Own Your Weird: The Branding No One Talks About

Chaos to Clarity: The Systems Behind an Untamed Life

Send Lauri a message [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2389103/fan_mail/new] What if the reason your business feels stuck isn't the strategy — it's all the disconnected parts that nobody's connecting? Fractional COO Lauren Zaslansky Conner has spent decades doing exactly that: linking the systems, the people, and the purpose that most businesses leave siloed. In this episode, Lauren shares how a "jungle gym career" — moving through corporate, startup, and fractional consulting worlds — taught her that everything is connected: work, family, finances, identity. We talk about the Disney turning point that changed everything, what it takes to navigate bureaucratic blobs when you're advocating for a child with special needs, and why she describes herself as "the fascia of the business." If you're a founder who can't take a vacation without everything falling apart, or a leader trying to make sense of the whole from the parts — Lauren's work and way of seeing will land. TAKEAWAYS 1. The jungle gym beats the ladder. Careers that loop, leap, and explore build more transferable wisdom than a straight upward climb — and they feel more like play. 2. Everything is connected. What looks like a business problem is almost always also a health, relationship, or confidence problem. Systems thinkers know you can't fix one without looking at the whole. 3. Chaos is the entry point, not the obstacle. When life handed Lauren simultaneous job loss and a new diagnosis, she didn't collapse — she went into systems mode. Crisis can clarify what matters and what needs building. 4. Be the fascia. The heart has a job. The brain has a job. And the fascia connects them. The most valuable leadership often happens in the connective tissue between teams, functions, and people. 5. Learn the language of every system you're navigating. Whether it's a corporate bureaucracy, a school district, or a county service system — every institution has its own acronyms and power structures. Learning them is a survival and advocacy skill. 6. Founders who are the only ones holding the whole thing together haven't built a business — they've built a job they can't leave. If you can't take a vacation, that's your first clue.  Connect with Lauren LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenzaslanskyconner/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenzaslanskyconner/] Email: lauren@zazbusinesssolutions.com Soul Sucker Quiz [https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/] Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free! https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz [https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz-embed/] 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/ Support the show [https://buymeacoffee.com/laurismith] 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/ [https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/] Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ [https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/] Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/] YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646 [https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646]

Leadership As A Choice

Send Lauri a message [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2389103/fan_mail/new] What if the greatest leadership credential isn't a title or a degree — it's the moment you realized you had no idea what you were doing? Charlie Sheppard — founder of the Human Presence Institute and president of Sheppard Partners — spent four decades helping executives and teams develop presence, influence, and real communication. But it started somewhere much humbler: a management role he wasn't ready for and a feeling he describes simply as "woefully unprepared." In this bonus episode, Charlie shares the discovery path that moment set him on — from modeling great leaders through NLP, to building the Drama Triangle into a leadership tool, to why presence (not information) is the differentiator that AI can't replace. Plus: bungee jumping as an untaming practice, sourdough bread as a leadership parable, and the most honest pivot pivot answer in Untamed Leader history. KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. Feeling like a fraud early in your career can be the beginning of a true learning path.  2. The Drama Triangle (adversary, rescuer, victim) shows up even in the simplest moments. 3. Leadership is choosing your energy state, not just your words. 4. Vision is an antidote to drama. 5. One form of untaming is practicing the edge until the edge becomes comfortable — then finding a new edge. 6. Presence — not information — is the coin of the realm now. AI can outperform any human on information retrieval. It cannot replace the energetic that announces you before you walk in the room. 7. We're often so focused on how far we haven't come that we miss how far we have. Leaders need people around them who will help them notice the mile-markers on the journey. Connect with Charlie https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesheppard/ https://www.sheppardpartners.com/ Soul Sucker Quiz [https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/] Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free! https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ Support the show [https://buymeacoffee.com/laurismith] 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/ [https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/] Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ [https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/] Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/] YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646 [https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646]

Post-Crisis: The Leadership Gap No One Talks About

Send Lauri a message [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2389103/fan_mail/new] What happens to a leader's clarity after the crisis passes — when things go quiet and the pressure turns inward? Savio P. Clemente, TEDx speaker, journalist, bestselling author, and two-time cancer survivor, brings that answer from somewhere most guests never travel: 29 days of silence in a hospital quarantine room. In this episode, Savio and Lauri explore a hidden gap in leadership — not the crisis itself, but what follows it. They unpack metacognition as the edge beyond emotional intelligence, what it actually means to reframe suffering without minimizing it, why healing is never linear, and how the human capacity for presence is the one thing AI will never replicate. This is a conversation about what gets forged in the dark — and the kind of leader that comes out the other side. KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. The post-crisis leadership gap happens when the crisis focus lifts and turns inward.  2. Metacognition is the frontier beyond emotional intelligence — it's not just noticing your emotions, it's watching who is doing the noticing. 3. Healing is not linear. It moves in spirals. What looks like regression may be a deeper layer of the same lesson returning. 4. Surrender is a leadership skill.  5. Body autonomy isn't just physical — it includes knowing your own motivations, drives, and what dims your light before anyone else does. 6. Strength isn't imperviousness. Courage is facing the thing, not pretending it isn't there. 7. Our fear in facing mortality often isn't death — it's the fear of having left unlived the thing we came here to contribute. 8. AI can approximate information, but it cannot replicate the resonance, signal, and pattern of human presence. That's where leadership lives. 9. Self-regulation isn't about suppression — it's about creating enough psychological distance from the problem to come back to yourself, then respond from there. Soul Sucker Quiz [https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/] Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free! https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz [https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz-embed/] 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/ Support the show [https://buymeacoffee.com/laurismith] 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/ [https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/] Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ [https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/] Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/] YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646 [https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646]

