Ignite Your Confidence with Karen Laos

Ever wonder how you’ll ever stop people-pleasing and say yes to yourself instead? This episode is for you!
 

1. Set small boundaries first. Start with low-stakes situations to practice saying no or expressing your preferences. For example, choosing the restaurant when asked, or declining a small favor when you're genuinely busy. These smaller moments build your confidence for bigger boundary-setting situations.
2. Pause before automatic...

In an ideal world, everything goes as planned. Everyone asks the questions you expect and nothing throws you. You and I both know this is not the case. Even for the most well-prepared moment, someone will ask a question or comment that derails your entire thought process, and you’re left with only one option: to think on your feet. Listen to this episode for tips on handling these circumstances with confidence.
 

Tangible Takeaways:

Influencing up is a critical skill to moving up in our careers. We need to be intentional and strategic if we want to be more visible for a new role, promotion or to attract any new opportunity. These six tips will help you get there faster.

1. Build credibility with consistent excellence
   Deliver exceptional results consistently to establish yourself as reliable and valuable. When leaders trust your work quality and judgment, they'r...

5 Communication Strategies for Handling Someone Who Interrupts or Talks Over You

1. Hold your ground calmly but firmly. When interrupted, pause briefly, then say something like, "I'd like to finish my thought before moving on" or "I wasn't quite done with my point." Use a neutral tone that's assertive without being confrontational.
2. Have a private conversation. Address the pattern outside of group settings: "I've noticed that I'm oft...

If you want to build relationships, increase trust and be seen as an influential leader, you’ll want to practice empathy. Sometimes it escapes us, as you’ll hear in my opening story about a recent customer service professional missing an opportunity.

5 Tips for Empathy at Work

1. Practice active listening. Focus completely on understanding your colleagues before formulating your response. Put away devices, maintain eye contact, and ...

There are strategic things we can do to advance - the key is to be intentional and make a plan! See below for 5 ways to do it!

1. Build a strategic skillset: Identify skills that are both in high demand in your industry and align with your career goals. Focus on developing technical expertise alongside transferable skills like leadership, communication, and problem-solving that will remain valuable as you progress. Create a deliber...

There are many habits we don’t even realize may be getting in our way and hindering our ability to advance. But what are they? Being confusing instead of clear in our communication, not saying what we want, halting when we speak so we sound unsure, and staying quiet instead of speaking up…are just a few of the examples in this episode.

Listen as I unpack some of the most common ways we hinder our credibility but often have no idea t...

You know how you get those butterflies before speaking in a meeting or making a presentation? Listen to these 10 tips to reduce your anxiety and calm your nerves!

Tip 1: Prep - know your content

Tip 2: Say “I’m so excited” instead of “I’m so nervous” 

Tip 3: Breathe and do the Navy Seals box breathing

Tip 4: Sing your favorite song

Tip 5: Rock back and forth or side to side

Tip 6: Tap yourself lightly on the arms and legs

Tip 7: Stretch

Ti...

Some people who advance make it look so easy, and yet successful people are strategic. You can be, too. Karen shares both strategies and lessons we can learn from others who have catapulted their careers. Thanks to Gissell Moronta, SVP of Sales and Marketing at Atrium Hospitality, who shares her success story publicly.

Some resources for you:

Want to see how you score as a confident communicator? 

Take The Confidence Cocktail Assessme...

If you’ve ever hesitated to speak up or doubted how you come across, you’re not alone. Building confidence doesn’t happen overnight — it’s a journey, and each small step matters. It’s not just about what you say, but how you say it. That’s why aligning your preparation, body language, and delivery is key to leaving a lasting impression. Listen for 5 tips to build confidence.

Notes: 

👉 Whether it’s sharing your thoughts in a meeting,...

You may not even realize that you're giving your power away. Listen in to hear three common mistakes women make and how to do something about it!

What are the ways we do this? 

1) We let other people define us

2) We hesitate to self-promote

3) We use minimizing language 

Listen in to learn strategies on how to build credibility by being clear on the value you bring to an organization, strategically promoting yourself, and how to elimina...

On the phone with a distraught client last week, I was reminded of the assumptions we make and how doing this holds us back. The stress from these assumptions can put our stomach in knots - only to find out later the situation was a simple misunderstanding. You have to advocate for yourself if you want more opportunities. 

Most of the time this stems from poor communication and doubting ourselves. A lethal combination.

We default to ...

If you want to show up with confidence, use these communication tips from The Confidence Cocktail™ that will help you get there. Take a walk through my signature framework to guide you in becoming a clear, compelling and credible communicator.

Here are the 8 ingredients we’ll explore alongside specific examples that you can try out yourself:

1. Identity - who are you and how do you want people to experience you? What do you want to ...

Inspired by the book Your Best Year Yet by Jinny Ditzler, join me as I walk through 10 questions to help you reflect back on 2024 and look ahead to 2025, starting with celebrating! And ending with a letter to yourself, written as if it’s December 2025.

Here are the questions:

1. What did I accomplish in 2024?
2. What fun things happened?
3. What were my greatest disappointments?
4. What did I learn?
5. What intention will make me most successful in...

For too long I didn’t speak up when I wanted to, even though I was in a leadership role in my company, working for industry leaders like Google, Netflix and UnitedHealthcare. I found myself focused too much on people pleasing, worried that I would be judged or that I would rock the boat. Today’s episode gives you three specific tips to help you speak up in meetings, in spite of any doubt you may have.

1. Speak First. You know those...

What is the best way to influence and get buy-in when you’re speaking to others, be it a big audience or small, conference room or boardroom, peer meetings or executive meetings? We all want to come across in a way that moves our listeners to action, show up with confidence, and get what we want. Use these tips to persuade in the best way possible.

1. Be Clear: Get to the point, use the BLUF principle: Bottom Line Up Front, and don...

Never be stuck with what to say when someone asks you to introduce yourself! Listen to this episode for my PPU formula so you’re never thrown off guard and you’re always prepared with what to say.

Talking about yourself is simply a chance to let people get to know you.

Here’s my PPU introduction formula:

1) Say something Personal 

2) Share what you do Professionally

3) Offer something Unique about you 

Here's how it might sound in conver...

Want to eliminate your “um’s” once and for all? You’ll find 6 tips to do it on this episode! We’ll talk about what gets in the way and how to tackle it, so those filler words don't decrease your credibility.

1. Self-talk (if you’re always thinking “I’m going to say “um” then you probably will. Change up your self-talk to focus on what you want to shift (for example, “I am a person who perfectly pauses”)
2. Pause (to think, to breathe, ...

Don’t let self-doubt hold you back. Or people pleasing, fear of judgment, and trying to be all things to all people. You might be giving your power away and you don’t even know it! Want to find out and take your power back?

Here’s what we’ll cover:

1. We downplay our strengths instead of celebrating and leveraging them.
2. We use minimizing language such as “I’m sorry, just, I think, maybe/kinda/sorta, and I’m not an expert, but…”
3. We dou...