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Leadership As A Choice (bonus)
Untamed Leader
What if the greatest leadership credential isn't a title or a degree — it's the moment you realized you had no idea what you were doing?
Charlie Sheppard — founder of the Human Presence Institute and president of Sheppard Partners — spent four decades helping executives and teams develop presence, influence, and real communication. But it started somewhere much humbler: a management role he wasn't ready for and a feeling he describes simply as "woefully unprepared."
In this bonus episode, Charlie shares the discovery path that moment set him on — from modeling great leaders through NLP, to building the Drama Triangle into a leadership tool, to why presence (not information) is the differentiator that AI can't replace. Plus: bungee jumping as an untaming practice, sourdough bread as a leadership parable, and the most honest pivot pivot answer in Untamed Leader history.
Key Takeaways
1. Feeling like a fraud early in your career can be the beginning of a true learning path.
2. The Drama Triangle (adversary, rescuer, victim) shows up even in the simplest moments.
3. Leadership is choosing your energy state, not just your words.
4. Vision is an antidote to drama.
5. One form of untaming is practicing the edge until the edge becomes comfortable — then finding a new edge.
6. Presence — not information — is the coin of the realm now. AI can outperform any human on information retrieval. It cannot replace the energetic that announces you before you walk in the room.
7. We're often so focused on how far we haven't come that we miss how far we have. Leaders need people around them who will help them notice the mile-markers on the journey.
Connect with Charlie
https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesheppard/
https://www.sheppardpartners.com/
Take the Speaker Alter Ego quiz to find out which protective mask hides your natural radiance so you can learn how to get present, connect deeply, and share your vision when it matters most!
https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/
Thank you so much for listening!
Take the free Speaker Alter Ego Quiz to find out which protective mask is hiding your wild, untamed radiance.
https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/
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