Own Your Weird: The Branding No One Talks About

Send Lauri a message [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2389103/fan_mail/new] Personal branding expert and visual designer Rachel Lee [https://linkedin.com/in/racheltylee/] built her brand by doing something most people are terrified to do: she showed the world exactly who she is — messy edges, weird quirks, and all. The response changed her life. In this episode of Untamed Leader, Rachel [https://instagram.com/racheltylee/] shares how she went from a rule-following, approval-seeking "good girl" to co-founding Neogenesis [https://neogenesis.me/], a visual branding agency built specifically for creatives and misfit entrepreneurs who are ready to own their weird. Her story is about what happens when you stop curating yourself for other people’s comfort — and start letting your brand be a mirror of who you actually are. We talk about: * What the 2019 upheaval that changed everything actually cost her — and what it gave her * The Frankenstein business most entrepreneurs build before they find their real brand * Why a "curated storefront" brand is the opposite of what makes people trust you * The moment she decided to take her personality off mute — and what happened next * The difference between personal branding as strategy vs. personal branding as a mirror * What a permission slip actually means — and why you need one If you’ve ever felt the disconnect between how you show up online and how you actually are, this conversation will name that gap and invite you toward something more real. Takeaways 1. While showing up as you feels risky, it’s actually the most efficient path to the right clients. People who don’t connect with the real you aren’t your clients anyway. 2. Most entrepreneurs build a Frankenstein version of their brand by borrowing pieces from other people’s frameworks. It works just enough to survive — and never quite fits. 3. A "curated storefront" brand creates a disconnect between what people see and who they actually get. That disconnect undermines trust before the relationship begins. 4. Branding isn’t a re-outfit — it’s a mirror. The real work is showing what’s inside, not constructing a strategic exterior. 5. Being seen fully — with all the weird and messy edges — and still being chosen is one of the most profound human experiences. It’s also the experience that turns clients into advocates. 6. The untaming journey often requires a period of radical disruption before it becomes an adventure. Knowing others have survived it matters. 7. Intuition often arrives before the language does. Rachel built her personal brand intuitively before she knew it had a name. That discovery happened after the doing. 8. Permission is the doorway. What most people need isn’t a better strategy — it’s the permission slip to show up as they are. Soul Sucker Quiz [https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/] Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free! https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz [https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz-embed/] 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/ Support the show [https://buymeacoffee.com/laurismith] 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/ [https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/] Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ [https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/] Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/] YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646 [https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646]

Fine Is a Trap: Breaking Free from the Work-Sleep-Repeat Cycle

Send Lauri a message [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2389103/fan_mail/new] What does it cost to keep saying "I'm fine"? Executive coach Lauren Lefkowitz broke both her shoulders chasing a Roomba. In this episode of Untamed Leader, Lauri and Lauren unpack the price of the work-sleep-repeat cycle — and what it takes to want more for yourself when you've spent a lifetime being good at everything except rest. Lauren is an executive coach and founder of Fine Is a Trap. She spent nearly 20 years in corporate HR, coaching on the side, and overworking at 80–100 hours a week — until she couldn't raise her hand to volunteer anymore. What followed was a real-life experiment in untaming: five-minute morning reads, boundary scripts, and learning that a goal without a plan is just a wish. They talk about: * Why high achievers can be the last to know they're drowning * The connection between "I don't want this" and knowing what you do want * What it feels like to finally have evenings and weekends — and why that's terrifying * The all-or-nothing trap that keeps ambitious women stuck * Small steps that actually stick (and why they outperform big leaps every time) KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. "Fine" is a lid. It keeps you from falling further — and from rising higher. The same word that protects you also becomes the ceiling. 2. High achievers are often the least equipped to see their own burnout. Being good at doing doesn't make you good at feeling. The skills that built your career can keep you from noticing you're barely surviving. 3. Wanting change and knowing how to change are two different things. You can desperately want something different and still have no idea where to start. That gap isn't weakness — it's just the next thing to solve. 4. Clarity about what you don't want is a valid starting point. You don't have to know what you want in order to move. Start with what feels wrong, icky, or off — and let the opposites reveal themselves from there. 5. A goal without a plan is a wish. Intention without structure evaporates. Real change happens in the tiniest, most boringly specific steps — not in big declarations. 6. The all-or-nothing mind is its own trap. If you can't do it all the way, it doesn't mean don't start. One five-minute read in the morning is the beginning of something. Perfectionism masquerades as standards. 7. Space is terrifying before it's liberating. When you stop filling every hour, the first thing you feel is the chemicals leaving your body. That discomfort is withdrawal — not a sign you've made a mistake. 8. Self-serving is a leadership skill. You cannot pour from a cup you've never filled. Filling your own tank first is what makes genuine, sustained service possible — not the martyr who runs on scraps. 9. You are not the most objective person about yourself. The things you can't see about yourself are exactly what other people can see clearly. Community and coaching aren't luxuries — they're mirrors. Connect with Lauren: Website: fineisatrap.com LinkedIn: Lauren Lefkowitz Soul Sucker Quiz [https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/] Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free! https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/ The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz [https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz-embed/] 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/ Support the show [https://buymeacoffee.com/laurismith] 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/ [https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/] Follow me on: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/ [https://www.instagram.com/voice_matters_llc/] Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-smith-voice-matters/] YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646 [https://www.youtube.com/@voicematters9646]