Job Interviews: Make a Positive First Impression

Eleni KelakosInterview Coaching, Interview Tips, Problem Solving, Professional Tips, Strategic Tips

First Impressions Matter: Lessons from Two Job Seekers Making a strong first impression is critical, especially when you’re aiming for a leadership role. Let me introduce you to “Carl” and “Sandra,” two job seekers who taught me a lot about the power of presence and preparation. Carl: A Missed Opportunity Carl, a mid-level tech manager, reached out to me for help navigating job interviews. His frustration was clear: “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong,” he wrote. “I’ve been trying for over a year to move on to a position of higher leadership, and I have great qualifications. But I …

25 Axioms For Presence & Presentation Mastery

Eleni KelakosExecutive Presence, Peak Performance, presentation skills training, Problem Solving, Self Help

Welcome to our blog, where wisdom meets the stage! Thirteen years ago, I embarked on a journey of sharing distilled wisdom through what I coined as “Eleni-isms” – concise nuggets of truth that resonate with audiences far and wide. Today, I invite you to delve into these 25 Eleni-isms, crafted to enrich your speaking experience and empower your message. These Eleni-isms are not just words but guiding principles to elevate your speaking prowess and leave a lasting impact. Now, I’m curious – what “you-isms” have you cultivated in your journey? Share your wisdom, and let’s continue to inspire each other …

Take the Risk to Advocate for Yourself

Eleni KelakosPeak Performance, Problem Solving, Self Help, Women in Leadership

I was in my twenties, pursuing my dream of being a professional actress in New York City. Auditions—and rejections—were challenging and discouraging. To fuel my bruised creative spirit, I took supportive acting classes; and I soaked in every piece of theater I could afford to see on my limited budget. That’s how I found myself in the basement of a small church in downtown Manhattan, stunned and spellbound by an explosive production of a play called Cinderella/Cendrillon. The production, based on Massenet’s opera, Cendrillon, combined elements of opera, dance and theater in ways that both twisted and deepened the standard Cinderella story. It …

Assertive or Aggressive? What’s the Difference

Eleni KelakosExecutive leadership coaching, Problem Solving, Self Help, speech coaching, Women in Leadership

Years ago, while I was living and working in New York City as a professional actor, I had a passing acquaintance with another performer I’ll call Paula. With a soaring, powerful voice reminiscent of Barbra Streisand, Paula was one of the most talented singers I’d ever heard. As big as her voice was, her drive to succeed as a Broadway musical theater performer was even bigger. She was, however, continuously frustrated by her inability to land the kind of big, splashy roles she not only felt she deserved but could rightfully handle. The more no’s she got, the more frustrated …

Silence Is Not Necessarily Golden

Eleni KelakosExecutive leadership coaching, Peak Performance, Problem Solving, Self Help, Women in Leadership

(Note: The following is excerpted from Claim the Stage! The Workbook, an interactive workbook associated with my book Claim the Stage: A Woman’s Guide to Speaking Up, Standing Out and Taking Leadership. Both will be available to the public by mid-summer) If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my work is that silence is not necessarily golden. Whether you want to step onto larger stages, or share your voice more in meetings or conversations, one thing is certain: Your voice cannot be shared if you choose to silence it. Silence is not necessarily golden (except when your newborn finally falls asleep, or you’ve …

“Ouch! That Hurts! But Thanks For Telling Me! Learning to Embrace Constructive Criticism

Eleni KelakosPeak Performance, Problem Solving, Self Help

(Note: The following is excerpted from Claim the Stage! The Workbook, an interactive workbook associated with my book Claim the Stage: A Woman’s Guide to Speaking Up, Standing Out and Taking Leadership. Both will be available to the public by mid-summer) Taking ownership of our blessings tends to be a lot easier than examining and owning our blocks—particularly when we receive feedback that makes us go “Ouch!” One of my life and career changing “Ouch! That hurts! But thanks for telling me” moments occurred years ago, soon after I started to give keynote speeches to large audiences on a national level. After giving …

Before You Take Steps, Take Aim

Eleni KelakosProblem Solving, Self Help, Women in Leadership

(Note: The following is an excerpt from my new book Claim the Stage! A Woman’s Guide to Speaking Up, Standing Out and Taking Leadership, which will be released in mid-summer): Brenda, a warm and witty catering manager for a local restaurant chain, wasn’t sure why she was sitting in my office. “I’m feeling unfulfilled by my work,” Brenda began. “But I really don’t know what I want.” “For now, let’s focus on what you don’t want,” I said. “What do you want to stop doing or feeling?” “That’s easy,” she said. “I want to feel less restless. I don’t want to be tethered to my desk, computer, …

Drop Your Armor

Eleni KelakosPeak Performance, Problem Solving, Self Help

In days of yore, knights girded up for battle in metal from head to toe. How they functioned at all is a wonder, ensnared as they were by their heavy armor. In this day and age, we don’t use breastplates or shields to armor ourselves: We put up emotional barriers instead, in a misguided attempt to protect our tender hearts from the slings and arrows of daily living. And then we wonder why we feel so disconnected, so alienated from others, or from our own feelings. As an actor, I learned that the emotional armor I was piling up in …

3 Ways to Help Men Hear You Better

Eleni KelakosProblem Solving, Relationship Communication, Women in Leadership

My husband handed me the Sunday paper’s “funnies” section, and pointed to the comic strip Zits, by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman. “Read this,” he said, with a grin, “it’s right on the money.” In the strip, a mom was attempting to communicate something she was really upset about to her teenage son, who was sitting next to his dad. The mom’s speech bubble was completely filled with words, all scrunched illegibly together. After the mom left the room in a huff, the dad stood up and rearranged the words in the mom’s speech bubble, reducing them to this: “Don’t …