Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by My Global Presence, the award winning Atlanta public relations agency that elevates brands and non-profits through authentic storytelling and national media campaigns. Find them at myglobalpresence.com. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, My Global Presence. If you want global visibility and meaningful impact, go to myglobalpresence.com. Today on the Land of Business Radio, we have Doctor Kristine Sickles, author of the new book The Clearest Voice in the room and the leader of Mic Drop Workshop. Welcome, Kristine.

Kristine Sickels: Thanks. It’s so great to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. How about we start with the book The Clearest Voice in the room? Tell us about that.

Kristine Sickels: Yeah, it’s all about speaking with power and intention at work. And I have been a marketing executive for over 20 years within corporate America. And I wrote this book because I noticed the same thing happening many times, that some of the smartest people at the table were women who barely spoke in meetings. And it’s not because they didn’t have ideas, but often just because they didn’t feel comfortable raising their voice or letting their voice be heard. And I saw it so consistently in corporate environments and lived my own version of it, that I felt like this book could be really helpful for many women leaders out there.

Lee Kantor: Now, I’m sure it was not an accident, but the book is called The Clearest Voice in the room, not the loudest voice in the room. Can you talk about why it was important for you to use the word clear?

Kristine Sickels: Yeah. Well, it’s a great question because I feel like so many times we listen to the people who have the most confidence or speak the loudest in meetings, and the goal is never to be the loudest voice in the room. It’s about clarity. And what I talk about in the book is clarity is first grounded in what you stand for, in your values, and then being clear on what you want to say and the outcome that you want to have and the contribution that you want to make within a meeting or within your organization. And so when you first are clear on what you stand for, then you’ll know what you what you want to say, and then you can have an impact on your team, on your results and on your organization. And I feel like so many times, because there might be introverts in the room or there may be just soft spoken people in the room. We feel like we have to be loud when we speak, but clarity is really what cuts through.

Lee Kantor: Now, if you’re a leader of an organization, how do you kind of take that recommendation to heart? How do you make sure that all or enough voices are being heard and you’re not being kind of influenced by the loudest voice?

Kristine Sickels: Yeah. Part of this, to me, it starts with culture because we as leaders or as the CEO or the C-suite of an organization, we can’t control confidence that humans have around speaking. And we all know that public speaking is something that many of us are nervous to do. But the culture is what decides whether speaking up is worth the risk, and something that our employees and our teams are willing to do. So as a CEO or as a leader, I think it’s very important that you watch what’s happening in boardrooms, in conference rooms and meetings that you’re leading, and ensure that you are inviting voices to be heard. Uh, because the people who speak up and maybe said something unpopular and they were given feedback about that may never speak up again. So it’s really important to encourage everyone to speak. But also that robust dialog is fine. And that’s something that I think all leaders need to be a bit more perceptive on, of how people are approaching them in meetings and making sure that it’s part of the culture that they bring every day.

Lee Kantor: So how what advice would you give a leader when it comes to listening to voices that might be, um, saying things contrary to what you’re thinking or what some of the folks are thinking? How do you kind of create that safe space that allows the back and forth, you know, the iron hitting iron in order to get the best result, rather than just everybody saying, oh yeah, great idea. Great. Let’s do it. Great idea. Great. Yep, yep, yep. And everybody’s just on board and we’re just going and no one is kind of poking at anything to test it, to really see if the idea is worthy of moving forward.

