What if the biggest problem in your leadership… isn’t your team—but your thinking?

In this powerful episode of Speaking With Authority, Jim Koetting sits down with Dr. Lee Warren, a brain surgeon who has performed over 200 surgeries in Iraq—and then faced something far more difficult: rebuilding his own mind after unimaginable loss.

This conversation goes far beyond neuroscience.

It reveals a truth most leaders miss:

You are not stuck with your thinking—and the way you think is shaping everything in your life.

Dr. Warren breaks down:

• Why your brain creates “ruts” that control your behavior
• How your thoughts physically rewire your brain (not metaphor—biology)
• Why leaders fail—not from lack of knowledge, but flawed thinking
• The difference between your brain and your mind (this will challenge you)
• How trauma doesn’t define you—your response does
• The concept of “Self-Brain Surgery”—and how to apply it immediately

Jim connects it directly to leadership:

Why people don’t change… even with evidence

Why leaders struggle to influence others

And why the hardest leadership challenge is leading yourself

This is not theory.

This is practical, life-changing insight that can transform how you think, lead, and live.

If you’ve ever thought:

“Why do I keep doing this?”

“Why can’t I change this pattern?”

“Why won’t people see what I see?”

This episode will hit you hard—in the best way.

W. LEE WARREN, M.D. is an award-winning author, practicing neurosurgeon, and Iraq War veteran. Outside of the operating room, his writing and teaching serve as prescriptions for connecting neuroscience to faith for radical life transformation. He teaches the art and science of human flourishing on The Dr. Lee Warren Podcast, which is heard in 150 countries around the world weekly, on Substack (the bestselling Self-Brain Surgery™ Letter), and in his books. His latest book is The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery: Connecting Neuroscience and Faith to Radically Transform Your Life. His book, Hope is the First Dose: A Treatment Plan for Recovering from Trauma, Tragedy, and Other Massive Things, was Outreach Magazine’s 2024 award winner for counseling and relationships. His stunning medical memoir, I've Seen the End of You: A Neurosurgeon's Look at Faith, Doubt, and the Things We Think We Know, was the Christian Book Award winner for Biography/Memoir in 2021. His first book, No Place to Hide, was named to the 2015 U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff's Professional Reading List. Dr. Warren lives in Nebraska with his wife Lisa.

https://wleewarrenmd.com/

https://wleewarrenmd.com/books/the-life-changing-art-of-self-brain-surgery/

Why do some messages inspire action while others get ignored?

In this episode of Speaking With Authority, Jim Koetting sits down with Joanna Wiebe, founder of Copyhackers and a pioneer of conversion copywriting, to explore the psychology behind persuasive communication.

Many leaders believe they are communicating clearly — yet poor messaging costs companies billions every year in lost opportunities, confusion, and disengagement. Joanna explains why the words we choose matter more than most leaders realize and how understanding human psychology can dramatically improve communication with customers, employees, and partners.

Together they explore how small changes in language can produce massive business results, why most communication fails inside organizations, and what leaders can do immediately to become more persuasive communicators.

If you're a leader, entrepreneur, marketer, or communicator, this conversation will change the way you think about words.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why most business communication fails

• The psychology behind words that move people to act

• How a single sentence increased conversions by 400%

• Why persuasion is one of the most important leadership skills

• The “You Rule” that instantly improves your messaging

• Why AI can generate words but still struggles with persuasion

• How great leaders use storytelling to influence and inspire

About Joanna Wiebe

Joanna Wiebe is the founder of Copyhackers and Copy School, where she has trained thousands of marketers, founders, and entrepreneurs in conversion copywriting and persuasion psychology. Her work has helped companies generate millions in revenue simply by improving how they communicate.

About the Host

Jim Koetting is a Trusted Mentor and Coach who helps leaders increase influence, improve communication, and build stronger organizations through greater self-awareness and leadership development.

Subscribe for More Conversations on Leadership and Influence. On Speaking With Authority, Jim Koetting interviews leaders, entrepreneurs, and communication experts about what it really takes to influence people, build trust, and lead effectively.

Ginny Burton’s life includes nearly 30 years of addiction, incarceration, and a complete personal rebuilding that began at 40. In this conversation with Jim Koetting, she challenges the modern recovery and homelessness landscape—arguing that many incentives reward long-term management over real transformation. They talk candidly about withdrawal, discomfort, and why accountability can do what sympathy never could. Ginny also shares the outcomes of her prison-based program, her focus on abstinence-based stability, and why lived experience matters when rebuilding broken lives—and broken systems.

In this episode of Speaking With Authority, Jim Koetting interviews communication coach Alex Grabner-Jarlung, a key figure in the David JP Phillips speaking lineage. Alex breaks down the science behind great communication: how nervousness works, why “fight/flight/freeze” can hijack your memory, and how to train speaking like a measurable skill. You’ll also hear how Alex went from corporate presentations to coaching professionals, plus a behind-the-scenes look at The Speaking Blueprint and Speaker X.

