Lorraine K Lee: LinkedIn Top Voice and Stanford Instructor Shares Her Secrets to Unforgettable Presence and Career Success

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Welcome to the A World of Difference podcast. I'm Lori Adams Brown and this is. A podcast for those who are different. And want to make a difference. Hey friends, welcome back to A World of Difference, where we celebrate what makes us beautifully different and help you make a difference in your corner of the world.

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And today, buckle up because we are diving into something that could literally change the trajectory of your career. If, if you've ever wondered, how do I get promoted? How do I stand out on LinkedIn without sounding like a try hard and wait, why is my body language sabotaging my success? Then this episode is for you. I've got Lorraine K.

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Lee in the house, LinkedIn top voice, keynote speaker and best selling author of Unforgettable Presence. She's worked with Zoom, McKenzie, Cisco, you name it, and now she's here to. Teach you how to how to be. Seen, gain influence, and finally catapult your career. Oh, and before we jump in, if you're navigating a big shift in your work life right now, which I know many of you are, whether you expected it or whether you didn't, as many here in the US Are facing, you don't have to go it alone.

00:01:09
Check out my brand new course, Mastering the Career Pivot. It's at Loriadamsbrown.com careerpivot and it's your roadmap to get unstuck and move forward in confidence. So. So let's hear from Lorraine K Lee with all of her insight straight here from San Francisco.

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Go grab the Career Pivot course and then let's go.

00:01:35
All right, listen up, because this can change your life. If you've been feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or just not yourself lately, I need you to hear this. You don't have to go through it alone. Life is hard. Career pivots, relationships, stress, big decisions.

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So don't wait. Go to www.betterhelp.com difference and take that first step for your healing today. Hi, Lorraine. It's so exciting to be here with you in this conversation on a World of Difference podcast today. A very warm welcome to you there in San Francisco.

00:02:54
Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to chat with you today. I just want to go ahead and dig right in because I'm really excited about what you're going to share. You have a big book releasing, so we'll talk about that in a bit. But you, you have really been helping people to build an unforgettable presence, which is no small feat, especially for women, for women of color in certain industries.

00:03:13
But literally, you're helping people to be unforgettable. And so I would love to know what that means to you and why it matters so much right now, especially for these women and underrepresented leaders. The world has gotten crazier and crazier over the last few years, and especially in our workplaces, there are so many more distractions. There are so many ways that we might work together, right? Some of us are remote, some of us are hybrid.

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Some of us are just in person. Like, there's so many different facets. There's so many channels through which we communicate. And so this idea of becoming unforgettable is that it is really easy to get overlooked or to sort of fall to the wayside and people don't recognize your good work and your leadership and all the potential that you have. And so my goal with this book is to really help people to feel seen and to get the recognition they deserve and to really step into their full leadership potential.

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And stems from my own experience starting off my career in tech, where I worked so hard, I was really ambitious. I wanted to get that promotion, but I kept feeling like I was getting overlooked for those opportunities. And so I realized the way to really be seen, to build influence is by being intentional about our professional presence, which I define as both how and where you are seen. And I feel like that where piece is extra critical, especially today. Yes.

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So helpful. I really resonate with a lot of the things that you've been training on and teaching and what you have in your book coming out. Also, as a woman who works in tech and have observed many of these types of situations to various degrees in my work in talent development, my next question for you is really, what was that? Aha. Moment that made you realize that presence was actually the key to career growth.

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And it wasn't just hard work, it was a process. So after I left LinkedIn, I had this really great opportunity at this company called Prezi. I knew after leaving LinkedIn, like I learned so much there, I had a wonderful experience. But I realized, okay, something was a little bit off because I wasn't, you know, I was working hard, but I wasn't getting the recognition that I wanted. And so it took a lot of reflection, talking to mentors, peers, figuring out, okay, what, what was the missing piece.

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And I realized going into Prezi, I thought to myself, okay, I want to do things differently. I want to be a lot more proactive. Instead of assuming I will get that promotion because I've been at a company for a certain amount of time or because I've worked on important projects, like that's not enough. And you have to really be clear about your goals, what you're looking for. You have to check in regularly with your manager, with cross functional stakeholders, with your peers.

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And so there's a lot of conversations, a lot of self reflection that really got me to that point. And then the piece about presence specifically, I think that was a little bit more gradual where, you know, I kind of knew it, but didn't crystallize it or have a phrase for it. But then slowly, over time, people would say, oh, Lorraine, you have a really strong LinkedIn presence, or, oh, you have a really great video presence. And then I thought to myself, oh, well, people normally use the word presence when they're talking about executive presence, how you show up in a room. But here's people using this phrase, presence, to describe me, to have who they have a first impression of me even before having met me.

