Leadership English

09/03/2026

"Active listening is such an important skill, and I just want everyone to know it is not something you're born with."

I said this to Silke Meixner mid-conversation, while we were talking about staying grounded in high-stakes meetings.

You can already be a good listener and still become a great one. It's something you build over time, like any other skill.

Where do you lose focus the most, long meetings, video calls, or small talk? 👇

09/02/2026

She sent her application to Google. "Okay, done. I cannot do anything else."

Then the email came. "Unfortunately, we have other candidates."

An automated rejection. She let it go. Weeks later, a second email arrived. "Welcome to Google. We're happy to invite you to the first round of interviews."

She told me this happens in a lot of Google stories. Rejected first, then reconsidered weeks or months later, sometimes because a different role opens up that fits better.

You cannot be discouraged. You never know.

Has a "no" ever turned into a "yes" for you later? 👇

09/02/2026

Most leaders think executive presence is built in the meeting. 📋

It's actually built after it.

Swipe through for the one communication habit that changes how you're perceived at the senior level.

Save this for before your next important conversation. You will want it.

Follow if your English got you here and you are ready to take it further.

09/01/2026

I had a C-suite client at a tech company who did the opposite of holding back. He overexplained everything. Every point came wrapped in three extra layers of context, details, caveats, backup explanations.

We worked on getting to the root of it. It wasn't a need for thoroughness. It was insecurity about his English, dressed up as diligence.

He was trying to out-explain his accent.

So we worked on trusting the short version, saying the point once clearly and letting it stand. Asking if anyone needed clarification, instead of preemptively and unnecessarily providing it.

A few months in, people around him started noticing. One colleague told him, "I don't know what you're doing, but you're different now, better." By not apologizing with extra words, people started seeing the real him and accepting his expertise in a whole new way.

Do you say the point once, or do you wrap it in three extra layers first? 👇

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If this landed, comment PRESENCE below. I've got something for you.

Can't wait to see you there!

- Tannia 🩵

08/31/2026

Before the meeting even starts, you're already working. Thinking through what might come up, rehearsing how you'd phrase it in English. Your colleagues walk in cold. You've been preparing for days.

During the meeting, native speakers interrupt, pivot, and recover without thinking. You're doing three things at once, processing the conversation, formulating your response, and monitoring your English. Your window closes a fraction too late. The point, a good one, stays with you.

After the meeting comes the private debrief no one sees. "I should have said that. Why didn't I speak up?" And underneath it, a quieter fear, that your silence is being read as uncertainty.

Here's what this actually is. Not a language gap, a nervous system pattern. The confident, decisive version of you in your first language isn't missing, just temporarily inaccessible under this specific kind of pressure.

Which stage hits closest to home, the before, the during, or the after? 👇

08/30/2026

Before you ask a question, share something about yourself first. That's how you earn trust.

I said this to my guest Victoria Rozanska on the podcast, and it's one of the smallest, most overlooked shifts I coach.

Most people treat small talk like an interview. Question, answer, next question. But that's not how trust actually builds, especially in American professional culture, where the rhythm is closer to tennis than to a monologue.

Share first. Then ask. That's the whole shift.

Save this for your next networking event. 🩵

08/29/2026

Five phrases that make you sound senior, not junior.

Instead of "I think we should..." say "My recommendation is..."

Instead of "I'm not sure but..." say "From my experience, what matters most here is..."

Instead of "Can I just add..." say "I want to make sure we consider..."

Instead of "Sorry, going back to what I said..." say "Let me reframe that."

Instead of "Does that make sense?" say "What questions do you have?"

Save this for before your next important conversation.

08/28/2026

The fix isn't speed, it's owning the pause.

A half-second pause before a sharp answer doesn't read as uncertainty. It reads as consideration, if you don't apologize for it, even with your face. Native speakers pause too. They just don't flinch when they do.

That's the difference. Not the pause, the confidence.

I had a client who ran into this, except kind of backwards. His problem wasn't the pause. It was what he filled it with, stacking "um" and "uh" before he even got to his point. He was arguably the smartest person in most rooms he was in, but all anyone heard was that uncertainty.

We didn't try to eliminate the fillers. I taught him to breathe first, calm the nervous system before he even opened his mouth. Then I gave him better fillers. Instead of a nervous "um, uh," he learned to say "Hmm, well," or "Okay, I hear what you're saying." Same few seconds. Completely different signal.

Do you rush through your pauses, or fill them with something that gives it away? 👇

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If this keeps coming back to your mind, that usually means something. Comment PRESENCE below.

Can't wait to see you there!

- Tannia 🩵

08/27/2026

"Fine, thanks." Technically an answer. Also a conversation dead end.

When someone asks about your weekend, a one-word reply closes the door before it opens. A small detail keeps it going, without any extra effort.

Instead of "Fine, thanks" say "Pretty good, I finally tried that new ramen place downtown."

Instead of "Good, busy" say "Good, busy in a nice way, my sister visited."

Instead of "Not bad" say "Not bad, I spent most of it outside for once."

Instead of "Same as usual" say "Same as usual, though I did start a new show."

One small detail gives the other person something to actually respond to.

Save this for your next Monday. Which one are you replacing first? 👇

08/26/2026

He walked into our first session completely convinced his English was the problem.

It wasn't. What I noticed instead was that he was answering the what in rooms that were waiting for the why. He'd lay the technical case brick by brick, and by the time he reached the point that actually mattered, the room had already started wondering whether he had what it takes.

The packaging was the gap. Not the expertise. Not his English.

Ten months later, a VP who'd sat two seats down from him for years stopped him in the hallway. "You sound different. Better."

That's the pattern I see over and over. It's not the accent. It's not the apology that shows up as over-explaining. It's a well-intentioned habit built to patch a hole that was never actually in the wall.

I go deeper on this in this week's episode of Leadership English. 🩵

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You have the smart thing ready. The one you'd rehearsed in your head at 11 p.m. the night before, revised twice in the shower, and finally feel ready to share in the 9 a.m. meeting in the conference room. But then, you worry about whether you’re going to mispronounce “focus” again, and maybe t...