Most people think “better communication” means finding better words. In this episode of Speaking With Authority, Jim Koetting sits down with Christopher Lincoln, founder of NeuroSpeak, to unpack the truth: communication is a neuroscience and nervous system skill before it’s a language skill.

Chris has coached CEOs, executive teams, sales leaders, and highly technical professionals who have the title—but struggle to create clarity, trust, influence, and confidence under pressure. Together, Jim and Chris explore what happens in the brain when stakes are high: cortisol spikes, memory access drops, fear hijacks logic, and even great leaders accidentally create stress in the people they’re trying to help.

Then the conversation turns personal and unforgettable: Chris shares his experience volunteering in Ukraine during the war, serving families while air-raid sirens and missile threats were part of daily life. You’ll hear how calm leadership, empathy, and psychological safety become essential when everything is uncertain.

They also dive into a wild story from Chris’s early career: arriving in the United States to teach music… and discovering he’d be teaching piano (and later drums) with almost no time to prepare. That experience becomes a powerful metaphor for learning fast, managing fear, and performing under pressure—and how music, rhythm, and emotion can shape executive presence and persuasive speaking.

If you’re a CEO, founder, leader, or high-performing professional who needs to speak clearly in high-stakes moments—this episode is for you.

1. Why neuroscience beats scripts and “perfect wording”
2. How cortisol destroys clarity and memory in tense conversations
3. How leaders accidentally increase stress in meetings (and what to do instead)
4. The “charisma zone”: balancing competence and warmth
5. Why communication is a nervous system issue (breathing, tension, pace)
6. Communication lessons from working in a war zone
7. How music can create emotion and engagement instantly
8. The #1 blind spot leaders have when they watch themselves speak: facial flatlining
9. Chris’s #1 practical tip: stop using PowerPoint as a speaking crutch

Christopher Lincoln — Founder, NeuroSpeak (Communication + Neuroscience Coaching)

Jim Koetting — Trusted Mentor and Coach | Speaking With Authority

If this helped, like, subscribe, and share it with a leader who needs to communicate with more confidence under pressure.

*Stop Selling. Start Owning Your Authority*

Authority is the difference between being “one of many” and being the go-to person everyone calls when things get messy. In this episode of Speaking With Authority, Jim Koetting sits down with five-time author and Three Dog Right founder Lisa Apolinski to unpack how real authority power works in an uncertain, noisy, digital-first world.

Lisa shares how growing up in a family business shaped her view of authority: you have an area of genius, people know it, and they come to you when the stakes are high. Then she contrasts that with Fortune 500 culture, where most leaders still cling to features, benefits, and “me too” services instead of clearly owning the pain they solve and the result they deliver.

You’ll hear how clarity around the real problem you solve turns you from a “vitamin” into a “painkiller,” why cutting prices is a race to the bottom, and how a single authority shift helped a client go from selling a handful of licenses to thousands—without working more hours.

Lisa also walks through defining statements, thought followership, generosity in business, and why you can’t spell authority without author.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

• How to uncover the real business you’re in

• Why clarity, generosity, and authority attract right-fit clients

• Practical steps to unleash your own authority power

#Authority #GoToExpert #ThoughtLeadership #JimKoetting #LisaApolinski

*How to Read Minds Without Saying a Word*

In this episode of Speaking With Authority, host Jim Koetting sits down with Roxani Oikonomou, an international expert in nonverbal communication, micro-expressions, and emotional intelligence.

Roxy reveals the hidden language of humans—how our faces, gestures, and subtle expressions reveal far more than words ever could.

You’ll learn:

How to turn fear into confidence on stage and in life.

What happens when your mind goes blank and how to recover in seconds.

Why today’s generation is losing emotional awareness because of screens.

How leaders, parents, and teachers can rebuild psychological safety through empathy and micro-awareness.

Whether you’re a speaker, leader, parent, or entrepreneur, this conversation will help you recognize what others feel before they say a word—and lead with greater empathy, confidence, and connection.

Hiring a great salesperson shouldn’t feel like gambling.

In this episode of Speaking With Authority, I talk with Jamie Crosbie (Founder & CEO, ProActivate) about why the traditional sales recruiting model is fundamentally misaligned—and how to fix it. We unpack how contingent recruiters get paid on placements, not performance, why many candidates are coached to “ace” interviews, and what a results-tied, flat-fee model looks like when you optimize for ROI instead of résumé volume.

What you’ll learn

• The hidden incentives that break the traditional recruiting model
• How candidate “scripting” leads to bad hires and fake interviews
• Why the best reps are usually working and winning (and how to reach them)
• A rigorous, sales-specific qualification process: skillset, mindset, simulations
• Calculating ROI on a sales hire (and the real cost of a bad one)
• Why proactive, always-on recruiting is revenue insurance
• Early warning metrics (30–90 days) and the formula top reps can articulate

About Jamie

Jamie Crosbie leads ProActivate, a recruiting firm specializing in go-to-market roles (sales, marketing, revenue leadership). Their model focuses on measurable outcomes and deep behavioral interviewing tailored to sales performance.