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Right. Like virtually or even in person. And then that sort of clicked and I was like, oh, presence, I think, is this very powerful thing that we can all take advantage of and be very intentional about through many different ways. So true. There's been a lot of conversation around that in the last several years.

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I know, with the great resignation and then the great reshuffle and, you know, remote and hybrid and in person five days a week. And all the things that we love to talk about here in Silicon Valley in tech, right. Whether it's based on research or not, there's a lot of especially male CEOs that want people back in the office three to even five days a week. And so there's a lot of, you know, factors we could get into all the nuance of that but what we are seeing sometimes is, especially for women, the visibility. It's almost like working twice as hard because of all the factors in our societies.

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And it's no one person's fault, but these factors just exist. They're just the ocean we breathe. I mean, the ocean we swim in and the air that we breathe. But I guess, like, the next question is sort of like, let's cut to the chase. Like, what are people not doing that's keeping them from getting promoted?

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The first piece of advice I have, and it sounds so simple, but so many of us don't do it, is to ask for what we want. I share the story in the book. My colleague Amanda, she was great. Everyone loved her, did great work. She had been at the company for some time, and I remember, I always thought to myself, it's kind of strange she hasn't gotten promoted in all the time that I've known her.

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And then I come into the office one day and promotions have happened and she got promoted. And I go up to her to congratulate her. I'm super excited for her. And I'm like, you know what happened? I know this is like something you wanted for a while.

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And she simply says to me, my boss didn't know that I wanted to get promoted. And once I made it clear, he was like, oh, okay, yeah, this is the right time for you. And that just blew my mind because to me, like, doesn't everyone want a promotion? Like, I'm very ambitious. Like, we're all ambitious.

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Like, isn't it just sort of like, it's unsaid? Right? You can just. People should just know it. But I think that was like, a very big eye opener for me that you do really have to ask and you have to make it clear.

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And again, in this day and age, like, there's so much happening, even if you have the best manager in the world, they are distracted with their own goals, the rest of their team. And so don't just say it once, but tactfully repeat it multiple times and make sure people really know what it is that you want. So true, 100% resonate with all of that, because there actually, in fact, are people who don't want to be promoted for various reasons. You know, maybe they don't want to do something that would require them to have direct reports. You know, we have a lot of engineers in the company where I work and across Silicon Valley, and if our career pipelines and our career pathways only have them climbing this corporate ladder from bottom rung, individual contributor to manager.

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And they actually don't want direct reports because they're just really good engineer. But there's not levels of engineer, sometimes that gets in the way. And so that's also something I've noticed. And so I think that when people are like, we're doing a lot of performance reviews right now, that's happening in my company right now. And so people are mentioning things they've done.

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I know that sometimes women get lose likability points even with a woman manager if you look too ambitious. So women often get all up in our heads. And so sometimes women are asking and that sometimes penalizes them. Do you have any suggestions or anything you've noticed in any research that would show maybe how to word it in a way that whether your manager is a woman or a man, that wouldn't penalize you for asking, like maybe give some people some wording on that. Sure.

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I think the first thing to do is to really ground any promotion case or any annual review in as many figures data as possible. And as much as you can, tie it to the company's bottom line because no one will fault you for, you know, managers want to know, leaders want to know, like, are you contributing to the company's bottom line? Like, they'll be happy to hear that. So anytime you can really ground it in facts and figures, I mean, that's not bragging, that's just stating things. And so I think that's one important way.

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And then perhaps good news for women or anyone else who really wants to, who feels uncomfortable talking about themselves. I'm an introvert, and so I also know this hits introverts hard. But there is a research in Harvard Business Review that shows that when you use more collaborative language like we, us, our, and you're really like lifting the team up, people actually see you as more of a leader versus people who use a bunch of I statements. People who use I statements are viewed as more junior. And so that's another way where it's not just I did this, but instead, oh, we as a team did this.

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And you're shouting out people. And that also builds a really nice team culture, I think as well from a leadership perspective to really highlight everyone as a group and then where it makes sense, you can call out certain things. But when you are leading a team and you're. And you're complimenting the team and shouting at the team, people know you're the leader. Right.

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You don't need to like be so explicit about it. So I think those are two ways that I have found have really helped me feel more comfortable talking about my work. So refreshing. And I think that resonates with a lot of us here who are difference makers and do are very collaborative as we work. We don't like shouting out ourselves.

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And so it actually feels more comfortable for a lot of us, especially in collectivist cultures. What's one simple thing someone can do this week that moves that needle toward promotion? I would like someone to, if you're looking to get promoted, to start having the conversation now and don't wait till annual review. So something I think very important that someone can do is to understand who's in that room when it comes time to promotion talks. I think that was something that took me a while to realize too, where it's not just your manager decides that you get promoted or not.

