Leadership Lab: Confidence Skills, Emotional Intelligence, and Career Growth for Women Leaders

You don't need an hour, a cushion, or silence to meditate. Two minutes is enough to change how you show up at work. On this episode of Leadership Lab, host Jamie McKinney talks with Rachel Tenenbaum, NeuroTransformational Executive Coach and founder of I AM Living and co-founder of The Reset Room, about meditation for busy professionals, and what it looks like when your calendar is already full.

Rachel explains why closing your eyes for two minutes before a meeting does more than calm your nerves. It changes what happens in your brain, shifting how you respond under pressure instead of reacting to it. She breaks down how to meditate at work even on days packed with back-to-back meetings, and why a busy mind is not a reason to skip the practice.

There’s one story that stands out in this episode. A woman in the middle of high-stakes union negotiations noticed her fists were clenched. What she did next completely changed how she showed up, and they closed negotiations that day. Rachel also walks through the misconceptions keeping ambitious, high-achieving women from starting a practice, from thinking they have to clear their mind to believing that slowing down will cost them an edge.

Rachel coaches executives for a living, and she makes the case that easing stress at work and sharpening focus start in the same two minutes. Press play to hear Rachel guide Jamie through a two-minute practice before the episode even ends.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 The Myth of What Meditation Should Look Like

03:06 Meditation Is the Training of the Mind

08:06 What Happens in Your Brain When You Meditate

11:27 How Physicality Shapes Your Performance

16:41 Three Misconceptions Keeping High Achievers From Meditating

19:50 Working With a Busy Mind Instead of Fighting It

24:23 A Union Negotiation and the Power of Resetting Mid-Meeting

32:28 Meditation for Busy Professionals Who Only Have Two Minutes

38:54 The Sensory Walk and Everyday Mindfulness

41:57 A Guided Two-Minute Meditation to Try Right Now

Connect with Rachel Tenenbaum:

Visit the I am Living website 

Rachel Tenenbaum, MCC is a Master Certified Coach and longtime student and teacher of meditation whose work brings together neuroscience, mindfulness, and leadership. For more than a decade, she has worked with high-performing leaders, executive teams, and organizations, helping them better understand what happens in the brain under pressure and develop greater awareness, steadiness, and choice in how they respond. She is the Founder and CEO of I AM Living and Co-Founder of The Reset Room, and designs and leads executive offsites, leadership retreats, and intimate retreats for accomplished women leaders. Rachel is also a certified Meditation and Mindfulness Instructor, guides meditations on Insight Timer, and serves as a CHIEF Guide for senior women executives. At the heart of Rachel’s work is a belief that meditation isn’t about escaping the demands of our lives or becoming less ambitious. It’s a practice for becoming more present inside them, and for changing how we meet ourselves, pressure, and the choices we make within it. 

Connect with Jamie McKinney:

Visit Jamie's website

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

That instinct to soften your ask, apologize first, or ask permission before you speak could be costing you the room. Jamie McKinney says confident communication starts with spotting five common forms of powerless speech and swapping them for language that gets you heard.

Jamie points to a research from Stanford on performance reviews that shows women often receive vaguer feedback than men, then connects that pattern to the qualifying language that can show up in our own workplace communication. She shares the exact fix for one of the most common habits at work, asking for permission when you should be stating a fact.

Jamie also explains why unnecessary apologies can weaken the way you make your case for a promotion, and why holding silence after a hard ask changes the tone of a negotiation. She closes with the one-line question that can reopen the conversation after a no, a move built for anyone working on executive presence, assertive communication, or self-advocacy at work.

Tune in for all five phrases, five swaps, and the confident communication skills that change how you are heard in your very next meeting.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 What Confident Communication Sounds Like in a Meeting Request

02:15 The Stanford Study on Powerless Speech in Performance Reviews

07:00 Permission-Seeking Language and How to Fix It

09:28 Why Apologizing at Work Undermines Your Promotion Case

14:18 The Disclaimer That Discounts Your Ideas Before You Speak

16:21 Backpedaling and the Power of Holding Silence

18:44 The Premature Surrender and the Question That Reopens a No

21:07 Turning These Five Swaps Into Daily Practice

Connect with Jamie McKinney:

Visit Jamie's website

Get Jamie's Power Phrases Guide

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Most negotiation advice tells you to push harder or hold your ground longer. Jonathan B. Smith says the real leverage is empathy.