Kristine Sickels: Well, one warning sign that I would first call out that goes exactly to your point, is that a meeting that ends in fast agreement from everyone should be a warning sign, because that means that you do have a bunch of yes people in the room who are for some reason, not confident speaking up. One of my colleagues does something really interesting, and I would encourage leaders to think about what their own version of this may be. But I’ve worked with someone who has a way to encourage everyone’s voices to be heard, even if there’s disagreement. And what she does. And you can decide what works for you as a leader. But she brings a stuffed moose and she puts it on the table. And she tells all of her organization when she first starts working with them that if they want to grab the moose and put it on the table, and it gives them the opportunity to say something that signals to everyone that, hey, this may be a contrarian idea that I want to bring up, but because it’s stuffed and it’s a little silly, it, you know, puts people’s guard down. But they know that when they take that, that they’re actually using that as an opportunity to say something that they feel like is really important to bring up. And so anytime they’re in a meeting, they’ll go, I want to put a moose on the moose on the table, and they’ll speak their mind. And it’s a great tool. There might be other ways to do it, but I do think that leaders need to find ways to give the organization an opportunity to speak their mind and to disarm it a bit, and this is a great tool to do that.

Lee Kantor: Have you ever seen leaders like purposely not be the first person to speak? Like make that part of the, the way we do a meeting is to encourage. You know, I’ll speak last rather than first. So I don’t influence what is being said in the room.

Kristine Sickels: I think that’s really important. And especially as we move up with organizations. I always tell people as, as my title got bigger, my jokes got funnier and it got a lot more lonely, uh, because so many people are afraid to speak up. And what’s really important for us to do is to pass the mic. And it’s kind of that servant leadership or leaders eat last. Leaders can also speak last and make sure that they have the opportunity to hear from everyone in the room and to be observant. There are so many times there’s body language when you know someone has something to say, but they don’t necessarily say it and encouraging them to do so, or you just know that there’s an expert in the room who has not spoke. If you are having a finance discussion and your finance leader has still not given their perspective, then it’s an opportunity to look at the expert in the room and give them an opportunity to have a voice. And I do think that’s really powerful that us as leaders ensure that we’re passing the mic to others and giving people the opportunity to speak before we do.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you find that the reason that, um, a lot of leaders are so vocal and adamant and, and they feel like they have to have all the answers and be the smartest person in the room is like, it’s more psychological than it is like kind of really earned. And it’s, you know, they might have the most experience, they might really be deserving of being there, but that doesn’t mean they know everything about everything. And there has to be some vulnerability and humbleness in order to really have your people feel safe to share what they think.

Kristine Sickels: I think that’s true, and that’s why I mentioned that. I think it’s so important for us as leaders to define our values and what we want to be known for, because oftentimes what you’re mentioning may happen subconsciously. They know leaders speak first, or they do feel like they have something to prove. And what I talk about in the book is defining your values first before you then think about how you’re going to speak into things. And for me, just as an example, I decided as a leader within my organization that the three things I want to be known for is one, curiosity. I don’t know everything. And so I need to ask questions and be an avid learner of what we’re doing within the company. Two. I have a lot of optimism, and so I want to frame all my discussions around how can we versus why is it not possible? Like, what can we actually do to make this happen? And then third, my value is candor. And I really believe that candor is care. And I use that in my communication with all of my team and in meetings. And so you may have a totally different set of values as a leader, but I feel like defining those first helps you identify then how you want to speak into things, what you want to be known for. And it does give you the opportunity to take a bit of pause and say, hey, if I stand for curiosity, then I need to ask questions first before actually just diving in and providing the answers.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you develop those kind of values, is it something now that’s important for you to share that with the team so that when you are using candor that they’re not like, whoa, whoa, where did that come from? What? Uh, you know, candor, you know, is in the eye of the beholder a lot of times. Sure. Yeah.

Kristine Sickels: I think any time that a leader defines their values, one of the best things you can do when you’re walking into a new team, a new organization, is to immediately share those with with your team. And that can be through storytelling and how you got there, why these values are were shaped in you, whether it’s how you grew up or from other leaders that were examples to you. But absolutely telling people, hey, these are three values that really matter to me. And I think a great thing to do is explain how that’s going to influence how you communicate, but also to let your team know, challenge me if I’m not living those out, if I say that optimism is something that I’m going to bring to a meeting and discussion, and all of a sudden I walk in as a Debbie Downer. I want my colleagues, my team, my organization to let me know that I missed it. We’re all human. We’re never going to get it right 100% of the time. But being communicative about what you stand for is important because then people understand where you’re coming from. And so many times, you know, work can be so transactional and we forget, you know, there’s humans behind this. We’re out there trying to drive the results, get the work done, etc. and we forget that each one of us has a different thing that drives us. And sharing those upfront can be so helpful and make sure that there’s no confusion or misunderstanding within your team or your colleagues.