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It's every manager is getting together and they're all advocating for their own team members and you have to make a case for yourself. And so to know who's in the room and then once you know who's in the room, you can take those steps to go talk to them later. Make your ambitions known, make your goals known, and try to get that buy in right from different cross functional stakeholders who will be there. And also understand when promotion discussions start happening. It's really important to not just assume that, okay, once it's annual review time, this is when everything starts.

00:12:03
But everything starts, you know, three to six months ahead of time. Yeah, that's such good advice. You've worked with companies like Cisco and McKinsey. What patterns do you see in the people who consistently rise through the ranks? Well, I have to say it's people who are intentional about their presence.

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And I think, you know, one of the most important skills that we all need is communication, to be strong communicators, both verbally and written. And I think the people, and I'm also speaking from my own experience, the people who are willing to do the uncomfortable things. So something like public speaking, for example, is very uncomfortable to a lot of people. But to be able to raise your hand and say, hey, I'm going to speak over two minutes at this all hands meeting, or I'm going to present for 10 minutes at our functional marketing meeting when you can push through that and do the uncomfortable things. Growth happens when we're uncomfortable.

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So I think those people who are finding those moments and those pockets to really shine, those are the ones who ultimately get promoted stand out as leaders. Such good advice. So I'd love for you to talk about this. How do we shift from being liked, which most of us on a certain level want to be. I mean, there's a spectrum there for a lot of us, but most of us don't want to be hated, for sure.

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How do we shift from wanting to be liked to being respected as a leader without also kind of sacrificing that authenticity we bring? I think it is important to be liked at work, and I think building relationships is really the foundational piece of a successful workplace. Like, to be liked is important because people want to support people and help people and promote people and advocate for people they like. That doesn't mean you have to be someone you're not. But I think showing some of your true self, building those relationships outside of just, hey, Lori, I'm just coming to you anytime.

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I have a work thing right. Instead, like, oh, I want to learn more about, like your weekend. Or we just found out, like, our birthdays are coming up a day after. Yeah, April birthday. Like, just connecting on that more personal level I think is important.

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And then I think authenticity is a very important piece as well. And I think it's very exciting. There's some research around executive presence that shows that authenticity is something that people want more of. And if you compare 2012-22 leaders who have executive presence, those are the ones who exude traits like authenticity. So to be able to connect people is important.

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And then you always still want to be able to do the work, execute well, communicate clearly. Like, all those factors, I think lend themselves well to being respected, to be viewed as credible. And so it's that balance of like the personality. But then you also have to be able to execute on the work and then communicate well. So good.

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Love that answer. You're a LinkedIn top voice. I'd love to get your perspective on LinkedIn. It's being used quite a bit right now because you have a lot happening in the job market. You know, the stock market's doing wild things, recession talk is happening, tariffs are hitting everywhere.

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We've got doge, we've got all people career pivoting because entire industries seem to be getting slashed. And so as people are using LinkedIn, I would ask you this, what are most people doing wrong on LinkedIn? Where I think people miss the mark with LinkedIn is that they still think of LinkedIn as purely a job site. And of course, LinkedIn is an amazing job site. But LinkedIn is such a key part of anyone's presence in this day and age and profile.

00:15:17
Having that foundational piece all filled out, super important but if you want to uplevel yourself, if you want to stand out, let's say we have two profiles, Laura, that are exactly the same, but one person is creating content and engaging with other people. That person is going to look like a more viable candidate and have a more rich presence. And so to start being part of the community, commenting on other people's posts, maybe posting your own content once you get comfortable. I know it's kind of a scary thing, but that's something that we should all aim for at some point. I think that's very valuable to hiring managers, to even expanding your network, even if you are in a job, and to finding opportunities that you may not have expected.

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Like when you start posting, people will reach out for podcasts, to interview, for articles, to speak on panels. Yeah, there's a lot of opportunity out there that will build your presence. And again, like whether you are in a corporation or you're out on your own, like, it will benefit you either way. So true. Yes, I agree with that.

00:16:12
It's definitely a place to build community and have support because no one knows really where industries are going to go. And there's a lot changing right now, especially in my field of talent development. I've learned quite a bit of great new insights and AI tools from other people posting on LinkedIn about things that they're using, and it's really helped me bring those things into my workplace. So it's just, it's a really great place to like, learn from each other in my experience. What should every ambitious professional have on their LinkedIn profile today if they want to be seen and promoted?

00:16:41
I think the headline is an important place to start. A lot of us will do job title at Company and then we leave it at that. And LinkedIn actually gives us 220 characters in that headline. So quite a bit of space. And I think to start positioning yourself and being proactive about your, what I call in the book, your career brand, which is essentially your personal brand.

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But to start thinking about, okay, what is the, the value I add, what is my mission statement or value prop. And so instead of saying, you know, editor at Company, I might say, I'm very passionate about creating content that educates and inspires or likes, educates and inspires like business professionals. Right. So something a little bit more specific, you can get a sense of what I do, because editor can mean a lot of different things, a lot of different people. So when you start implementing branding, career branding, pieces like that throughout your profile, it makes you known for certain things.

