534: Why Perfectionism Makes You a Bad Leader and Cancels Out Your Executive Presence (Even If Your Work Is Great)

534: Why Perfectionism Makes You a Bad Leader and Cancels Out Your Executive Presence (Even If Your Work Is Great)

24:25 Feb 18, 2026
About this episode
Click here if: You’re a senior leader who’s finally ready to level up, speak up, get recognized and nail that promotion…and you want to work with Laura Camacho to build your Executive Presence in the next 90-120 days.Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted. Download the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment.Are your high standards quietly killing your teams’ morale?If you're a high-achieving introvert or perfectionist leader, you've probably struggled with letting go, delegating, or managing teams without redoing their work. This episode explores the hidden costs of perfectionism in leadership — and how it could be driving away great people without you realizing it. By the end of today’s episode you’ll know:?How to build trust and respect even when you're not the expert in the room?A mindset shift that helps perfectionists lead with more ease and less stress??How a Japanese tea ceremony revealed the true power of presence for leadership impactTap play to discover how to lead powerfully without letting perfectionism hold you — or your team — back.If you’ve recently stepped into a senior leadership or c-suite role where you’re not the expert—and it’s making you feel like an imposter, unsure how to earn respect or manage people who know more than you—but you really want to show up with confidence, own your role, and lead strategically at a higher level… that’s why we built the Executive Presence Mastery program.You can self assess how your executive presence shows up in different contexts by taking the Executive Presence Scorecard here.To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.About our guest:Cynthia Lai is a governance leader and board advisor with over 20 years of experience leading transformation across Asia-Pacific at OCBC Bank, HSBC, and Bank of China (Hong Kong). As a former Executive Director at OCBC, she led multi-market teams through change while maintai
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