Lee Kantor: And I agree about the clarity element of this, because I think that culture and clarity go hand in hand. And I don’t think that people value the communication element when it comes to, uh, culture and to your point of you sharing your values when it comes to, um, how you communicate and lead. I would think that it’s just as important for you to understand those same, you know, let make all your people tell you their three things so that we all can get on the same page and we can communicate with clarity.

Kristine Sickels: Yeah. And I, I think that’s so important. And that’s one of the things that one, this is a time when I think it’s really important for leaders to go first, right? So you share your values, but then as you start to have team meetings and one on ones that you ask your team to share that with each other, I wouldn’t just throw it on them because I feel like a lot of times people haven’t really thought about this. Um, until you challenge them and ask them to think about what do you stand for? What do you want to be known for within the organization? And so giving the team the time to think through it and really identify what they want to be known for within an organization and then giving them the time to communicate it to you. And also their peers can be really powerful. And that takes trust. It takes some vulnerability for sure. Uh, but I believe to your point, it’s so much tied to culture. Uh, and what we bring as leaders and, uh, we spend a lot of time talking about company values. We put them on walls, we talk about brand values, we write them down and want everyone to live those. It’s just as important for us as leaders to identify our values and communicate that to each other. It starts to then build that common ground and that communication that we’re all striving for.

Lee Kantor: Now, in your work, you, um, you obviously work with leaders to help with their communication, but, uh, some of your work is also about public speaking, right? Isn’t that an element of your work as well?

Kristine Sickels: Yes. So Mic Drop Workshop, the company that I lead, we help women become public speakers. So we have an education platform where we teach women how to develop a keynote and also to build their marketing materials around that and how to book themselves on stages. And, you know, there’s so many events out there, conferences. And then also a lot of organizations love to bring in outside voices and perspectives. And I believe it’s just really important that we have women voices in these rooms. And the thing that I experienced firsthand is I was planning my own meeting when I was leading a global team of about 200 people, and I’m a leading a marketing team. And 75% of my team was women. And I had an event planner who kept teeing up speakers to me, but none of them looked like my team, and I knew it would just be so much more powerful for them to hear from a voice of someone that has stood in their shoes and has lived a similar type of of life and lifestyle. And so that’s why I’m really passionate about helping more women get on stage.

Lee Kantor: And then is this, do you think, um, for women leaders, is this kind of a must have skill or a nice to have skill?

Kristine Sickels: Well, public speaking, no matter what people call it a soft skill, but it is absolutely in my mind a power skill. And as I mentioned, there’s data out there anywhere from 75 to 80% of people. And it even skews higher for women are afraid of public speaking. But when we think about the organizations that we work in, it’s not necessarily about getting on stage. That’s great. But day in and day out are organizations are hiring us to use our voices. And so if we are not doing that, then we are not serving our company well. And I talk about this in the book that there’s a real cost to silence within companies. And so it’s so important for us to speak up and make sure that the ideas, the risks, the things that we’re seeing are becoming known to the organization because silence comes with a real cost. It can be a cost to your career, or it could be a cost to the bottom line of the company that you’re working for.

Lee Kantor: Now, before a person comes to you for coaching and to improve their speaking, what is kind of happening in their world where they feel like, oh, I better, you know, get in touch with Kristine and her team, like what’s happening right before? Is it that they didn’t get that promotion? Or maybe they thought they had it in the bag, and then all of a sudden somebody else is now in charge and you’re like, how did this happen? Like, is there something that is physically happening, a sign or a signal that tells them, I have to upskill here that this is holding me back?

