Why Presence Beats Performance in Leadership (Most Founders Get This Backwards)
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What is the main topic of this episode about leadership?
We all live on AI now. I do. I run half my day through it. But somewhere in all that speed, something is quietly going missing. The thing that actually builds trust. The thing that closes deals, holds families together, and makes people feel like they matter. Human connection. My guest today spent years on a Broadway stage, eight shows a week, learning how to read a room and move people in real time. Now she teaches founders and operators how to do the same thing off the stage. Her name is Renee Marino, author of Becoming a Master Communicator.
Why is human connection essential in leadership?
We get into why your brain is moving too fast to connect, the two questions to ask before you ever hit send, and how to use AI to become more human, not less. Let's unlock it.
And we're back on another episode of The Vault Unlocked. And today we're talking about a world where we're living in is all about AI. And we want to make sure that is great because I'm a lover of AI. I think I live on AI. But somewhere along the way, there's a concept that we're going to lose and forget this thing called human connection. And today we have Rene Couture. Marina with us, who is all about how do we keep the human connection in a world of AI? Renee, welcome to the show.
Hi, I'm so happy to be here and talk about this very important topic.
I love it. I know just before the show, we were talking about a little bit of your past of you being a broad, I'm going to call you a Broadway superstar. But it was interesting because as we're talking about that, you were saying how the audience is live and every day or every evening, I should say, there's something called connection, right? You got to have this connection. The energy has this connection. So is that where you've learned about, like, let's say this connection and starting to see how people are getting disconnected with AI?
Yeah.
One million percent. And I'll actually rewind from there because where it really began for me was growing up as a little girl, Italian American in New Jersey. The most common place you could find me was sitting around the kitchen table with my family, eating, of course, we're Italian, eating, talking, sometimes arguing, but nonetheless communicating and connecting. So that element of connection for me was just bred. It was bred into me. And I thought that it was the norm. Because I'm like, oh, I come from a family that if something was wrong, my parents would say four words to me that I realize now made such an effect on who I become. Let's talk about it.
How can leaders avoid the trap of performative attention?
So if I was upset, if I happened to go to an audition and I didn't get called back, my dad would say, let's talk about it. And we would talk about it. And then I started getting into the real world when I went away to college and I started to see, oh, wait, this isn't the way everybody communicates. And I really got obsessed with understanding how people communicate and connect and why. And that really... connected so well to me being a performer because being a live performer, especially Broadway, it's all about connection. And as you shared, once you get into a show, you're on Broadway, it's the same show, eight shows a week, right? It can feel monotonous. You feel like, oh, I'm doing the same thing.
But for me, it never, ever felt that way.
What is the 10-minute morning practice for clarity and alignment?
Number one, I was getting paid to do what I loved, my hobby. and number two feeding off of the energy of the audience is what it's about because sometimes you get on stage and the the audience is just really subdued and you're like come on people you got to get me through this two show day but what you do is you you find those other parts of yourself to bring forth to to bring your best foot forward but then other days it's so easy because you get out there the audience is so pumped up they're screaming they're on their feet And as you know, probably even getting on stage now as a speaker, it's the same thing. You move forward through the energy and the connection of that audience.
Absolutely. And I mean, the energy is what feeds everything. So speaking of that, let's take a step back here.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic of this episode about leadership?
0:00–0:36
2
Why is human connection essential in leadership?
0:36–2:44
3
How can leaders avoid the trap of performative attention?
2:44–3:31
4
What is the 10-minute morning practice for clarity and alignment?
3:31–4:29
5
How does writing by hand enhance daily leadership?
4:29–7:21
6
What role does personal presence play in team dynamics?
7:21–9:22
7
How can leaders effectively communicate with their teams?
9:22–18:30
8
What actionable steps can leaders take to improve presence?
18:30–42:19
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Vault Unlocked
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