Episode 317: Your Voice Is Your Edge: Dr. Leslie Gordon on Confidence, Presence, and Speaking Up

What if the thing holding you back isn’t a lack of expertise, but the fact that your voice hasn’t caught up to what you know?

In this episode, Steve Mellor sits down with Dr. Leslie Gordon, a speech, voice, and accent expert who helps high-performing professionals speak with more confidence, presence, and impact. Leslie introduces the idea of the “growing edge,” a powerful replacement for the word “weakness,” and explains why real growth requires more than mindset. It requires action, repetition, awareness, and the willingness to step into unfamiliar territory.

This conversation is for anyone who has ever left a meeting thinking, “I should have said something,” or who knows they have something valuable to contribute but struggles to make their voice match their expertise.

• Why “growing edge” is more useful than calling something a weakness 
•  Why high performers struggle to speak up, even when they know their stuff 
•  How self-evaluation can help growth or quietly block it 
•  How to work with the inner critic using Leslie’s “name it to tame it” strategy 
•  Why presence, breath, and body tension shape how your message lands 
•  Why confidence is built through action, not simply something you either have or don’t have

Connect with Dr. Leslie Gordon:

Website: https://www.leslie.gordon.speech/lesliegordonspeech.com