Jonathan is a negotiation expert and trainer with The Black Swan Group. He trained directly under Chris Voss, co-authored the bestseller Fight Less, Win More, and has spent years teaching executives how strong negotiation skills come from understanding the other person before you ever state your ask.

Jamie and Jonathan break down how to read the room in a negotiation using a technique called labeling, why staying quiet after a hard question works better than filling the silence, and how a Chris Voss negotiation technique called a no-oriented question prompted a response just 11 hours after months of silence.

They also unpack tactical empathy as applied emotional intelligence, the exact phrasing Jonathan uses when a prospect or professional contact has gone quiet, and a simple daily habit that builds negotiation skills in low-stakes moments like a rideshare ride or a rental car counter. Jamie shares how 42 women in her program collectively added nearly a million dollars in compensation last year through their negotiation efforts.

If you've ever gone silent instead of asking for what you're worth, press play before your next hard conversation.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Why Empathy Beats Aggression in Negotiation

03:30 What Tactical Empathy Means

05:00 How to Hunt for Black Swans in Every Negotiation

08:33 The Label That Changed a Security Guard's Whole Demeanor

12:51 Why Dynamic Silence Makes People Talk

16:12 The Three Negotiation Tones and When to Use Each One

19:14 Why Data and Logic Alone Never Close a Deal

23:12 The CAVIAAR Method for Getting Into the Right Frame of Mind

26:58 The No Oriented Question That Beats Ghosting

34:39 Practicing Negotiation With an Uber Driver or a Rental Car Counter

Connect with Jonathan B. Smith:

Newsletter - Salary Negotiation - https://www.blackswanltd.com/newsletter/topic/salary-negotiation  CAVIAAR Method

Purchase your copy of Fight Less, Win More

Jonathan B. Smith is a negotiation expert and trainer with The Black Swan Group, and author of the best-selling book Fight Less, Win More. Trained in Tactical Empathy® by former FBI negotiator Chris Voss, Jonathan helps leaders navigate high-stakes conversations with clarity, confidence, and connection. In Fight Less, Win More, he and co-author Derek Gaunt reveal how to apply field-tested negotiation techniques, from active listening to uncovering hidden motivations, to everyday business and personal interactions. The book offers practical guidance for reducing friction, resolving conflict, and achieving better outcomes without manipulation or compromise. A former entrepreneur and seasoned business coach, Jonathan has helped thousands of executives scale with intention and communicate with impact. Whether working with CEOs or family-owned businesses, he teaches a simple truth: the key to negotiation isn’t talking more, it’s listening better. Jonathan is a Commercial Pilot, dog trainer, and avid offshore fisherman.

Connect with Jamie McKinney:

Enrollment is open for the 3 Pillars of Leadership course! Find more info and book your Discovery Call

Visit Jamie's website

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

What do 94% of female C-suite executives have in common? They played sports. On Leadership Lab, host Jamie McKinney talks with Bonnie Bernstein, founder and CEO of Walk Swiftly Productions. Bonnie spent three decades as an Emmy Award-winning journalist covering the NFL, NBA, MLB, and college sports for ESPN, ABC, and CBS. She created ABC's The Champion's Edge, a series that follows women athletes turned business leaders across law, medicine, and the C-suite.

Bonnie tells Jamie about the moment the idea for the show hit her, 10 years before it aired. She talks about the years of “no” she heard while building a database of more than 250 women, and the two questions she asks herself every time a pitch falls flat.

The conversation turns personal too. Bonnie describes a health scare that landed her in a hospital bed alone, and what it taught her about burnout and self-care. She and Jamie talk through resilience, career confidence, and why so many women in leadership trace their instincts back to a locker room instead of a boardroom.