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Because people visit each other's profiles, co workers profiles. And there's this really interesting stat that I like to share often. There's this group called the Rain Group and they say that 82% of buyers will look up a seller on LinkedIn before replying to prospecting efforts. So we're not all salespeople, but 82%. Like, I mean, Laura, you've probably had this experience, right?

00:17:55
Someone adds you on LinkedIn and you're like, who is this person? Are they spam or legitimate? And you like go to their page and you're like kind of doing a quick assessment. And so, yeah, like as much as you can sort of fill out and really showcase who you are as a professional, holistically, that's gonna make you stand out. And then again, whether you're in corporate, whether you're doing your own thing, like coworkers see that.

00:18:15
And when you can build that thought leadership outside of work, people see you more positively inside the company. Great advice. So talk to me about content on LinkedIn. Do we need to be posting weekly, monthly, and what's your go to formula for an engaging post when you're starting off? I would not say definitely not daily.

00:18:32
That's, that's gonna make you burn out really fast. Even weekly is kind of a lot, I think when you're first starting out, I'd say what I like to say is have really low expectations and goals for yourself. So I'm going to post once a month. You can definitely hit once a month and then you'll say, okay, that wasn't too bad, let me try twice a month. And you sort of build up from there.

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And there's three types of content that I talk about on LinkedIn. You have personal, educational and professional. And then sort of like the fourth invisible one is like promotional. But we'll talk about the first three. These are the three categories to really think about when you're posting content.

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Most people will want to live in the educational space because it's a little bit more comfortable. You're teaching your audience something. But eventually you might go into the professional, here's an article or here's something happening in the news and I want to add some commentary or share my insights around that. And then personal, where you're sharing your own experiences. So, you know, here's what I learned being a first time manager.

00:19:27
That was a post that I did and I shared some of the challenges that I went through and the imposter syndrome and this and that. That's probably one of the Harder ones. But I think if we can lean more into the personal or, you know, combine all three, that's going to be the ideal because people ultimately want to connect with people. We talked about the importance of relationships before. So that personal piece will really help you build up your audience and make people feel connected to you.

00:19:51
Love that. Yeah, I definitely see people doing all three of those. It gives me some thoughts as to what I can do more of. Yeah. So how do you use LinkedIn not just to network but to build real like influence?

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I think it's important to remember that again, people connect with people. And so if you start seeing someone who's commenting on your posts a lot, if you see a stranger who has an interesting background, be okay sending that message. I know it can be maybe a little bit uncomfortable reaching out to strangers, but I've met so many people reaching out and I've also accepted stranger requests and become friends with those folks. So I think that's just a very powerful thing. And when you meet people, it's not a one time meeting, but find a way to keep in touch with them if you connected with them and you like their story.

00:20:37
And so I think that's a very powerful thing. And to remember that it's okay to meet strangers because I feel like sometimes I talk to people and this one woman was like, I block off comments for anyone I'm not connected to and I only connect with people I've met. And to me that felt very limiting because I'm like, wow, there's so many people out here who you can meet who like strangers in your comments, who can become friends. And so yeah, to remember that, I think just stay open and be willing to chat with people and connect with people outside of your immediate circle and. Bubble that just to stretch us a little bit, you never know who's out there.

00:21:10
So for somebody who's maybe camera shy or feels awkward posting, you kind of mentioned that before. How do you recommend they get started showing up in LinkedIn or online with LinkedIn? I think the best thing to do is to start commenting first because like you said Lori, it is kind of nerve wracking posting and like having your name and just identity be associated with that content. And so I always say comments equal content. So find someone whose content you resonate with, who talks about things that you like talking about and try commenting.

00:21:41
And I don't want you to do the, you know, two to three word comments like I agree, congratulations. This makes a lot of sense, right? Try to aim for at least 15 words because that means that you are adding something, a value. I want people when they see your comment to say, oh, okay, this person has some insight around X topic. And oh, I learned something from this comment because they're adding something or they're asking an interesting question.

00:22:06
And so you really want again, comments to be a representation of you as a professional for people to learn something about you. But I think it's a much lower stakes way to start practicing that and start finding your voice. I love that. So in your upcoming book, An Unforgettable Presence, you dig into body language. This is something I train on too at work.

00:22:26
And I think it's so fascinating cross culturally and it really matters. Right. So one of the things I put out there for our at Hive Solutions where I work is, you know, this Dr. Albert Mcrah and study where we found out years ago, it's like a seminal study, that 55% of our communication is body language. And that shocks a lot of people when we first hear that.

