri explore the moment control becomes the enemy of growth, what it means to lead from vision instead of micromanagement, and why the best leaders he's ever known were "dealers of hope" — making people feel capable before they believed it themselves. Chris also shares the barefoot principle, why he handed his 12-year-old the keys of a stick shift, and what his platform Bootstraps & Battle Scars is all about. If you feel like you might need to wrestle something real from your own hands to become the leader you’re meant to be — this one's for you. TAKEAWAYS1. The most transformational leadership moments are often forced, not chosen — injury, crisis, and necessity can be faster teachers than any book. 2. Letting go of control doesn't mean dropping standards. It requires trust. Trust in those standards, trust in ourselves, and trust in others.  3. The guardrail model: define the vision, set non-negotiables, then give people the freedom to deliver within them.  4. Leaders who magnetize great people embody their values clearly — the wrong fits weed themselves out; the right ones rise. 5.  "Leaders are dealers of hope" — the leaders who changed Chris most made him feel like the best version of himself before he'd earned it. 6. Battle scars aren't failures to hide — they're the curriculum. You build something real from bootstraps and battle scars, not from perfect conditions. 7. Untamed leadership means trusting people to find their own way to the destination — not micromanaging the route they take to get there. About ChrisChris Shurian is an entrepreneur, business coach, and founder of Bootstraps & Battle Scars and Founders Exchange. After building a construction company from a truck and Soul Sucker Quiz Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free!https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz Take the Speaker Alter Ego quiz to find out which protective mask hides your natural radiance so you can learn how to get present, connect deeply, and share your vision when it matters most!https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Support the show Thank you so much for listening! Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance. https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646

    50 min

  2. APR 1

    The Return: What Untamed Leader is Really About

    Send Lauri a message What does it actually mean to untame a leader—and why does it matter right now? In this Season 3 premiere of Untamed Leader, Lauri Smith flips the mic. Longtime collaborator, singer-songwriter, and authentic communication coach Brian Perry steps in as interviewer—and the result is one of the most honest, searching conversations about leadership, voice, and coming home to yourself that Lauri has ever had on this podcast. Lauri unpacks the real meaning of "untamed leadership" (hint: it's not a rebrand gimmick), the difference between being present and being lost in a spreadsheet, and why the leaders this world actually needs are the ones willing to stop performing certainty. They trace the arc from her first coaching class at the Coactive Training Institute—where she turned to a stranger and said "I think I just found the final piece"—to the creative tension that defines Untamed Leader today. They also get into Alyssa Liu, toolboxes, eggshell walking, dog whistles of the soul, and what happens when you stop trying to make decisions in your head and start trusting what's alive in your body. This is not a leadership theory episode. This is what leadership actually looks like from the inside. If you've been waiting for a sign to stop leading the tamed way—this is it. Key TakeawaysUntamed Leader is a homecoming. The seeds were planted in Lauri's very first coaching class, and this chapter is about finally weaving them all together.The world needs leaders who can hold a vision and stay present at the same time. That creative tension—between "I'm here" and "I know what's possible"—is where real leadership lives.You can't make good decisions from inside a spreadsheet. When the body expands, peripheral vision opens, and birds fly by the window—that's when the real answers come.Taming is insidious. Many of us are walking on eggshells in our own lives and don't know it. Spotting the "should" is the first act of untaming.Alyssa Liu didn't win gold by following the playbook. She won by returning to joy. The same move that makes a champion makes an untamed leader.Untaming doesn't mean leaping into chaos. It means opening the second level of the toolbox—returning to your natural way of navigating the world, then letting someone help you use it better.Patience is a practice. The right answer doesn't always arrive on schedule. Willingne Soul Sucker Quiz Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free!https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz Take the Speaker Alter Ego quiz to find out which protective mask hides your natural radiance so you can learn how to get present, connect deeply, and share your vision when it matters most!https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Support the show Thank you so much for listening! Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance. https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646

    49 min

  3. SEASON 3 TRAILER

    Untamed Leader: The Next Chapter Begins

    Send Lauri a message The Soulful Speaking Podcast is now the Untamed Leader Podcast. The name has changed. The pulse has not. How did we get here? Over years of conversations about voice, presence, and creative courage, a deeper truth kept surfacing. Soulful speaking was never just about speaking. It was always about leadership as a sacred art — the kind that stands steady in chaos, holds vision in the storm, and inspires others forward. Soul-driven. Intuition-guided. Untamed. If you’ve been listening for a while, you may have felt this coming. Welcome to the next chapter. Welcome to Untamed Leader. Support the show Thank you so much for listening! Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance. https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646

