They're brilliant, so why can't they just cope with the meeting?
It's a fair question when you've seen someone hold a room. If they can do it once, surely they can do it every time?
Here's my confession.
I've presented to ExCo, the people who report directly to our CEO, with no dramas. Then, in November 2024, I was asked to speak for five minutes on a call with all the managers in my part of the business. I was terrified.
This was my home crowd. People who'd heard my unfiltered "water fountain and smoke shelter" views. People who'd watched me grow and develop.
One thing on my operating manual's "no patience" list: "Being treated as I was when they first met me and not noticing my growth." I was battling both the perception and the reality of not getting a second chance to make a second impression.
I booked a meeting room for 45 minutes beforehand, not to prepare but to stop myself over-preparing. Then I delivered five minutes on my vision for inclusion for disabled colleagues.
I've watched the recording back. I look calm. I even cracked a joke about inclusion making business sense to evil supervillains.
Afterwards, I was emotional.
It was the first chance I'd had to share that vision with so many people at once, and to put my name to it publicly.
What's really going on?
Elsewhere in that manual, one question asked what my team probably didn't know about my inner workings.
My answer: "How hard I try."
Coping isn't the same as costing nothing. What you see in the meeting is the finished product, not the effort behind it.
One thing to try: before a big meeting, tell people what you want, what good looks like and when you need it by.
Clarity up front means less energy spent guessing and more on the thing you actually asked for.
Have you ever found the home crowd harder than the big stage? I'd love to hear why.
Next Wednesday: "I'd rather not know about their diagnosis, it makes it awkward."
The small print: AI helped with the structure. The stories and the bad jokes are all mine. 😜It's a fair question when you've seen someone hold a room. If they can do it once, surely they can do it every time?
This first appeared on LinkedIn on 21 October 2026. Join the conversation there.