00:22:43
And only 7% is words. So as you have been training people on video, which is definitely how we work nowadays, even if we're in person in the office, we're still doing video calls. Many of us all around the distributed teams, globally. You dig into a little bit of body language in your training and in your book. Why does nonverbal communication make or break our credibility?

00:23:02
Specifically, body language is so important, especially virtually. What happens when we are on camera is we are usually at home, so we're more laid back and we just rest our hands. I don't know why we just rest them on our keyboard or on our mouse or on our lap. And you can see me, Lori, like I'm using a lot of hand gestures on this. Yeah, on this call.

00:23:22
But like, it's just very natural. But I mean, we, our hands, like, if you don't think about it too much, like our hands will naturally move when we speak. And there is really interesting research that shows when we show our palms on camera, when we show our hands on camera, we appear warmer, more personable, more energetic, like all these really positive things. And they enhance a message. They are meant there to enhance what it is you're saying and to add to it.

00:23:45
And so it's an important way that we communicate. And so especially virtually, it's so easy to not have the right framing, to be sitting in a certain way that doesn't allow for our hands to show on camera. But again, when with that intentionality piece, that's a very common thing throughout my book, when we are intentional about. Let me get my virtual station set up so that I can in fact use my hands on camera and practice that. It really allows us to connect better with folks and also make sure our message lands better.

00:24:11
Love that. So good. We have to go a little bit extra sometimes on video. Exactly. Because we do get very relaxed, especially companies where people turn off their video and, you know, I think there are calls where that's, you know, necessary.

00:24:23
But as much as possible, we do communicate very differently when we, when we show our hands and when we show our faces and. And communicate with the body language. So what are your maybe top three body language habits people should just ditch. Just get rid of right now that are maybe holding them back and something they do instead. Ooh, something they should ditch.

00:24:40
Well, okay. I'll do like the flip side of like, I'm thinking about best practices. I'll go in the other direction. So eye contact is super important. Yeah.

00:24:48
And so in person, when we shake hands, the skin to skin contact releases something called oxytocin, which is a social bonding hormone. Same thing. That's what eye contact does. So what a lot of people do is they will not make eye contact on camera. And so they'll kind of like have their, you know, video camera here and they're looking off on the side.

00:25:05
So ditch that habit. Instead make eye contact. That would be one. And then I would say using your hands on camera is an important one. So even like a wave at the start and at the end of the meeting is I think, an important step and a kind of way to ease into it.

00:25:22
So I would say waving would be good and to stop keeping your hands on your lap. And then the third one I would say is this is like a tangential one, but make sure you have the right framing so that you can actually show more of your body on camera. So many people still like their head is towards the bottom of the frame. And so then, Lori, my head was here. You would be almost looking down on me and I'd be looking up at you and vice versa.

00:25:48
Like you don't want to be so high up and like close where it's like I'm looking down on you. Like you're not going to feel good about that either. So when we have the ray framing and the right perspective so that people are seeing us straight on with what's behind us, that will allow for a more natural feeling on camera, more natural interaction. Great advice. Really love that.

00:26:07
And we sort of just got thrown into COVID pandemic and Everybody doing this with, you know, kids and pets everywhere, and nobody really told anybody how to do it. And so we're still doing it all this time later. And it's really good to know what works and what doesn't work. So in light of that, how can remote professionals or hybrid professionals that are doing a lot of video exude presence? We talk about executive presence.

00:26:28
There's this whole gravitas aspect of thinking. But how can they do that over a video call like we're doing when they're not even in the room? There's a framework that I talk about in the book called the T method. And the T method stands for tech, energy and aesthetics. And these are the three essential criteria to think about anytime before you hop on a call.

00:26:46
I know there's. You can, you can go very fancy with it being virtual, right, and do a lot of things, but I don't want to overwhelm people. So I came up with the T method. Really just focus on the essentials. So tech, you want to make sure you have the right hardware and software.

00:27:00
And so I talk about the different types in the book that can be helpful energy. You want to make sure, not just that I'm awake for the call and kind of alert, but you want to make sure that you are keeping people engaged, creating interesting small talk, not just doing autopilot conversations. You want to make sure that you are giving people time to reset before the next call. So a lot of different things around that. And then aesthetics, you want to make sure you are have the curated background and curated environment as well as, you know, making sure that you're wearing the right clothing that makes you pop.

00:27:31
So you don't want to wear a white shirt. If you have a white background, for example, you kind of like blend into the background and so making sure you also have the right lighting and your face is lit up. I was telling you, Lori, at the start of our call, like, oh, you're so well lit, like, it looks great. So I can see you, right? You look professional.