Press play to hear the weekly practice Bonnie uses to find her own North Star, and the sports lessons for career success she has picked up from hundreds of female athletes turned business leaders who made the same leap she did. New episodes of Leadership Lab drop every week.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 The 94% Statistic Behind Women Athletes and the C-Suite

03:58 Breaking Ground as Reno's First Female Sports Anchor

06:33 The 10 Year Origin Story Behind The Champion's Edge

08:19 Turning Rejection Into Fuel While Building a Platform

09:19 Reframing No as Another Opportunity

10:43 Why Relationships Drive Career Breakthroughs

11:32 Leadership Lessons for Women Who Never Played Sports

16:42 Leadership Shows Up Far Beyond the Boardroom

19:36 Why Failure Is Part of the Path to Success

21:38 Rejection as an Invitation to Reevaluate Your Circle

23:36 Staying Grounded While Breaking New Ground

24:43 When Ambition Turns Into Endurance Instead of Fun

27:49 A Health Scare That Changed How Bonnie Works

28:23 Learning to Say No Without Fear

30:54 Meditation as a Foundation for Resilience

33:23 Building Community Through The Athlete Effect

35:47 A Weekly Experiment to Reclaim Your Purpose

37:54 Why Coaches Matter for Women in Leadership

Link: Listen to the previous episode

Connect with Bonnie Bernstein:

Know more about Bonnie 

Connect with Bonnie on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Champion’s Edge's Youtube channel 

Listen to the The Athlete Effect on Spotify 

Listen to the The Athlete Effect on Apple Podcast 

Listen to the The Athlete Effect on Audible

Connect with Jamie McKinney:

jamiemckinney.com/lab 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

You do not need the deepest voice or the tallest frame to own a room. Executive presence is a skill that can be learned at any stage of your career. Jamie McKinney's guest this week has spent more than a decade teaching it to Fortune 10 leaders, yet he developed those same skills himself as a self-described shy kid who once wanted to disappear.

Jeff Davenport, an executive communication coach at Davenport Communications, joins the Leadership Lab to share how to build confidence in public speaking without faking a thing. He breaks down the opening framework he uses to earn an audience’s trust from the first sentence. It is a step many speakers skip when they begin with a topic instead of giving people a reason to listen.

Jeff and Jamie also cover how to sound confident at work when your body wants to shrink instead of stand tall. He explains a simple physical reset borrowed from research on power poses, one that shifts your voice and posture in seconds, and shares a four-step approach to what to say when you don't know the answer, one that builds trust instead of exposing a gap.

For anyone who wants to command a room without changing who they are, this conversation offers practical language and physical cues you can use in your very next meeting.Press play and start practicing before your next high-stakes moment.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Why Executive Presence Has Nothing to Do With Height or Volume

03:07 The Shy Kid Who Became an Executive Communication Coach

04:49 Why Imitating Great Speakers Builds Your Own Voice Faster

07:31 The Top Button Rule for Opening Any Talk

09:52 Empathy Authority Agenda for Audiences Who Do Not Speak Your Language

12:32 The One Question That Should Drive Every Presentation

15:07 How to Build Confidence in Public Speaking Before You Walk In

17:00 Becoming the Subject Matter Expert in the Room

18:02 A Four Step Script for What to Say When You Don't Know the Answer

21:07 The Body Brain Feedback Loop for Instant Confidence

24:00 How to Stop Mumbling With Your Hands and Take Up Space

28:25 How to Stop Nervous Tells Like Shaking Knees

30:46 The Three Ways People Show Up in a Room and Which One Wins

33:21 What to Do the Moment You Make a Mistake

39:11 Why Raising the Stakes in Your Head Makes You Worse Not Better

42:21 Teaching the Next Generation of Women to Speak With Authority

45:13 One Experiment to Practice Executive Presence This Week

About Jeff Davenport

Jeff Davenport has more than a decade of experience as an executive communication coach, acclaimed speechwriter, and keynote speaker. During a long stint at the legendary leadership communication agency Duarte and now at Davenport Communications, Jeff has worked with Fortune 10 C-suite executives, engineers, and sales teams, improving their communication skills. Whether he’s doing 1:1 coaching or leading dynamic workshops, Jeff helps diverse professionals enhance their communicative impact.

Connect with Jeff Davenport:

Visit ⁠the Davenport Communications website⁠

Get Jeff's communication course

Connect with Jamie McKinney:

⁠jamiemckinney.com/lab 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Women are often told to be clear, confident, and decisive, then questioned the moment they are. Cyre Mercedes Quiñones knows that tension well, and she has built her leadership around proving that direct does not mean aggressive.

