What Elite Athletes Know About Leadership That Your Top Executives Don’t.
I was listening to a recent episode of Master of Scale — the podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman — and one segment stopped me cold. Venture investor Byron Deeter of Bessemer Venture Partners was talking about a wellness initiative they launched called STRIVE. The premise? CEOs who neglect their health perform at a level equivalent to running their company drunk — specifically due to sleep deprivation and chronic physical stress.
That’s not hyperbole. That’s a business problem.
And it’s exactly what I’ve been telling my clients — Fortune 500 executives, top physicians, and senior leaders at multi-billion dollar organizations — for years. You are not just a professional. You are a performer. And the gap between those two identities is where leadership communication skills training lives.
The best in the world — from LeBron James to Simone Biles to Patrick Mahomes — don’t show up on game day and wing it. They prepare their bodies. They protect their sleep. They manage their mental state with as much precision as their physical one. They work with coaches. They study their craft until the craft becomes instinct.
Your top leaders need to do the same. And if your organization isn’t investing in that infrastructure, you are leaving performance — and profit — on the table.
The Performance Gap No One Wants to Admit
You have brilliant, high-potential leaders. They’ve earned their seat. They know the business. But when they step in front of a board, a client, a media camera, or a room full of 500 people — something shifts. The authority drains. The message gets buried. The delivery doesn’t match the intelligence behind it.
That gap between what a leader knows and how they show up is costing you. In lost deals. In failed board presentations. In executives who are technically exceptional but can’t move a room. This is why executive communication coaching is no longer optional for organizations that want to compete.
This is not a character flaw. It’s a training deficit.
65% of executives say their biggest communication challenge is executive presence — not technical knowledge.(Center for Talent Innovation, 2019) That’s not a confidence problem. It’s a training deficit.
Research from McKinsey & Company found that poor communication is the #1 barrier to leadership effectiveness at the senior level.(McKinsey & Company) You can have the right strategy and the wrong messenger.
Companies that invest in leadership development report 25% higher profit margins than those that don’t.(Association for Talent Development, 2021) That’s not a soft ROI. That’s a business case.
What Byron Deeter Got Right — And What It Means for Your Leaders
On Master of Scale, Deeter described STRIVE as Bessemer’s commitment to applying professional athletics principles to founders: sleep optimization, structured training, and intentional mental health support. His argument was simple — sustainable peak performance is a competitive advantage, not a personal luxury.
“The goal is to shift founder culture away from the bravado of overwork and toward sustainable peak performance. This approach is not just good for the person — it’s a competitive advantage that makes for better leaders and yields a real ROI for the business.” — Byron Deeter, Bessemer Venture Partners, Master of Scale Podcast
I want to borrow that framework and expand it — because what Bessemer is doing for startup founders, Janicek Performance Group does for the senior leaders inside your organization right now through leadership and communication training that is built around performance, not theory.
At JPG, we call it the MVP Method: Message, Voice, and Poise. Three interconnected systems that, when trained with the same rigor you’d apply to physical performance, transform the way your leaders communicate, persuade, and lead. This is what executive communication skills training actually looks like in practice — not a one-day seminar, but a sustained coaching relationship with measurable outcomes.
Message is your clarity — the ability to cut through complexity and land your point with precision. Voice is your instrument — the pace, tone, and authority that commands a room without demanding it. Poise is your physical presence — the posture, the stillness, the eye contact that signals confidence before you say a single word.
These are coachable skills. But they require committed, consistent practice. Just like an athlete’s season.
The Athlete Mindset: What Your Leaders Need to Borrow
Here’s what I tell every executive I work with on day one: You are not preparing for a presentation. You are preparing for a performance. That reframe is at the core of everything we do in our communication coaching work — and it changes everything.
Elite athletes don’t just practice their sport. They manage their sleep with the same discipline they bring to their training. They fuel their body intentionally — understanding that what they consume affects their cognition, their energy, their resilience under pressure. They work with sports psychologists to master their mental game. They study tape. They debrief after every performance.
Your top leaders should be doing the same. What they eat before a major presentation. How they sleep the night before a board meeting. What their pre-performance routine looks like. This is the dimension of managerial communication training that most firms never touch — and it’s where the biggest performance gains live.
“This training provides a competitive advantage for our entire organization. For those who fully commit, it can be life-changing.” — District Manager, $20B Construction Company
The leaders who master this don’t just perform better in individual moments. They build reputations. They attract talent. They close bigger deals. They lead with a presence that has nothing to do with title and everything to do with training.
What This Looks Like Inside Our Coaching Work
Our clients include senior executives at Fortune 500 companies, surgeons leading major medical associations, and physicians running clinical departments at top health systems. Regardless of industry, the challenge is the same: performing at the highest level, consistently, in front of audiences measuring every word and every movement. That’s what our executive communication coaching is built to solve.