00:27:46
And so I think really like what it comes down to is when you can set yourself up well for a call and you know, you're showing up, well, that does give a lot of confidence and make you, makes you seem more competent and more professional. And now that I, you know, once you see sort of the right way to do things, it's very hard to go back. And I think, yeah, it doesn't take, it's not too hard, right, to do all these things, but we just again, have to Be intentional, thoughtful about it and then it'll go a long way. And then you touched on this a little bit earlier, Lori. But also make sure to turn on your cameras, like anytime you can, because especially for us who are hybrid, who are remote, there's only so many touch points you have in a given day and you want to make sure that you are really taking advantage of those moments and being seen, Literally being seen.

00:28:29
Yeah, great, great advice. So very practical for us. So you have this hot new book that's coming out and everybody pre order, we'll put it in the show Notes. Unforgettable presence. What inspired you to write it and who did you have in mind when you actually wrote it?

00:28:42
It's a funny story. So I never had writing a book on my vision board, actually. There's so many things I' now that were never on my vision board, including running my own company, but such as, you know, the way life works. And I had become a LinkedIn learning instructor while still in my last corporate role. And my friend Arun, who was a former colleague of mine, he reached out, he said, you know, the course looks great, congratulations.

00:29:03
And then he sort of jokingly said, when's the book coming out? And that really planted a seed. And I think having people in your network, mentors, sponsors, peers who almost like, see the potential in you before you see it in yourself. Like, I felt, I'm so thankful that he said that because I was like, maybe that is something I can do at some point. And then it sort of stuck with me.

00:29:23
And then a few weeks later, another colleague I had met in person, who I met through LinkedIn, by the way, Jenny, who also has her own book that came out recently, Jenny reached out and we met up in person and she asked the same thing and like, oh, maybe there's something here. And so that was sort of the start of it. And then publishers reached out and then I was like, this is, this is the time to do. I have to capitalize on this moment. And, and it was interesting because I actually started trying to write a book when I first started my business a few years ago, and I couldn't formulate clearly, like, what the book would be about.

00:29:54
And when I did this next time, when the publisher reached out and I wrote a formal proposal, it was a lot clearer to me. And I think, yeah, I think it was really written for me, like when I was younger, you know, in my 20s in tech and the struggles I went through and, and I see so many people through my speaking, through my coaching, who go through similar struggles. And so this book is really for them, to help them grow their confidence and really have a practical guide that will help them become unforgettable and really grow their presence. Love that. Find that so many.

00:30:25
We have a lot of authors on here and of course, we're all difference makers here. We'd love to make the world a better place through various industries and bring our different perspectives together to do that. But I think so many people that write books, especially the best books that are helping us, are for our younger selves because we've learned to solve a problem somehow and we are, you know, maybe two steps further down the road, but that's all it really takes to help light that path going forward where people might not know how to get there. I'd love to know, is there because you talked about your business, is there a story or a client moment from the book that still gives you chills or really motivates you or causes you to feel something? I think probably.

00:31:03
I can't remember what chapter this is, but I wrote a chapter about the importance of virtual presence and I talked about a client or a student. I had a client student, Ivana, and I met her through a Stanford continuing studies course that I taught last year. And it made me so happy because she came to me and she knew that video was important and she was starting to pitch for a fellowship program at Stanford. And you only had like three minutes to make your pitch and get chosen and all that. And so, yeah, we worked together after the class ended and she won, which was amazing.

00:31:43
And so I think seeing those, yeah, success stories again, it doesn't take a ton and ton of work and time, but she was intentional about it. She really cared about it. We practiced. She took feedback well. That was just such a success story.

00:31:59
That made me really happy. And she's talk about change makers. Like she's creating some really innovative technologies in the healthcare space. So that was also like very meaningful that she won and could get funding for that. So excited for her.

00:32:10
Yes, we love especially women working in healthcare changes. There's a lot happening there right now, which is really exciting. I'm so glad that you were able to help her in that way. It's so much of our audience here, listening is going to resonate so much with that because so much of what we talk about here is you're never just helping one person. That person represents an industry, a family, a community, a village.

00:32:30
And so it just. You're never just reaching one person when you do that. And so it Sounds like she was definitely the kind of person who's making a difference in a lot of ways. You've created, we've talked about some of your frameworks already. You've created frameworks in some top companies and that they're using them.

00:32:44
Can you share maybe one framework that our listeners can apply right now as they're thinking about some of these things? Well, I love a good acronym, so I have a lot in the book. Okay, let's see which one is the best one. I'll choose one that we didn't talk about yet, the EPIC Career Brand Framework. And EPIC stands for Experiences, Personality, Identity and community.

00:33:05
And this seems to be one of the more popular frameworks so far. Essentially what this is is it's helping us think about what is our personal brand or what is our career brand. Because it can feel like a very big topic to tackle. And you're like, where do I even start? Like, I don't know.

00:33:20
And so these four criteria are meant to help with that. So experiences, we all have personal, professional experiences that got us to where we are today. So you think through those. Then you think about, okay, what is my personality? Maybe I'm more serious, more playful, I'm more introverted, which is part of my brand.

