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Former classical actress and equity-centered coach Megan Dowd joins Lauri Smith to unpack why the hardest role, on stage or in leadership, is the one with nothing to hide behind: yourself.

From a Shakespeare stage ruled by “the way it's always done” to a skipped safety rehearsal that pushed her off the stage for good, Megan reveals why convenience is never worth someone else's safety.

We talk clown training and the art of reading a room with nothing spoken, the role that taught her to command a stage with nothing but herself, and the question she now asks every client: what's the inconvenient truth of this season of your life?

Key Takeaways

• Untamed leadership means being willing to forgo convention when it no longer serves the people you're leading.
• Skipping a safety check for the sake of convenience reveals whose comfort is actually being protected.
• The hardest role to play — on stage or in leadership — is the one with no costume to hide behind: yourself.
• Real listening (audience, team, room) creates a spontaneity that over-rehearsing can’t touch.
• “You don't need those skills, you have them” can be the highest compliment disguised as a letdown.
• Naming the inconvenient truth of a season of life makes room to plan for reality, not an idealized capacity.
• Seeing people as individuals, not their status in the room, is a leadership strength — not a soft skill.
• Holding silence is a leadership skill not enough people train for

I’ve written a new book, Land Your Message, and I'd love for you to be a part of getting it into the world. Back the Indiegogo campaign, grab early access, or share it with someone who needs it: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/laurismith/land-your-message

The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz

Take the Speaker Alter Ego quiz to find out which protective mask hides your natural radiance so you can learn how to get present, connect deeply, and share your vision when it matters most!

https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/

If you love this show and you’re looking for some new shows to fill your queue, head over to feministpodcasterscollective.com to explore everything FPC has to offer.

Support the show

Thank you so much for listening!

Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance.
https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/

Follow me on:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646

Send Lauri a message

Certified life coach and culture strategist Joni Woods spent years being told who she wasn't: not smart enough, not leadership material, only useful for how she looked.

After a divorce, a devastating house fire, and a full rebuild of her confidence, Joni discovered that boundaries, not performance, were the doorway to belonging.

In this conversation, Joni and Lauri trace the line from a coaching program that told a 17-year-old Joni she'd "never be good at this," through 15 years of marriage where she stayed "the problem," to the divorce that forced her to finally ask what she wanted instead of guessing what everyone else did. Joni shares how she rebuilt her confidence one small proof at a time, why she now teaches boundaries as a house you get to control the entrance to, and how choosing kindness over bitterness every single day became the most radical form of leadership she knows. If you've ever performed your way into someone else's approval and lost yourself doing it, this one's for you.

1. True leadership grows people; it doesn't diagnose them and walk away.
2. Spending years guessing what someone wants from us builds exhaustion, not connection.
3. Rock bottom can be the moment you stop being "the problem" and start setting the example for yourself, and for whoever's watching you.
4. Confidence and humility aren't opposites. We can know exactly what we're capable of and still stay teachable.
5. The boxes people build for us (pretty, agreeable, obedient) are rarely about who we are. They're about what makes them comfortable.
6. Choosing our response (like kindness over bitterness) is the one thing that stays entirely ours, no matter what’s been taken away.
7. Molding someone into who you think they should be is different from mentoring them into who they truly are.

I’ve written a new book, Land Your Message, and I'd love for you to be a part of getting it into the world. Back the Indiegogo campaign, grab early access, or share it with someone who needs it: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/laurismith/land-your-message

The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz

Take the Speaker Alter Ego quiz to find out which protective mask hides your natural radiance so you can learn how to get present, connect deeply, and share your vision when it matters most!

https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/

If you love this show and you’re looking for some new shows to fill your queue, head over to feministpodcasterscollective.com to explore everything FPC has to offer.

Support the show

Thank you so much for listening!

Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance.
https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/

Follow me on:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646

Send Lauri a message

Executive coach Chip Scholz spent nearly 30 years helping leaders navigate change, and 25 years learning to lead himself. In this episode of the Untamed Leader Podcast, Chip and Lauri talk about what happens when the identity you built at work stops fitting.

They get into why being called a "team player" isn't always a compliment, the phone call Chip made two and a half decades later to make amends with someone he'd wronged, and why six frogs deciding to jump off a log doesn't mean any of them moved. Along the way: whether TED Talks have lost their edge, and the theater lesson called Semper Gumby that still guides how Chip leads today. If you've been mistaking your decisions for your actions, this conversation is your mirror.

• Deciding to change and actually changing are two different acts. Most of us stop at the decision and call it done.
• Identity built on title, visibility, or "being known" can quietly become the very cage we're trying to escape.
• Being a poor fit for corporate politics can be integrity refusing to compromise.
• Real leadership growth can take 25 years to complete.
• Directing a vision is not the same as controlling every last detail.
• Flexibility isn't the opposite of preparation. It's what preparation is for.
• You can't lead a team, a family business, or a room until you've done the harder work of leading yourself.

The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz

Take the Speaker Alter Ego quiz to find out which protective mask hides your natural radiance so you can learn how to get present, connect deeply, and share your vision when it matters most!

https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/

If you love this show and you’re looking for some new shows to fill your queue, head over to feministpodcasterscollective.com to explore everything FPC has to offer.

Support the show

Thank you so much for listening!

Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance.
https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/

Follow me on:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646