I Was Selectively Mute. Last Week, 160 People Couldn’t Stop Listening.
From AgilEmpath by Empathetic agile strategies for stronger teams and better leaders.
April 27, 2026 · 2 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the speaker's transformative experience at a conference on happiness, highlighting the concept of executive presence and personal growth.
I’m going to tell you something that doesn’t make sense on paper. Last week I stood in front of a room at the Wellness State SHRM26 conference. The session was on happiness; my life’s work, the thing I’ve been building in Knoxville and beyond for years. The room was designed for maybe 130 people. 160 showed up. They filled every chair. They lined the walls. They stood in the back, shoulder to shoulder. Someone joked it was a fire hazard. They let them keep coming anyway. HR directors. Recruiters. Engagement specialists. People who spend their days trying to figure out how to make workplaces human. They packed that room to hear about happiness, and by the end they were laughing, connecting, leaning in — moved. And the woman standing in front of them? The woman who moved that room? She was selectively mute. Let Me Tell You Who I Actually Am I am 56 years old. I know what the world says about that. It says I should be winding down. Coasting. Planning the retirement party. Thinking about what I was instead of what I’m becoming. I proclaim … oh no. Fifty-six is only the start. Because I found it. The sweet spot. The place where everything I’ve been through, everything I believe, and…
People in this episode
Host: I
Topics covered
- happiness
- executive presence
- workplace engagement
- personal growth
- public speaking
Keywords
- happiness
- executive presence
- public speaking
- workplace culture
- personal development
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Wellness State SHRM26
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