Ep 120 - Why Smart People Freeze on Stage (and How to Stop) w/ Nausheen Chen

You can be excellent at your job and still be overlooked if you cannot communicate your ideas when it matters. Speaking skills affect far more than stages and TED Talks. They shape who gets heard in meetings, trusted with responsibility, remembered by decision-makers, and considered for the next opportunity. In this episode, former Procter & Gamble communications trainer and filmmaker turned public speaking coach Nausheen Chen joins Cindi Baldi to explore what helps people communicate clearly and confidently under pressure. Together, they break powerful communication into three separate skills: confidence, messaging, and delivery, and discuss why learning to communicate under pressure can change the trajectory of a career. Nausheen shares the speaking techniques she uses with overthinkers and perfectionists, how to pull a distracted audience back, and the Stanford research that explains why some people build confidence faster than others after the exact same experience. Whether you are leading a meeting, presenting to executives, appearing on camera, or stepping onto a stage, this episode offers practical tools to help you sound as capable and credible as you already are. Episode Highlights: - Why confidence and speaking skill must be built separately - How improv helps perfectionists stop overthinking - What to do when you realize you have lost the audience - What body language reveals and the first steps to mastering it - The one question every speaker should ask themselves about the audience - How to turn past speaking experiences into future confidence About Nausheen Chen: Nausheen I. Chen is a 3-time TEDx speaker, a Public Speaking instructor for the Executive MBA program at Central European University and Wesleyan and a content creator with 500,000+ followers across LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok. Nausheen coaches leaders at Google, Amazon, NASA and the UN as well as startup founders to speak fearlessly. Her clients have raised more than $115 million through winning investor pitches and successful exits. Connect with Nausheen: Website | Linkedin Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gK7racEvoW0 Get your copy of *The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World* here.  → Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off. Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox: → Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of *The Uncertainty Playbook*. Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading: - Monarth, Harrison. "The Irresistible Power of Storytelling as a Strategic Business Tool." *Harvard Business Review*, March 2014. https://hbr.org/2014/03/the-irresistible-power-of-storytelling-as-a-strategic-business-tool - Stephens, Greg J., Lauren J. Silbert, and Uri Hasson. "Speaker-Listener Neural Coupling Underlies Successful Communication." *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*, vol. 107, no. 32, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1008662107 Join Our Community & Follow Us:  \- Youtube Channel  \- LinkedIn \- Instagram -Facebook -TikTok - Website