The CEO of iMasons joins Jamie McKinney on Leadership Lab to unpack assertive vs. aggressive communication, the line so many ambitious women feel they're constantly walking, and how getting it right changed the way she leads. Cyre opens up about growing up in the Bronx with two parents struggling with addiction, the shame she carried for years, and the mentor who told her that trust is built through authenticity, not polish.That single piece of advice reshaped how she leads.

The episode covers courage vs. confidence in leadership, the real difference between bluntness and directness, and why imposter syndrome showed up even on the path to the CEO seat, and how she moved through it anyway. Cyre shares the phrase that changed how she shows up in every hard conversation, and why authentic leadership for women looks nothing like the loud, armored version so many of us were taught to perform. She also breaks down the difference between directness and bluntness, the distinction so many women mislabel as assertive vs. aggressive.

If you have ever wondered whether being fully yourself and being taken seriously can coexist at the executive level, this episode is your answer.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Meet Cyre Mercedes Quiñones, CEO of iMasons

03:19 Navigating Shame Without a Roadmap

05:43 Choosing Authenticity Over a Corporate Performance

09:39 How Vulnerability Helped Cyre Build Trust at Work

12:02 Assertive vs. Aggressive, The Difference Between Directness and Bluntness

15:44 Redefining Executive Presence Beyond Loud and Hard

33:06 Coach vs. Mentor, Building Your Support Network

34:39 Why Courage Comes Before Confidence

38:10 Leading Through Divorce and Personal Tests

41:11 Rehearse Till It's Verse, Beating Imposter Syndrome

43:11 The Vision for iMasons and What Comes Next

About Cyre Mercedes Quiñones:

Cyre Mercedes Quiñones is the Chief Executive Officer of Infrastructure Masons (iMasons), a leading global nonprofit professional association dedicated to advancing digital infrastructure for the benefit of people and the planet. With more than 15 years of experience spanning technology, business strategy, and digital infrastructure, Cyre has built a reputation as a transformational leader who brings together industry, government, and communities to solve some of the sector's most pressing challenges. Her leadership has been recognized globally, including being named the inaugural recipient of Data Center Dynamics' (DCD) Data Center Woman of the Year in 2023 and one of HITEC's Top 100 Hispanics in Technology. Cyre is passionate about building digital infrastructure responsibly—championing sustainability, community partnership, workforce development, and inclusive leadership. As CEO, she is positioning iMasons as the industry's trusted neutral convening authority and bringing together leaders across the digital infrastructure ecosystem to accelerate collaboration and deliver measurable, lasting impact for responsible infrastructure advancement around the world.

Links:

iMasons State of the Digital Infrastructure Industry - Annual Report 2025

Connect with Jamie McKinney:

jamiemckinney.com/lab 

How to Have a Difficult Conversation FREE Resource

Join the Leadership Laboratory Community

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

The voice telling you you're not ready? It has a name. And you can stop it.

Positive Intelligence for women leaders is the framework Jamie McKinney wished she had found sooner. She found it at the lowest point of her life, and when it worked where everything else had failed, she knew it had to be part of the Leadership Lab.

Through the story of Sydney, a driven and capable woman who spent 11 months rehearsing a conversation with her boss and never had it, Jamie breaks down why the gap is rarely about skill. It's about thought patterns. And thought patterns are completely changeable.

She introduces PQ, the mental fitness framework that sits underneath both IQ and EQ, and explains why it's the most malleable of the three. You'll learn how to spot the saboteur voice in your head, how to measure where you stand with a PQ Score Assessment, and how to use a five-step operating system to stop reacting and start responding. Sydney's score went from 23 to 74 in three months. Same woman, same job, same boss. Different mental operating system.

This is the episode for anyone who knows they're capable of more but keeps getting in their own way.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Why Your Mindset Is the Real Career Barrier

02:26 How Negative Thoughts Work (And Why You Have More Power Than You Think)

04:53 Sydney's Story: When Self-Doubt Blocks Career Growth

07:19 What Is Positive Intelligence for Women Leaders

09:45 How to Read Your PQ Score

11:53 How Sydney Went from a 23 to a 74 in Three Months

14:19 PQ Reps: Your Mental Fitness Workout

32:56 Saboteur vs. Sage: Hyperachiever and Stickler Compared

37:40 The Five-Step PQ Operating System

41:03 How to Hear Your Saboteur and Steer It

45:25 Take the Free PQ Score Assessment and Saboteur Quiz

Connect with Jamie McKinney:

Take the PQ assessments

Visit Jamie's website

Follow Jamie on Instagram

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the gap holding most ambitious women back - not IQ, not strategy, not credentials, not work ethic. Host Jamie McKinney believes EQ is the leadership skill almost no one was taught, and it's quietly keeping talented women from the next step in their careers. 

