Speak by Design

How to Rebuild Confidence as a Leader: Mindset Shifts for Executive Communication
Many professionals appear confident on the surface. But underneath?

They are battling anxiety, overthinking feedback, fear of judgment, and the pressure to always have the perfect answer.

In this episode, Stephanie Bickel sits down with Madina Behori, one of the founding coaches inside Speak by Design University, to unpack the mindset patterns that quietly affect leadership communication at every level.

Together, they explore the internal fears that hold leaders back and the practical mindset tools they use to help executives communicate with more confidence, clarity, and calm under pressure.

You’ll learn:

→ The 3 “What if…” fears that drive communication anxiety
→ How to stop over-personalizing feedback
→ Why confidence cannot come only from knowledge
→ The trust equation for rebuilding trust with yourself
→ The simple mental technique to reduce overwhelm during meetings and presentations

Whether you are leading meetings, presenting to senior leadership, managing pressure, or trying to communicate with more authority, this episode offers practical tools to help you think more clearly and trust yourself more fully.

Leadership communication is not just about what you say. It is about the mindset you bring into the room.

🔗 Links:

Start your coaching journey: https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/join
Chicago Leadership Day (July 15): https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/se2026
Get Speak by Design Certified: https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/certification

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

10 Communication Training Facilitation Tips That Actually Change Leadership Behavior

After decades of coaching leaders, Stephanie Bickel has learned something important:

Most communication training does not fail because the information is bad.

It fails because people never practice the skill in a way that sticks.

In this episode, Stephanie shares the top 10 communication training principles Speak by Design has used for years to help leaders communicate with more clarity, confidence, and influence in real-world situations.

You’ll learn:

→ Why leaders should never practice “cold”

→ How to make communication training immediately usable

→ Why real work creates faster behavior change than hypotheticals

→ The importance of short, high-energy repetition

→ How to give feedback that improves skill without shutting people down

→ Why the second attempt is often where real growth happens

→ The one question every training session should end with

Whether you lead meetings, coach teams, facilitate workshops, or develop executives, this episode breaks down the communication training methods that actually create lasting behavior change.
Because great communication training is not a lecture.

It is a live rehearsal for leadership.

🔗 Links:

Start your coaching journey: https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/join
Chicago Leadership Day (July 15): https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/se2026
Get Speak by Design Certified: https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/certification

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

2026 - Studying Great Speakers Episode 3: Alex Hormozi

New here? Don’t start here. Go back to Episode 1 and follow the sequence 1–50, designed as a private coaching journey.

Today’s speaker study is ROGUE YET RELATABLE.

Alex Hormozi is not polished in the traditional sense. He is direct, structured, and relentlessly clear. He does not try to impress. He wants to be understood.

And that is exactly why he is effective.

In this episode, Stephanie breaks down how Alex does it:

➤ Style: How he uses grounded presence, minimal emotion, and steady delivery to create authority without over-performing.

➤ Structure: How he simplifies complex ideas into sharp, repeatable frameworks. His messages are distilled to their essence, making them easy to follow and hard to forget.

➤ Strategy: How he leads with clarity over charisma. He removes distraction, gets to the point quickly, and builds trust by making his thinking transparent.

Alex Hormozi does not rely on personality to carry his message.

He relies on precision.

That is the lesson.

🔗 Links:

Start your coaching journey: https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/join
Chicago Leadership Day (July 15): https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/se2026
Get Speak by Design Certified: https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/certification

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Studying Great Speakers Episode 2: Robin Roberts

New here? Don't start here! Go back to Episode 1 and follow the sequence 1–50, designed as a private coaching journey.

Today's speaker study proves something many leaders still underestimate: warmth is not weakness. In the right hands, warmth is power.

Robin Roberts is warm but not flimsy. Open but not sloppy. Expressive but never chaotic. Strong but never cold. She has the rare ability to make people feel deeply seen — while staying fully in charge.

In this episode, Stephanie breaks down exactly how Robin does it:

➤ Style — How she uses body language, voice, and emotional range to build instant trust with any audience.

➤ Structure — How she builds messages people can feel, repeat, and live by — using repetition, rhythm, humor, and a moral that always lands.

➤ Strategy — How relational influence works and why warmth, when it has mission behind it, becomes one of the most persuasive forces in communication.

Robin Roberts doesn't hide her humanity to look credible. She uses her humanity to deepen credibility. That's the lesson.

🔗 Links:

Start your coaching journey: https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/join
Chicago Leadership Day (July 15): https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/se2026
Get Speak by Design Certified: https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/certification

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

New here? This is not the place to start! Begin with Episode 1 and follow the sequence 1–50, designed as a private coaching journey.

At Speak by Design, we analyze speakers by their style, structure, and strategy — and today's subject is one of the most quietly compelling leaders in business: Bob Iger, outgoing CEO of The Walt Disney Company.

Iger officially hands the CEO role to Josh D'Amaro on March 18, 2026 Fox Business, closing one of the most storied leadership runs in corporate history. Before he exits the stage, we're studying exactly what makes him so worth watching.

Bob Iger is not a dramatic communicator. He's not flashy, not intense for intensity's sake. He doesn't crowd the room with himself. And yet, when he speaks, people listen. Why? Because he sounds like a leader people can trust. Measured. Wise. Clear. Safe. Secure. He sounds like someone who has already cut through the noise. Someone who doesn't need to prove he's in charge, because his steadiness does that for him.

What's covered in this episode:

➤ Style — How Bob Iger shows up: his body language, his voice, and the personal brand he projects through calm authority (not anxious authority). Nothing rushed. Nothing performative. Nothing aggressive.
➤ Structure — How he builds a message that lands without theatrics.
➤ Strategy — How he connects with and influences all audiences from investors to employees to the public.

The big takeaway: executive presence does not have to be theatrical. In fact, sometimes it's more trustworthy when it isn't. Bob Iger is the perfect example.

Search Bob Iger on YouTube and watch him speak to large audiences, especially investor audiences. You'll see exactly what we mean.

🔗 Links:

Start your coaching journey: https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/join
Chicago Leadership Day (July 15): https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/se2026
Get Speak by Design Certified: https://speakbydesignuniversity.com/certification

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.