    6 min

  4. FEB 24

    Beyond the Cello: Speaking Without the Shield

    Send Lauri a message What happens when your voice disappears—right when you need it most? In this deeply human conversation, Lisa Roche, host of the Find Your Flow podcast, joins Lauri to explore what it really means to find your voice when your body says no. Lisa shares a powerful story of freezing, sobbing, and being unable to speak in front of others—despite years of performing on world-class stages. What followed wasn’t a technique or mindset shift, but a profound reckoning with vulnerability, community, and worth. Together, Lauri and Lisa weave theater, music, somatics, spirituality, and leadership into a conversation about why so many of us hide behind our own “cellos” like slides, scripts, or peppy masks—and what becomes possible when we drop down into the truth beneath our words. This is not a conversation about sounding better.  It’s about becoming more available. To ourselves. To others. To life. If you’ve ever felt your throat close, your breath disappear, or your truth hover just out of reach—this episode is an invitation to come home. Takeaways 1. Your voice doesn’t disappear because you’re weak—it disappears because something tender is asking to be met 2. Performance anxiety is often unprocessed vulnerability, not lack of skill 3. Many speakers hide behind “cellos”: slides, scripts, roles, or personas that feel safer than presence 4. True safety doesn’t come from control—it comes from connection 5. Harmony is not agreement; it’s different truths resonating together 6. Speaking becomes transformational when it’s a two-way energetic exchange, not a projection 7. Community can hold what the individual cannot 8. Finding your voice also means remembering and embracing your worth 9. When we stop trying to heal others, clarity and boundaries emerge Soul Sucker Quiz Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free!https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz Take the Speaker Alter Ego quiz to find out which protective mask hides your natural radiance so you can learn how to get present, connect deeply, and share your vision when it matters most!https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Support the show Thank you so much for listening! Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance. https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646

    48 min

  5. FEB 17

    Boxes We Live In, Boxes We Leave

    Send Lauri a message What happens when the life that looks successful on paper no longer feels true inside? In this episode, best-selling author and real estate entrepreneur Betsy Pepine shares the deeply personal journey that led her to write Breaking Boxes: Dismantling the Metaphorical Boxes That Bind Us. From family-of-origin expectations and gender norms to professional identities and marital labels, Betsy reflects on the invisible structures that shape our choices—and what it takes to step beyond them. We explore how speaking for her book differs from speaking for a company, why writing was both challenging and healing, and how choosing a more authentic path transformed not only her career—but her voice. This conversation is a reminder that some boxes protect us for a time… and some are meant to be taken apart. Takeaways 1. Success can quietly coexist with deep dissatisfaction. 2. Some boxes protect us for a season, then begin to confine us. 3. Speaking for a company requires a different voice than speaking for yourself. 4. Vulnerability often eases once the truth is already out in the world. 5. Family-of-origin expectations can shape decades of career and identity choices. 6. Labels and forms subtly influence how others see us—and how we see ourselves. 7. Writing can be both a creative craft and a deeply therapeutic process. 8. Authentic speaking allows the full range of head, heart, and humanity to show up. Soul Sucker Quiz Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free!https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ Support the show Thank you so much for listening! Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance. https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646

    38 min

  6. FEB 13 ·  BONUS

    Career vs. Calling: The Near-Death Pivot that Changed Everything (bonus)

    Send Lauri a message In this bonus episode, Speaker, coach, and Next Level University CEO Alan Lazaros joins Lauri for a raw, high-voltage conversation about fear, intensity, and the courage to be “too much.” From a high-school speech panic (and a hypnotist’s snowboard hack) to a near-fatal car crash at 26 that turned a career into a calling, Alan traces the inner rewiring that let him own his truth on stage and in life. They unpack the peak-performance “Goldilocks zone,” why “slow down” isn’t always smart advice, how shame hides at both ends of the bell curve, and why accurate thinking—not people-pleasing—creates real impact. If you’ve ever been told to be less, this episode invites you to be true. Takeaways 1. Your sweet spot isn’t “calm on the couch”—it’s alive, engaged, and just-challenging-enough. 2. Early speaking anxiety can be reframed: pair fear with a domain where you feel powerful (Alan used snowboarding via hypnosis). 3. Being “too much” is often code for “you’re triggering the status quo.” Own it with discernment, not apology. 4. A career becomes a calling the moment you stop diluting yourself to fit in. 5. Alcohol (and other numbing) can mute a future-oriented brain to “blend”—notice what you’re dampening. 6. Boundaries require recalibrating your “respect Richter scale,” especially after chaotic upbringings. 7. Principles beat templates: pauses, tone, story—apply them to your unique style, not someone else’s. 8. Truth vs. social performance: accurate thinking liberates your voice and your life. 9. Shame clusters at the edges of the bell curve; compassion + honesty dissolves it. Soul Sucker Quiz Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free!https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz Take the Speaker Alter Ego quiz to find out which protective mask hides your natural radiance so you can learn how to get present, connect deeply, and share your vision when it matters most!https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Support the show Thank you so much for listening! Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance. https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646

    46 min

  7. FEB 10

    A Hyperventilating Thought Leader?