The good news? EQ is a skill. You can learn it and grow it.

Through the story of Kate, a high performer who landed a major promotion and then quietly started to unravel, Jamie shares why emotional intelligence is the foundation most leadership programs skip. She breaks down the two pillars of EQ you have the most control over, plus four shifts you can use before your next high-stakes moment.

The episode also digs into why EQ beats IQ as a predictor of leadership success, and why that gap keeps widening. As AI takes over more of the cognitive work, emotional intelligence becomes the skill that keeps you relevant and hard to replace.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 What a Weighted Vest Teaches Us About Emotional Intelligence

07:12 Growing Into a Bigger Role and Why Discomfort Is Normal

09:33 What No One Ever Taught Us About Emotions and Leadership

11:52 The Four Pillars of EQ and Where to Start

14:10 Why EQ Outperforms IQ in the Age of AI

16:28 The Difference Between a Real Threat and a Perceived One

21:10 The Hidden Cost of Low EQ on Your Career and Your Team

23:31 Curiosity vs Judgment: The Identity Shift That Changes Everything

25:58 How to Use Your Emotions as Data Points Instead of Liabilities

28:10 Shift 1: Name the Vest Before High-Stakes Moments

30:20 Shift 2 and 3: Separate Fact From Fear and Regulate Before You Respond

32:46 Shift 4: The Curiosity Move That Keeps You in the Driver's Seat

35:13 Kate's Turning Point and the Free EQ Assessment

Connect with Jamie McKinney:

Visit the Leadership Lab website

Follow Jamie on Instagram

Take the EQ Quiz

Listen to the previous episode - Identifying and owning your gifts

Book references:

(1) The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher

(2) Open to Work: How to Get Ahead in the Age of AI by Aneesh Raman and Ryan Roslansky

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Welcome back to the Leadership Lab, labcats! In today’s episode, host Jamie McKinney dives into one of her favorite topics—uncovering and owning your unique strengths, gifts, and superpowers. Too often, especially for women, we downplay or overlook what makes us truly exceptional, assuming everyone has the same abilities. But as Jamie McKinney reminds us, the qualities and skills that come naturally to you are exactly what fuel your growth, your happiness, and your indispensability at work.

Through inspiring stories, practical prompts, and actionable experiments, Jamie McKinney helps listeners recognize those “hit it to me” skills—the things you do with confidence, joy, and natural flair. Learn how to flex these strengths, build energy and resilience even during tough seasons, and communicate your value to managers and teams. Whether you’re looking to boost your leadership, create more visibility at work, or simply feel more lit up by what you do every day, this episode has the encouragement and tools you need to claim your superpowers and put them into action.

Let’s get ready to name it, claim it, and bring your strengths to the forefront—because when you own what makes you brilliant, everyone wins!

Welcome to episode 15 of the Leadership Lab podcast! In this special conversation, Jamie McKinney sits down with financial experts Kathleen Phillips and Chelsea Kessler to tackle a topic that is often overlooked in leadership circles: financial confidence and security. As women who grew up hearing that money talk was taboo, our hosts and guests break down those old paradigms to show how mastering your finances directly fuels your leadership skills and personal confidence.

You’ll hear inspiring stories of women who transformed their financial lives, practical advice on managing debt and savings, the difference between saving and investing, and concrete steps for building a spending plan that feels both empowering and aligned with what matters most. Kathleen Phillips and Chelsea Kessler share the lessons they learned through their own life experiences, and reveal how working with a trusted advisor can offer clarity, confidence, and accountability - without judgment or complexity.

Whether you’re single, partnered, just starting your financial journey or looking to refine it, this episode is packed with strategies and mindset shifts to help you take control of your money, and leadership future. Get ready to learn, experiment, and grow in both wealth and well-being!

We'd love to hear from you! For comments or to explore opportunities to partner, please contact us at [email protected]. 

Download your personal budget template here