What if you are not struggling to speak up because you lack confidence—but because you have spent years learning to stay silent?

Elaine Lin Hering, author of Unlearning Silence, joins Betsy to explore how women withhold their opinions, needs, goals and emotions to make life easier for everyone around them. That silence may earn you a reputation as agreeable, helpful and easy to work with, but it can also leave you feeling overlooked, exhausted and disconnected from who you are.

Elaine shares why women often lose touch with what they think and need, how narrow expectations around leadership and executive presence silence talented people, and why your perspective becomes one of your greatest professional assets as you advance.

You’ll learn:

• How learned silence shows up beyond simply staying quiet
• Why women are often rewarded for being agreeable and easy to work with
• How narrow definitions of leadership and executive presence silence talented people
• Why your perspective becomes more valuable as you advance in your career
• Two questions that can help you reconnect with what you think and need
• How low-risk experiments can help you start using your voice again
• A simple phrase that can turn potential conflict into conversation

Because being loud is not about dominating the room. It is about having the agency to show up fully as yourself.

Chapters

00:00 Why Women Learn to Stay Silent

01:50 What “Unlearning Silence” Really Means

05:05 Why We’re Rewarded for Being Easy and Agreeable

07:45 How Workplaces Silence People Without Realizing It

10:16 The Problem With “Executive Presence”

12:03 Start Speaking Up With Low-Risk Experiments

15:24 How to Help Other Women Find Their Voice

16:37 Two Questions: What Do I Think and Need?

17:25 Why Your Perspective Is Your Career Value

19:57 Sharing What You Need Isn’t Selfish

21:06 When High-Achieving Women Lose Themselves

30:31 Voice Is About Choice—not Constantly Talking

31:30 What Being “Loud” Actually Means

32:13 A Simple Phrase for Speaking Up at Work

33:53 Practical Steps to Start Unlearning Silence

Links

Connect with Elaine

Purchase Unlearning Silence