by Caroline Leach | Jul 21, 2026 | Social Media
Most people prepare answers for meetings.
Great leaders anticipate questions.
A habit I developed working with C-suite leaders:
Before any interaction, I prep for 3 to 5 likely questions.
Here’s what I consider:
↳ What’s top of mind for them right now?
↳ What are the key priorities of the business?
↳ What are they likely to ask?
And just as important:
↳ What have they challenged before?
↳ Where do they usually push?
↳ What matters most to them?
Because in high-stakes moments, you’re not evaluated on answers alone.
You’re evaluated on how you think.
That got tested earlier in my career.
First week at a new company.
The President’s assistant called:
“He wants to meet. Right now.”
I asked if there was a topic.
“No.”
30 seconds on the elevator.
No context. No idea what was coming.
So I defaulted to the one thing I could control:
Reflecting on what questions he might ask.
I walked in.
He dropped the print publication on the desk.
First question:
“Why do we need this?”
In that moment, I realized:
This wasn’t about print.
It was a test.
↳ Could I stay calm?
↳ Think clearly?
↳ Respond with intention?
That moment shaped everything that followed.
He stopped testing.
He started trusting.
Five years later, as he prepared to leave,
he came to my office to practice his farewell speech.
Even then, his focus was on the team.
How to lift them up.
How to position them.
How to leave them better.
That stayed with me.
If you want to communicate better under pressure:
Don’t just prepare answers.
Anticipate the questions.
What questions do you prepare for ahead of big meetings?
by Caroline Leach | Dec 17, 2023 | Social Media
¡Hola! This fall semester I am both a communications professor at UCS and a student taking Spanish at El Camino College. Our last day of Spanish class was this week. I am grateful to our wonderful professor Maria Barrio de Mendoza and my fellow students.
¡Hola! Este semestre de otoño soy profesora de comunicaciones en USC y estudiante de español en El Camino College. Nuestro último día de clase de español fue esta semana. Estoy agradecida a nuestra maravillosa profesora María Barrio de Mendoza y a mis compañeros de estudios.
_______________
So many of you encouraged me at the end of August when I started my Spanish studies.
My daughter got me started on the Duolingo app over the summer.
Learning Spanish was on my to-do list for YEARS.
We think we have plenty of time, but we never really know.
So I enrolled in Spanish 1 this fall to formalize the learning process.
Why?
1. I live in Los Angeles, where there are millions of Spanish speakers
2. Learning a new language is like taking my middle-aged brain to the gym
3. The flow state of studying is a welcome respite from our troubled world
Here’s what I learned, in addition to 2 years of high-school Spanish …
HAVING A BEGINNER’S MINDSET IS BOTH HUMBLING AND NECESSARY. It was hard to speak up in class week after week, not always giving the right answers or pronouncing words correctly. What I came to realize, though, is that’s part of the learning process. Making mistakes is how we learn.
IT’S POSSIBLE TO LEARN ANYTHING NEW AT ANY AGE. Yes, it takes me a lot longer now to memorize Spanish words and verb conjugations than it did when I took French in high school. Keeping at it and pushing through the messy and difficult parts was the breakthrough.
OUR COMMUNITY COLLEGES PROVIDE SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES. Our class was blessed with a dedicated professor in Maria Barrio De Mendoza. She made learning fun. It was inspiring to meet students who are decades younger than me and forging their paths in the world.
LEARNING A SECOND LANGUAGE SHINES A NEW LIGHT ON ENGLISH. As a communicator, I’ve always been fascinated with the English language and the nuances of word meanings. Learning Spanish is making me re-examine English and how I write and speak.
IT IS HEAVENLY TO BE IN THE FLOW STATE OF STUDYING. The world can be a difficult place, and there are many problems that don’t have nice, neat answers. But in studying a language there’s always a right answer. And somehow that makes solving other life problems easier.
by Caroline Leach | Oct 31, 2023 | Social Media
As a busy leader, how can you get more done?
How can you be more effective in less time?
Here’s a two-word solution: SKIP PERFECTION.
Get a project, a task, or an email to “good enough” place, and call it complete.
Submit that deliverable, and move on to the next task.
Because that frees up your time for the real work of leadership: spending time with people:
* Sharing a vision
* Inspiring action
* Giving feedback
My LinkedIn content creation journey is an exercise in skipping perfection.
In July and August, I posted daily as an experiment. More here: https://lnkd.in/g6qsVmJS
Now I’m posting a few times a week, a more sustainable cadence.
What enables me to do this?
* Not overthinking or overdoing
* Considering the ROI of more effort
* Tapping “post” before I feel fully ready
Of course, this doesn’t mean doing sloppy work or abdicating responsibility.
It simply means asking: what is the true level of effort needed?
It may be much less than we think.
P.S. Perfection is a theme I’ve explored before: https://lnkd.in/gVpwuJjv. So it’s no surprise that this week I was drawn to the Hidden Brain podcast episode on “Escaping Perfectionism.” Psychologist Thomas Curran joined to talk about the dark side of perfection and better ways to walk through life. Highly recommended!
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