00:33:36
I talk about it a lot on LinkedIn. So knowing that and having others know your personality is also important identity. So knowing your cultural background, knowing also your values and things that are important to you in a working relationship. So I am an Asian American woman. That's part of my cultural values, but also, and part of my identity.

00:33:54
But also relationships are really important to me. And following through and being someone who people can rely on and they know if I say I'm going to do something, I will follow through. So that's an example of my identity there. And then the last piece, the C. The community is where we often forget about this because we might have a very clear picture of what our brand is.

00:34:15
But if our community does not see us in that way, if our network does not see us in that way, there's a bit of a disconnect. So we have to work to make sure that those things are in line. And so those are four steps to start thinking through as you think about your brand. So helpful, really helpful. A lot of people have been trained in how to, you know, build their personal brand, whether especially people like, I guess, that work in marketing.

00:34:38
But so many people don't and especially have come from industries where that was actually not only non existent, it was even maybe a little bit Taboo to even focus on. And so. But these days, the way that job markets are, especially here in the United States, we see it as more important. So I love the way you gave it practical handles. It's just putting yourself out there because actually your brand exists and helping you.

00:35:00
Being in the driver's seat of cultivating it, I think is a really important thing. And speaking of that, some people are, you know, wanting to grow in their careers that are listening. And so I'm thinking about that person who is considering this whole executive presence, this gravitas we kind of mentioned earlier. And what is, like, maybe a myth that people have in their brains about executive presence or influence that you talk about. You know, some people talk about doing a power pose.

00:35:26
That may work in some cultures, but not others. It may work better if you're a man or if you're a woman. Like, what are some things that are kind of myths about executive presence that you'd like to bust for us? One is that it's for executives. And I think it's an important one to mention because.

00:35:39
And that's why I talk about professional presence more holistically in this book. And just say, you know, executive presence is one piece of that puzzle. I think when we hear executive presence, we think, oh, it's maybe for people who are of a certain level or a certain seniority or a certain personality type. But that's not the case at all. And really, we should all be focused on building our presence, strengthening our presence.

00:36:00
So that's the first one, I would say. And I feel like executive presence, the phrase has. So. Can have so many, like, coded meanings behind it and, like, carries a lot of baggage. So, yeah, so I think that's just.

00:36:11
That's something that's not ideal about that phrase. And then influence, I think influence, there's a. There's a framework that I talk about in the book, the. The RAVE model. So that stands for relationships, appearances, visibility, and expertise.

00:36:24
And these are the four criteria I think, go into influence. But I think it's important to remember that all of these skills can be built, can be strengthened. And that's why I try to, like, come up with really practical tutorial frameworks, because executive presence, influence can feel very, like, nebulous. And you're like, what is that? Exactly?

00:36:41
And we all have our own definition. And so I think, you know, hopefully this book helps people ground it in something concrete that they can work on and to remember that we're all capable of building all these skills. I know we sometimes see people we're like, oh my gosh, it's like natural to them or that they're just like made for that. But we can all definitely learn these skills. So good.

00:36:59
Love that so much. Now I'm going to give us a. Little bit of a lightning round where. I'm just going to ask you just rapid fire questions and you just whatever comes up at the top of your head. You just, it doesn't matter what it is.

00:37:08
Okay. All right. What is a feeling word that you want readers to feel after they turn the last page of your book? Unforgettable. Present.

00:37:17
Empowered. Nice. First thing you do when you're nervous before a big keynote. 4, 7, 8. Breathing.

00:37:23
Love that one. Your favorite LinkedIn post you've ever written. Oh my gosh, I've written so many. I know my favorite is the one. Whichever one resonates with the audience, I think that's the most important.

00:37:34
Like I can have my favorites, you know, sometimes they don't resonate whichever ones are most helpful to the audience. I can't remember off the top of my head which ones those are. I'm sure there's many. You have so many to choose from, which is a good problem to have. What's the most powerful leadership advice you've actually followed?

00:37:50
Powerful leadership advice. I would say to be okay sharing things that you're uncertain about. I know. I was about to elaborate, but I know this is lightning round. So we're so curious.

00:38:01
Maybe do the book. It's a story. Okay, well, that's right. And what's one career risk you're so glad you took? Starting my business.

00:38:09
Huge risk. Yeah. Huge risk. Yeah. Congratulations.

00:38:13
Thank you. And last one is, what's your personal definition of making a difference? Ooh, I think positively impacting someone's life where they feel more confident, empowered, happy. Just something you're touching. Someone positively.

00:38:26
Love that answer. You are just such a delight. You're so full of just authenticity and your book and the things that you talk about are so helpful for the rest of us listening. Thank you so much for being here today. I will have you hang out with our difference makers and Patreon.