“I can’t thank Kathryn enough for all the help she has given me. Her training and constructive encouragement has helped me accomplish more than I ever would have had. The techniques I have learned have already made a difference, and will continue to do so for years to come.” — Leo, M.D.
One of the patterns I coach against every day is the buried lead — smart leaders who front-load context, qualifications, and caveats before they ever get to the point. It’s one of the most common issues we address in our communication training for managers, and one of the highest-leverage fixes we make. The athlete equivalent? It’s warming up during the game. You don’t get to ease in.
Media Training, Crisis Communication, and the Moments That Define Careers
There’s another dimension of this work that organizations too often ignore until it’s too late: media training for executives. Whether your leaders are going on camera for a product launch, a financial announcement, or a crisis — the way they show up in those moments either builds institutional credibility or erodes it.
People ask me all the time: what is media training, exactly? It’s not about memorizing talking points. It’s about teaching executives how to think on their feet, stay on message under pressure, and connect with an audience they can’t see. Our media coaching work puts leaders in live-fire scenarios — camera, lights, tough questions — so that when the real moment comes, they’ve already been there.
The same is true for crisis communication management. The executives who navigate crisis well aren’t the ones who freeze and wait for legal to draft something. They’re the ones who have been trained to lead with empathy, stay composed, and communicate clearly when everything around them is moving fast. A solid crisis communication plan is only as strong as the person delivering it. We make sure that person is ready.
“When I am on set, whether television or radio, I know I’m prepared because she prepared. I know I’m in good hands.” — Dr. Lynn O’Connor, M.D., Colorectal Surgeon & National Speaker
The ROI of Investing in Your Leaders Like This
I hear the objection. Leadership coaching is expensive. The ROI is hard to measure. There are more urgent priorities.
Here’s what I know from the organizations we work with: The cost of a failed pitch, a botched board presentation, or a leader who falls apart in a media interview is almost always greater than the investment in leadership communication training. Always.
89% of talent professionals say that when a hire doesn’t work out, it’s due to a lack of soft skills — including communication and presence. (LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report) You’re not hiring the wrong people. You’re under-developing the right ones.
When your VP of Sales walks into a room with command and clarity, deals close. When your Chief Medical Officer presents to the board with precision and poise, capital follows. When your district managers can inspire a team with a speech that actually lands — retention improves, performance improves, and culture improves.
Empathy Is the Skill Underneath All of It
Here’s what often gets missed in conversations about executive communications: all of this — the message work, the voice work, the poise — is built on empathy.
The most commanding leaders I’ve ever coached are the ones who genuinely understand their audience before they open their mouth. They know what their board is afraid of. They know what their patient needs to hear before they’ll trust a treatment plan. They know what their sales prospect wants to feel before they’ll sign a contract.
That audience intelligence — the ability to read a room, adapt in real time, and connect before you persuade — is the highest-leverage skill any communications coach can help you build. And it doesn’t happen by accident. It gets built through intentional practice, self-awareness, and the kind of feedback that only comes from someone who isn’t afraid to tell you the truth.
Empathy isn’t softness. It’s strategy. And the leaders who wield it well are the ones who leave the room with the deal, the vote, and the trust.
Is Your Organization Ready to Invest in This Level of Performance?
At Janicek Performance Group, we work with organizations that are serious about developing leaders who perform — not just leaders who know. Whether you’re looking for executive communication coaching, media training for executives, crisis communications support, or a full leadership and communication training engagement, our work is built around your leaders’ specific needs — not a generic curriculum.
Our team brings decades of broadcast, stage, and boardroom experience to every coaching relationship. We’ve worked with senior leaders at Fortune 500 companies, $20B+ organizations, top medical associations, and global brands — and we know what it takes to move the needle at that level.
If your leaders are brilliant but not landing — if they’re capable but not commanding — we should talk.
Visit janicekperformancegroup.com to learn more or request a consultation.
About Janicek Performance Group: Premier Executive Coaching in Chicago
Based in Chicago and serving leaders worldwide, Janicek Performance Group is an Emmy Award-winning executive coaching firm specializing in leadership development, public speaking coaching, executive presence training, media training, and sales executive coaching. For over 25 years, we’ve helped Fortune 500 executives, medical society leaders, top physicians, and C-suite communicators develop the presence and leadership communication skills that define influential leadership.
Our public speaking training programs serve Fortune 500 companies, multi-billion dollar enterprises, medical societies, and executive teams across industries. We provide customized executive coaching that delivers measurable improvements in presentation skills, leadership communication, and executive presence.If you’re ready to transform from expert to influential leader, refine your presence, project confidence, and take control of your message, reach out today to learn how we can help.