Kristine Sickels: Yeah. Well, Sometimes what I see that brings people to this realization that I have to get better at speaking is they get some sort of vague feedback like, you should focus on your professional presence or executive presence, or we’d like to see more confidence in you. And the disconnect is they know I absolutely am an expert in my field. I add value to the organization, but the feedback that they’re getting is nothing to do with their actual skills. It has to do with these vague words that no one can really describe professional presence, executive presence, confidence. And many times, though, that then translates into speaking. And so that’s one of the first triggers that I see that often women get, they get this feedback around, you know, presence and identify that speaking is something that could really help them with that.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share that maybe illustrates what it’s like to work with you and the team? Don’t name the individual, but maybe share the challenge they came to you with and how you were able to help them get to a new level.

Kristine Sickels: Yeah. Well, there are so many times that I’ve helped with leadership team meetings. And there’s one particular where, uh, was working with an entire leadership team, all senior executives who are getting ready to prepare for one of their, uh, leadership conferences when they were actually just presenting the strategy of the organization with their team. So there weren’t strangers in the room. Um, but I help organizations many times think about what is the messaging that you want to bring to the organization, and then how are you going to deliver it? And, uh, there was a one person in particular who she was just extremely nervous. And we were going through sort of the practice Session. And she was, you know, shaking visibly. And, uh, I had the opportunity to work with her and remind her. And one of the biggest things that we talk about in mic drop that I just think is such a helpful comm comm concepts for people to think about is that we can decide that either we are a spotlight speaker, which means all the spotlight is on us and it makes us extremely nervous because we think people are looking at us or they’re waiting for us to mess up, or we can be a lighthouse speaker and a lighthouse speaker. Is that, hey, it’s not about you. It’s about what you are trying to guide your audience or your team through. And that, I find, is a big aha moment for so many people who are speaking because they’re constantly thinking that the spotlight is on them. But when you get them to flip the script and remember that this is really about what you’re communicating and that you’re trying to help and guide the audience and that people, most people are not watching and waiting for you to fail up there on stage or to fail in a meeting. We’re all colleagues and want to work together. And when you take that concept and really get that in your mind, it does help settle the nerves and change the mindset of how you walk into any room.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, that’s a great way to reframe it. I mean, I’m sure it’s, that’s like an epiphany for some folks.

Kristine Sickels: Yeah, it really is.

Lee Kantor: Now, in your work, do you have kind of an ideal client profile? Is there kind of the sweet spot for you in terms of the work that you do?

Kristine Sickels: Well, at my job, we we do focus on two different audiences or clients. One is exactly what we’re talking about. So we do workshops that are specifically within corporate environments to help people become better presenters and presenters that help guide to decision making. Right? And so we have workshops that help people think about the mindset that they walk into how to map out a presentation, and then that moment when they deliver it. And so what are the delivery techniques, whether it’s tone or eye contact that we use. And so that is our B to B side when we work with companies and organizations. And then also we do help women become public speakers so that there are so many individuals, maybe they’re at a new time in their career where they have a story to tell, or they have a concept that they’ve developed, and they know that it can help others on a broad scale. And so we have classes and courses where we teach people exactly that, how to build your keynote and then how to deliver it and actually get paid doing it.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody out there wants to learn more about what you got going on, get a hold of the book. What is the website? What is the best way to connect?

Kristine Sickels: Yeah. So the best way to connect with me is at drkristinespeaks. It’s drkristinespeaks.com and love for you to grab the book the Clearest Voice in the room. It is available on preorder right now on all online channels like Amazon, Barnes and Noble. But if you go specifically to my website, I’ve built a little playlist for you. I love music, and it’s a playlist that can help inspire you on how to use your voice. So you’ll get access to that if you buy the book directly off of drkristinespeaks.com.

Lee Kantor: And Kristine is spelled KRISTINE.

Kristine Sickels: Correct? Thank you.

Lee Kantor: Well, Kristine, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Kristine Sickels: Great. Thanks for the time.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.