00:38:40
I'm going to ask you another question there in a bit, but let people know how they can find you and to pre order your book, of course. So you can find the book@unforgettablepresencebook.com and if you pre order, you get tons and tons and tons of pre order bonuses. So encourage you to grab your copy and then you upload your pre order receipt to that to that page. And then of course, you can also find me on LinkedIn. I'm @Lorraine K.

00:39:03
Lee. Thank you so much, Lorraine. It's been just such an honor to have you on the show. And thank you for all that you're doing to help people professionally to grow and thrive in their careers. Thank you.

00:39:12
Okay, can we just take a moment? Lorraine brought the goods to us. She brought the insight, she brought the information, she brought the research, she brought the practical acronyms and tools to help us move forward. If you were multitasking during this episode, washing dishes, having a conversation with somebody else, getting distracted by that crazy traffic on your commute, or maybe some weird person on the train was just being super, I don't know, distracting, then go back and listen and replay this episode because the insights on LinkedIn, presence, body language and getting promoted, game changers. And if you're sitting there thinking, I want more of this, I'm ready for my next big move, then I want you to go right now to Loriadamsbrown.com careerpivot because my mastering the Career Pivot.

00:39:55
Course will walk you through exactly how. To own your story, shift your purpose, and build the career and life you actually want. And hey, don't just listen to this podcast. Share it with five people that need that push, that presence, that promotion. There's a lot of people in Career Pivots right now.

00:40:09
There's a lot of people just wanting to grow in their careers across industries. You difference makers, I know how you are. You are growing and learning and developing your leadership skills and that often means you're switching industries. That means you're switching to a different non profit or corporation, or you're finding that your skills are a really good fit for some really exciting and challenging work in another industry altogether. And so this is something that can really help you work through that personally with some tools that have helped me years ago when I pivoted as well.

00:40:42
Because you know what, your difference makes a difference. It makes a difference in your life and in your work. And the world needs more of what only you can bring. So go pre order the book that Lorraine K Lee has written and learn more about your presence because your presence is out there.

00:40:59
And I want you, just as Lorraine mentioned, being at the driver's seat of crafting what is out there so that you can get that next opportunity to lead in a place that needs your skills and the difference that you're making. So until next time, keep showing up with purpose and keep making a difference. Hey friend, let's Talk. If you've been feeling stuck, uninspired or just plain over it in your career, this is your wake up call. It's time to stop waiting for that right moment and start making moves.

00:41:29
Because no one is coming to rescue you. If you want to check out the Mastering the Career Pivot. My brand new masterclass is designed to help you take control of your career pivot with confidence and land a job you actually love. This isn't some fluffy follow your dreams nonsense. This is real strategy to get unstuck and take action now.

00:41:49
Right now, here's what you get. One hour of video training with me, breaking down the exact steps you need to take. One hour or maybe two hours depending on your process of self paced exercises to map out your career pivot. Plan a free career Pivot guide to walk you through the process. A clear, actionable roadmap so you can stop second guessing and start making moves.

00:42:08
And if you want to go even deeper, you can grab the Pivot package. A powerful set of tools including a detailed workbook and three must have spreadsheets to track your job search, networking and applications like a pro. And let me just say, if you're going out there expecting to just apply for a job, the first job, and get it, maybe you're one of those people and maybe you do. But if you're like most of the rest of us, you get a job based on people you know. And statistically speaking that's true, as well as in my own lived experience and career journey.

00:42:37
So networking is really a huge part of it, but a lot of us don't know how. And so a spreadsheet where you can track that, break it down, figure out what to talk about. I have some sample interview questions or you can do informational interviews. There's so much there in the Pivot package that is part of my own journey that helped me when I did a career pivot several years ago. So here's the deal.

00:42:55
This course will save you hours of frustration, second guessing and aimless scrolling on job boards. Not helpful. You don't have time to waste and your future is waiting. So let's get after it. Go to Loriadamsbrown.com careerpivot and sign up for Mastering the Career Pivot today.

00:43:11
Because your next chapter, it's not going to write itself. Before we go, I just want to take a moment to thank you. Yes, you. The fact that you're here, tuning in, leaning into these conversations and doing the hard and beautiful work of making a difference in this world, it means everything to me in this episode. If it spoke to you, if it brought you healing, hope, or even just a new perspective, I'd love for you to help us spread the word.

00:43:40
Subscribe to the podcast, leave us a review, and share this episode with someone you think might need to hear it. Your support helps this community grow and also helps us to keep having these important conversations. You are such a vital part of this journey, and every time you listen, every time you share, you remind me of why we do this. Because you are out there making a difference in your own beautiful, messy and imperfect way. And that that matters more than you know.

00:44:11
So thank you for being here, thank you for showing up, and thank you for making the world a little brighter, a little kinder, and a little more whole. Until next time, take care of yourself and keep making a difference. You are love.