631: Create Influence By The End of 2026 With These 5 High ROI Moves To Change How Leadership Sees You

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities: Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

With only 97 days remaining in 2026, working harder probably won’t change that story. You need one unmistakable piece of new evidence. Today I give you 5 options to develop that evidence and multiply your influence.

In this Fun Friday episode, Laura shares five unexpected, research-supported moves that can change how senior leadership perceives you before year-end. From adopting a signature color and organizing a strategic lunch to recognizing overlooked talent, recommending what the organization should stop doing and claiming a problem nobody owns, each move communicates a different kind of leadership value.

By the end of this episode you’ll know:

🪝Create recognition through consistency. Learn how a distinctive visual or audio signal can make your leadership presence more memorable 🎉Demonstrate leadership by creating value for others. Use purposeful gatherings and meaningful recognition to become known as someone who connects people, develops talent and strengthens collaboration 💰Replace greater output with stronger judgment. Discover how eliminating low-value work or claiming an overlooked organizational problem can position you as an enterprise-minded executive

As of the release day of this episode, You have 97 days left in 2026.

That is 97 days to change how leadership sees you.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

Studies cited in this episode: Research on enclothed cognition Workplace commensality study Employee-recognition field experiment Nature study on overlooking subtraction

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

This episode explores how executive presence, leadership visibility, and a memorable personal brand at work shape your leadership reputation and career advancement. Discover a practical Q4 career strategy for high-performing introverts who want to strengthen their executive leadership skills, workplace influence, professional visibility, cross-functional leadership, executive decision-making, and strategic thinking. You’ll also learn how employee recognition and intentional leadership development can change leadership perception—and how to get noticed by senior leadership for the right reasons.

Topics covered in this episode: How to change leadership’s perception of you Five high-ROI executive-presence moves Using enclothed cognition and signature clothing at work How consistent visual signals increase memorability Organizing a cross-functional leadership lunch The relationship between shared meals and team performance Using employee awards to make invisible contributions visible How specific recognition influences workplace performance Why leaders overlook subtractive solutions Creating a strategic stop-doing recommendation Demonstrating executive judgment through prioritization Identifying problems that fall between organizational silos Taking charge without becoming the team’s permanent fixer Moving from individual contributor to enterprise leader Building leadership visibility without bragging Choosing a Q4 action that changes your professional reputation