    Send Lauri a message What happens when the person who once hyperventilated in middle school at the mere thought of speaking… becomes the woman people ask to take photos with after her talk? In this episode, Lauri sits down with Kelly Schuknecht, marketing strategist, thought leadership coach, and founder of Two Mile High Marketing, to trace the true origin of Kelly’s visibility: not a strategy, not a brand pivot—a whisper. Kelly shares the moment she watched other speakers and thought, “I could teach that.” Then the deeper thread: a fear of being looked at—rooted not in dramatic “capital-T” trauma, but in quieter conditioning that says, don’t stand out… don’t make waves. From a first talk where the tech failed to the day she walked into a room with 1,000 chairs, this conversation is for every “unicorn” leader who’s been trying to follow someone else’s formula—and wondering why it doesn’t fit. If you’re being called to teach, lead, speak, or create… this episode is a lantern. TAKEAWAYS 1. The beginning of thought leadership is often a soft inner knowing: “I’m the teacher now.” 2. Fear of visibility doesn’t require “big-T trauma” to be real—conditioning and “little-T” experiences can wire a deep stay-small reflex. 3. Your audience often can’t see your internal storm—nerves aren’t the same as incompetence. 4. Your first talk doesn’t need to be perfect; it needs to be done (also: don’t add unnecessary tech your first time). 5. The moment you survive a “bigger cave” (like 250–300 people), smaller rooms stop feeling like dragons. 6. Speaking isn’t just exposure—it’s a door that opens other doors (invites, summits, new visibility). 7. A “unicorn niche” can actually be an advantage: fewer competitors means more fit opportunities. 8. Building a team can be an act of leadership identity—choosing your way, not the “should” way. 9. Authenticity beats imitation: borrowing someone else’s style instead of your essence is a visibility trap. Soul Sucker Quiz Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free!https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz Take the Speaker Alter Ego quiz to find out which protective mask hides your natural radiance so you can learn how to get present, connect deeply, and share your vision when it matters most!https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Support the show Thank you so much for listening! Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance. https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646

    42 min

  8. FEB 6 ·  BONUS

    Forget Memorization. Find Your Flow. (bonus)

    Send Lauri a message What happens when “memorize it” kills your aliveness? In this bonus episode, speaker and leader Kurt Uhlir shares how forcing a script spiked his stress, shut down vulnerability, and flattened his presence — and how returning to flow changed everything. We unpack small-room freakouts, the body’s signals (hello, stress across the chest), and the simple reframe that turns fear into fuel. Then we put it all into practice with a live coaching moment using my Intend • Align • Invite framework. If you’ve ever felt over-scripted, under-present, or stuck between nerves and excitement, this one’s your permission slip to speak wild, untamed, and radiant — without losing real-world impact. Takeaways 1. Flow beats memorization for authentic presence and impact. 2. The body tells the truth: stress across the chest often signals “vulnerability closed.” 3. Treat speaking like a conversation, not a soliloquy (improv > recitation). 4. Counterintuitive truth: small rooms can trigger more nerves than arenas for some people. 5. Fear and excitement feel the same in the body; label it excitement or scare-citement to channel energy. 6. Your “worst talk” can reveal emotional triggers — and your path back to presence. 7. Quick framework for Zoom & stage: Intend • Align • Invite (set the vibe, embody it, welcome them into it). Soul Sucker Quiz Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free!https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ Support the show Thank you so much for listening! Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance. https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/ Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646

    37 min
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About

Untamed Leader is a podcast for loving rebels who are ready to speak, live, and lead from the radiant pulse of their purpose—the wild-hearted ones dedicated to transforming the vibe in the room and igniting meaningful change. Through heart-to-heart conversations, breakthrough coaching moments, solo reflections, and inspiring stories from the edge of becoming, Untamed Leader explores what it means to lead from the inside out. Host Lauri Smith weaves together three essential leadership threads: vision, creativity, and voice. Here, leadership is a sacred art. Intuition guides creation.Presence shapes communication.And your voice channels the rhythm already alive in your soul. Whether you’re already visible—or standing at the edge of visibility—something in you knows: It’s time to lead untamed.

Information

  • Creator
    Lauri Smith
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    77
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Voice Matters LLC
  • Show Website
    Untamed Leader