Master Communicator and Influencer
Dr. Laura Sicola is a leadership communication and influence expert, speaker, author of Speaking to Influence: Mastering Your Leadership Voice, and host of the podcast, Speaking to Influence: Communication Secrets of the C-Suite.
Laura knows that how you communicate is your brand. It’s not enough to be the brains behind the operation; leaders have to be the face and the voice in front of it too.
A cognitive linguist by background, Laura’s coaching and training turns top-level executives and those in the succession pipeline into confident, inspiring leaders who can effectively translate their passion and expertise to get the buy-in they need for the results they want.
Whether preparing clients to captivate their audiences virtually or in person, on stage or on camera, for an interview, in the board room or just on the phone, her mission is to help leaders confidently and authentically master the 3Cs of “Vocal Executive Presence”:
- Command the room,
- Connect with the audience, and
- Close the deal.
Laura has spent over 20 years coaching, training, speaking and publishing on topics such as leadership communication and your brand, “virtual influence,” board relations, executive presence, public speaking, media readiness, storytelling, diplomacy and conflict communication, intercultural communication, investor pitching and more.
She has spoken to audiences in the US, Egypt, Japan, Spain, China, Canada, Denmark and Germany, and has worked with clients and students from around the world. Select clients include Accenture, Comcast, Chubb, GSK, Independence Blue Cross, HP, Vanguard, Amazon, Intel, Chemours, the US Department of Commerce, Kaiser Permanente, IBM, and Women Against Abuse, just to name a few.
LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH Laura
“Laura knows that how you communicate is your brand. It’s not enough to be the brains behind the operation; leaders have to be the face and the voice in front of it too.”
Laura has been an advisor for the TED Fellows organization, has coached over a dozen TED speakers, and has given multiple TED talks herself. Her TEDx talk: “Want to sound like a Leader? Start by saying your name right” has over 6.8 million views. She has appeared on Fox & Friends First, NBC10 @Issue and PHL 17, and has been featured in Fast Company Magazine, Forbes.com, WLS890AM radio Chicago, Coaching for Leaders podcast and more.
She earned her PhD in educational linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania where she taught from 2001-2013. She also has a BA in International Studies and Japanese from American University, and an MS in multicultural/multilingual education with a bilingual teaching credential from the California State University. She speaks Spanish as well as conversational Japanese and Italian.
She lives with her husband and children in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA.
Laura at Work:
