Carol Cox: Think having only one talk is too limiting.
Think again.
You're gonna love my conversation with Kelly
Mallery on why your best talk is the one that
you give again and again and again on this
episode of The Speaking Your podcast.
More and more women are making an impact by
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Hi there and welcome to the Speaking Your
Brand podcast. I'm your host,
Carol Cox. Today we're going to talk about
how you can have one signature talk but use
it for multiple events and multiple
audiences. And the advantage of doing that is
that you can continue to improve it and
refine it. Now, for those of you thinking,
but wait a minute, I have so many different
messages to share. I have so many different
ideas. How can I possibly put them into one
talk? Or maybe you're thinking and I must
say, this is usually me.
Why aren't I going to get bored delivering
the same talk over and over again?
Well, this is why I have invited our thought
leader, Academy grad Kelly Mallery,
onto the podcast today to tell us how working
with us on her signature talk did not
constrain her, did not constrain her
creativity or her desire to share her message
with her audience, but instead did the
opposite and has allowed her to improve it,
refine it, and have a lot of fun with it.
So welcome to the podcast,
Kelly.
Kelly Mallery: Hi Carol, I'm so excited to be here and talk
about this really important topic.
Carol Cox: It is because I must say,
like I said in the intro, I confess that I of
course, no surprise. This is why I started
speaking your brand. I love to create
presentations, give me a topic and I will
create a slide deck for it.
And so I know a lot of times we feel like,
well, I don't I can't have just one talk,
like, what am I supposed to do?
Which is when talk, when I want to have
different things that I say to different
people. So have you felt that and then how
have you come to where you are today?
And of course, we're going to dive deeper
into what exactly your message is and the
work that you do.
Kelly Mallery: Yes, I absolutely felt that when I first
started speaking a few years ago,
every single conference I went to,
I thought, I have to have some brave,
like, bright new idea to make the audience
feel like I'm relevant,
like I'm continuing to bring new content and
interesting things.
And it was exhausting.
Carol Cox: It is exhausting. I mean, okay, I must say
it's fun for me, but it does.
It does take a lot of time.
But then the problem is that you never really
get to improve that particular body of work,
because you're always changing it,
sometimes dramatically,
and then you're not really being able to see,
well, what is resonating with the audience.
And how can I do more of that,
and how can I change some of the things that
don't seem to be landing as well?
Kelly Mallery: Yeah, absolutely. And I know,
thinking back to those first talks,
I tried to go through some of those iterative
processes of, okay, what worked or didn't
work and how do I change?
But they ended up being much more generic and
vague about, okay, how is my enunciation or
my tone or my movement on stage,
which are important, but I never got that
opportunity to say, okay,
how did this particular joke land?
How did this particular line land?
Um, and that now that I've given the same
talk a few times, that's the one big thing.
I'm like, oh my gosh, I can actually make
this genuinely better every time.
Carol Cox: And so, Kelly, let's talk about the work that
you do. And then the topic of the signature
talk that you've been delivering.
And we met through Katie Anderson,
who's been a guest on this podcast a few
times. And you are both in the continuous
improvement lean space,
which is how you two met.
And it's so fun because you two have spoken
at some of the same conferences this year.
And so Katie will text me photos of the two
of you and and of you on stage,
which is so fun because I don't often get to
see our clients actually speak.
So I kind of I can now do it viscerally
through other people. But tell us about what
is continuous improvement.
How did you get into that space and what is
the work that you do now?
Kelly Mallery: Awesome. So continuous improvement is really
this methodology and thinking that any
process that exists and yes,
there is a process for everything, even if
you don't think there is,
can always be made to be a little bit better.
And by that thought process that every day,
even if I just make something a tiny bit
better over time, results will follow.
And it's really this core tenant that this is
how business should be run.
It started in manufacturing in Toyota,
and then it's kind of spread across different
manufacturing industries and even into
healthcare, government, education.
Um, and it comes with a certain set of tools.
But really it's about the underlying thinking
that we're looking at systems and processes
versus what are people doing.
And it's really ultimately about how do I
make things better for everybody.
And it's the long term success over short
term gains right now, which a lot of business
decisions are very reactive versus,
okay, this might hurt a little bit short
term, but long term it's the better move for
the sustainment of the business.
And I got into this, um,
during my early career where I was,
um, a project engineer at a solar startup,
my very first job out of college.
And we were standing up our manufacturing.
So we wanted to make solar trackers for
people's backyards.
And in before that, we survived off of
Department of Energy grants.
So this was the first time we were actually
going to have to make a product at scale.
And I raised my hand and was like,
hey, I'm kind of interested in this. I'd
always been the kid who took things apart,
put them back together with three or fewer
screws. So to me, that was just an
inefficiently put together product.
And through that experience of trying to
stand up manufacturing,
I got to benchmark some other facilities and
learn about the concept of continuous
improvement and how that thinking happens.
And it just clicked for me.
It made so much sense.
And the rest was history.
I read every book I could find,
I practiced as much as I could,
and that is what led me to meeting Katie
through her book. And then honestly,
through her podcast.
I heard about you, Carol,
and the rest is history.
Carol Cox: Oh, that is so fun.
And and I know you started our Thought Leader
Academy program at the beginning of 2025.
So you did that program with us.
You worked with our lead speaking coach,
Diane Diaz, and the one on one VIP day to map
out your signature talk and to think about
how to put together the different pieces of
your talk from beginning to end,
including the framework that you had already
started working on.
And so can you tell us a little bit about
this, your core message and and tell us a
little bit about who your audience is at
these conferences?
Because I know since you've been in the
continuous improvement space for a while,
you can see the things that are tripping them
up that are holding them back that they don't
necessarily always see.
So can you tell us about that, what your
thought leadership message is?
Kelly Mallery: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm glad you mentioned
that. I've been in continuous improvement now
for like, my entire career ever since that
first, um, introduction.
And that spanned over ten years,
six different industries.
And I still work in that space.
And what I started to see was that all many
other continuous improvement practitioners
would come up against the same kind of
resistance, the same kind of challenges.
And they were so exhausting.
And I even felt coming home every day.
I was like, ah, I am so beat.
I have no energy for my family.
And then I would drive into work dreading
what I'd have to come up against.
And in these kinds of roles.
Right. We don't necessarily have direct
control or authority over making change,
so we have to influence through others to
make those changes occur.
And everybody loves change,
right? Everybody loves to experience that.
Carol Cox: And so says Kelly sarcastically.
Kelly Mallery: Right. What I what I started to realize.
Is that this it wasn't worth it.
It wasn't worth the energy loss,
the discomfort, the challenge with my family
and the feeling. And I was at a point of
considering leaving continuous improvement
because it was just too hard.
And then I found a better way.
I was like, there's got to be something. And
so through several kind of light bulb
moments, I found a better way.
And so my core message for people is you
don't have to feel like you're pushing the
boulder up the hill, even though that's what
everybody says happens. That's what everybody
around you is doing.
It does not have to be that way,
because most often what actually is happening
where We're blaming all of these other people
around us. Well, they're pushing back.
They're resisting. I don't get leadership buy
in. The thing is, we don't have control over
that. We only have control over ourselves.
And so the one area we need to focus on that
we neglect is how we actually show up and
approach those changes we're asking people
for. And once you start examining that,
you notice we cause a lot of our own
resistance and we don't have to.
Carol Cox: So your core message is about this idea of
resistance, and that oftentimes we think is
the other person or people who are the ones
who are resisting us or getting in the way,
but really, we need to hold up the mirror and
look at ourselves and some of the things that
we may be doing.
So, which is great.
I love again this as your thought leadership
message is more than just here's a bunch of
continuous improvement tools or standard
operating procedures or processes that people
can follow because the tools don't work if
the people don't work right.
And so you're getting to the core of it.
But then you decide, okay,
I'm not just going to talk about resistance
and holding up the mirror, because no one
really likes to do that. No one wants to
think of themselves as the problem.
So you found a really fun way to do this.
So you can you tell us about the resistance
bots, how those came about from your love of
Transformers and like that?
What was that light bulb moment where you
came up with this idea of the resistance
bots?
Kelly Mallery: Yeah, I, I love this this story and this
memory because I had gotten that exact
feedback from a colleague I shared with them,
hey, this is what I'm thinking and the work I
want to do. And they're like, that's great.
No one's going to listen to that because
nobody wants to hear that.
They're the problem. Like,
we can play. I can play all the Taylor Swift
like it's me high on the problem.
But like, it's not going to happen.
Nobody's going to look in the mirror that
way. And so I stewed on that for a while
I'll. And on my drive home one day,
maybe a few months ago,
I was thinking about, okay,
there are these there are kind of characters
that show up in us when we face resistance.
And I thought back to people I've encountered
and experiences I've had where I've done
this. And the character started to take
shape. And then there was this moment where
it was like the idea came rushing into me and
I was like, oh my God, I talk about
Transformers, I love Transformers.
What if the characters were like transformer
robots? And I talked about them that way,
and they just started coming,
and immediately I had six different
characters in my mind that I then went home
and I after work, I generally try to not do
any work. I try to give my time to my family.
But I said to my husband, like, I need to do
this. I have this idea. I've got to get it
out. Um, and thus the resisting bots were
formed, and each one kind of takes on its own
character. Character type that demonstrates,
you know, negative, um,
behaviors that we can have during resistance
that causes more resistance to occur.
And then the really fun part was coming up
with the names.
Carol Cox: Yes, the creative names.
And you even have imagery for like,
you know, a graphic that represents each one,
which kind of looks like a transformer, but
it's whatever their name happens to be.
Which again, is so fun.
It's memorable. It's unique to you,
which is what I also really like,
because the audience is going to remember
that, and they can kind of see themselves in
the different resistive bots without having
to to feel that sense of,
uh, like that there's something wrong with
them instead of like a collective, like we
are all one of these.
No one escapes being one of these.
And so which one are you?
Most likely. And then what can we do about
it?
Kelly Mallery: Yes, it definitely made it much more fun and
safe to kind of raise your hand and say,
ooh, I might have some of those.
It's much easier to self reflect critically
on your own behaviors and beliefs when it's
through the lens of humor.
And I found that when I introduced these
characters, it made it so much easier for
people to say, oh yeah,
I've got that too.
Instead of what had been happening,
she was saying, oh, I know somebody like
that. So now they've made the transition from
external, which again,
is exactly what happens when we face
resistance to really saying,
oh, I might have some of these roustabouts
and that's kind of fun.
Carol Cox: And then so we think about the so when you
worked with us in the Thought Leader Academy
at the beginning of the year, you did your
talk. I know Transformers was a part of your
talk. I think it was in your opening this
idea of, of, you know,
something that was also personal to you
because you grew up loving the show from the
80s. I remember I even remember the little
song which I am not going to sing for you
all, but I can hear it in my mind,
so I know that was part of that,
um, as well. So you delivered this talk a
couple of times, including on our LinkedIn
live show, and I'll include a link to that in
the show notes. For those of you listening,
if you want to hear a ten minute version of
of an early version of Kelly's signature
talk. So then you did that,
but then you were refining it over the
summer. So what prompted you to think about
that? You wanted to add more to it,
and then obviously the resistance came to you
when you're driving. But like what was going
on with your speaking that you decided,
okay, I feel like there's something more here
that I can work on.
Kelly Mallery: Yeah. So I had just given a talk right after
going through the Thought Leader Academy. I'd
given a keynote and it was similar,
but not exactly the same as my signature
talk. And I had after that,
um, I had gotten two speaking engagements
back to back. So like one week apart from
each other in two different conferences,
and I was preparing for that and really
wanting to land the message really
effectively and thinking about what that
looked like, what that could be even better
for my signature talk. After the Thought
Leader Academy and then having this idea of
The Resistible come in,
I had a moment where I was like,
okay, I really want to nail this.
I want this to be really effective for the
audiences I'm going to be talking to.
And I have this new idea.
So that led me to reach back and say,
okay, I could use a little more help in
really making this punchy and land and
incorporating this new idea,
because I saw these two engagements,
similar audiences, but a little bit
different. Um, and it was the first time I
was going to give the same talk two different
times, so that I'd have that iteration in
practice. And I wanted to make sure that I
was really intentional with how I how I
shared that message.
Carol Cox: Okay, so before I ask you how those two talks
went, either what you found that was similar
between the two, even though they had
different audiences, and what you found were
different because every group has a different
dynamic, as we know, as speakers,
even with the same content, the same type of
audience is like one group is so super
engaged and the other one, you're like, where
are they? But so I want to hear about that.
But before we do that, I remember when we
worked together and this must have been when
was this, in August about then.
Kelly Mallery: Yeah.
Carol Cox: Yeah. So sometime just a few months ago and
you had, you had come up with a resistive
boss of six different archetypes like these
different character types. And so you had put
together, you had updated your outline from
when you were in the Thought Leader Academy.
So you sent that to me, and you sent me your
slides that you had worked on.
And then I remember we did a session
together. And one of the key things that we
talked about, which I think is really
important and a lot of times we forget,
is not just who's in the audience.
But I know, Kelly, you're doing these talks
also for lead generation to attract clients
for your consulting business.
So it's not just the people who are in your
audience, but who is your buyer,
which is sometimes different in the either
the people in the audience are different than
the people who need your help,
because who's writing the checks,
especially when it comes to corporate, is
often different than the people who are
actually getting your services at the end.
So can you tell me a little bit about if what
you remember about our discussion about the
buyer, and how that helped you to inform the
content in your talk?
Kelly Mallery: Yeah. And that that question about,
okay, who's your audience?
But then who is paying for this?
Who's paying for your services?
Was a question I had not even considered.
Right. I was thinking about who's physically
in the audience, who are the key people I
want to reach with my services.
Um, not even taking into account that they
aren't necessarily the people who open the
checkbook. And so doing that,
taking that into account,
really changed the level of persuasion that
we entered in my talk.
And it it honestly, it created the need for a
totally new story in my talk that wasn't
there before. And it really forced me to
think critically about who who am I really
trying to reach here?
Because on the one hand, I would I want to
reach the people that I want to work with,
but in the end, I need to also reach beyond
them, to their leaders and their leaders,
leaders and their finance people.
Um, which isn't something I had thought
about. So it forced me to think more broadly
about how my message connects to yes.
Carol Cox: And this shows up quite a bit in in act one
of our signature Talk Canvas framework,
where we're really trying to set up the
situation for the audience to let them know
that we understand where they're coming from,
the challenges they face,
what they want, the goals that they have.
And if we're not quite sure who our ideal
client is or who the buyer is,
we can often miss the mark and we can talk
right past them.
And then they then are sitting in the
audience feeling like, well, this
presentation isn't for me.
Or the speaker doesn't quite understand my
role and what it is that I'm frustrated with.
So I remember that we were I asked you some
questions about when you were working as a
continuous improvement, when you were
actually working for a company,
not just for yourself.
And that story that we decided to add towards
the beginning, because previously, had it
been a story about coming home and writing
and having your stepdaughter doing like some
science experiment and you can tell the story
a little bit. So we kept the story, but we
moved it. And how did it feel when you
delivered it in this new order?
Kelly Mallery: It felt really good, and I think the main
reason was we put a story at the beginning
that built credibility,
because it what I found out was I want to
focus on my niche is helping women in
continuous improvement roles.
Um, however, not every woman in a continuous
improvement role is paying for services.
So I found out that I also needed to speak to
operations managers, finance people like the
people who actually support their
development. And we realized that I had a
story where I have operated both as a
continuous improvement person and as an
operations leader for the same team.
And so the story I told helped show and
demonstrate that I understood what they felt,
because I had actually felt both of those
sides of the story.
And it was really fun to kind of open with
this story and say, I will come back to this
and then later on touch on the story about my
stepdaughter, which also brought in the
personal element.
And it showed a little bit more about me as a
as a person, a human being.
And the vulnerability there,
um, was good. And I liked that.
We started with credibility.
So it was like, okay, let's build a little
trust. You understand what I've been through,
and then go into a truly human,
vulnerable story about something at home,
which really opened them up to hear the rest
of what I had to say.
Carol Cox: All right. So that's a good segue. Let's talk
about those two speaking engagements that you
had just a week apart.
Tell us a little bit about those events,
the audiences, and how you felt like the
content resonated with them.
Kelly Mallery: Yeah. So both of those were,
um, lean and continuous improvement
conferences. Uh, one in Michigan,
one in Connecticut.
And the audiences were both similar,
where they were heavily made up of
practitioners. Um, but on the Michigan one
more consultants.
So that was interesting.
And then on the Connecticut one a little bit
more operations team members and they went
amazing. And they felt amazing.
Um, the other big difference that was really
interesting that you helped a lot with was I
was giving the same talk,
but in one condition.
It was 20 minutes and the other it was 60
minutes. And that was a great skill to learn
about how not only to take the same content
you have and give the same talk and learn
from that, but how to scale it,
which I had no clue before coming into the
conversation how it was going to do that.
Carol Cox: So which one did you do first,
the 20 minute or the 60 minute?
Kelly Mallery: The 20 minute I gave the 20 minute twice,
and then the next week it was the 60 minute.
Carol Cox: Which one did you prefer?
Kelly Mallery: Ooh. I think that's really tough.
I. The 20 minute felt more quick and
streamlined. Um, but what I liked about the
60 minute was it created more space to ask
the audience more questions and have them
engage more and to tell that additional
story, because in the 20 minute version,
I removed my story about my stepdaughter.
So I think I liked both for different
reasons, but I really I really liked having
more opportunity for audience members to
share their own stories and experiences with
their resisting bots.
Carol Cox: Yes. Well, and thank you for bringing this
up, Kelly, because I think this is an
important point for listeners to think about
is that you can have the same talk,
the same content, and expanded and contracted
depending on the length of time that you
have. And so thinking about a 60 minute talk
and cutting it by two thirds to 20 minutes,
and you say, if you're looking at your slide
deck and you're thinking,
how could I possibly cut two thirds of this
content from my talk?
But to your point, you know,
the cutting, the the longer audience
engagement activities still do some show of
hands questions and things to kind of keep
them engaged. But cut those and I think we'll
be also cutting a story.
So if you have multiple stories figuring out,
well, what is the what is the story that
really needs to be here,
especially for this particular audience and
for you? It was that story that showed your
credibility. And then I think the other thing
we did was that you do have a framework that
which is form, form, part of transform form,
and I believe from the 20 minutes is that you
kind of just gave a quick overview of all
four, but then just focused on 1 or 2 of them
in more detail. Is that is that correct?
Kelly Mallery: Yes, yes. So I was able to really hit on like
the two key ones.
Breeze through the other two and then in the
60 minutes I had more time.
So I went in depth on each one of the four.
Carol Cox: Okay. That's good. So so that is the thing to
do is that, you know, think about when you
have to contract is drop some of the longer
audience engagement, drop a story or two.
That is not quite as necessary.
If you do have a framework that has multiple
components, show a quick overview,
but then just dive deep on 1 or 2 aspects of
it. And then here's the thing.
But don't skip or rush the opening or the
closing. And I feel like this would most
speakers, do they want to just kind of
jettison the opening and closing so they can
get they can get to their main content.
But then I feel like the audience loses so
much in the narrative arc when you're just
like, giving them a whole bunch of stuff
without any setup and without tying it
together at the end.
Kelly Mallery: Yeah, I totally agree.
And especially having now given the same talk
in those two ways, I would not get rid of
anything in my opening,
even though during the 20 minute I did feel
like I was like, oh gosh, I'm spending a lot
of time here. But if I just jumped right
into, oh, by the way, here are six characters
resistance that you might have,
nobody would have connected.
And it takes that slow story building
credibility and trust, building with your
audience first before you get to your content
for them to really listen and for it to be
actually impactful for them.
Carol Cox: And then you can give them their next step,
which is maybe you have some type of
document, you know, workbook guide,
a copy of the slides, what have you something
for, or a short video that explains further.
They now they're primed to want more from you
versus feeling like, oh my God, I feel like I
just was dropped into a middle of a lecture
and I don't even know why I'm here or what
this is all for.
Kelly Mallery: Right, right. And that did end up causing
some of my audience members to ask for more
after like, hey, I'd love a workshop on this.
Like, I want to learn more about these. And
so I put links in to my website.
Um, and I have to tell you,
I got a lot of traffic those couple of days.
Carol Cox: That's fantastic. And your slides look great.
I really, I like those I love all the
visuals, the imagery on them as well.
And did did you end up using any props for
these speaking engagements?
Kelly Mallery: I did so I because of working with you and
Diane through the Thought Leader Academy and
going with the transformer opening,
which I had no idea was going to happen,
that came out of nowhere.
Um, I bought a transformer toy and I now for
the last year, I've given a few talks some
more connected to this than others.
I always bring that with me and I transform
it on stage, and it's so fun.
Um, so I had that with me this time,
and that was my main prop was using my little
transformer.
Carol Cox: Oh, that's so fun. I love that,
and I'm sure a lot of the audiences remember
the Transformers the cartoon as well.
Kelly Mallery: Yeah, maybe some of them even.
Have called me the Transformer Girl.
And so I might need to get in touch with
Mattel or something.
Carol Cox: Yes, right, I love that.
Oh, that's so great.
All right, Kelly, so tell us a little bit
more about the work that you do with clients.
So you know, for anyone listening who are in
your space or who could use the type of work
that you do, tell us about that.
Kelly Mallery: Yeah, so I in addition to working in
continuous improvement in a company,
which I still do, um, so that I can stay
fresh and keep practicing on the side,
I also coach and support women in continuous
improvement roles who are feeling stuck and
struggling against resistance,
and struggling to feel like they are a valued
member of their team.
And that often comes through in not feeling
like you're heard, not feeling like you have
credibility or influence with the people that
you're working with or even your leadership.
Um, and so I work with these women one on
one, uh, through a minimum of 12 weeks,
where we meet once a week for 60 minutes to
figure out what is their particular challenge
and goal that they want to achieve in the
time. And then we go through my transform
model together and really walk side by side
on the journey to achieving what they want
to, building that credibility, building trust
and influence, which really does start with
examining their own processes and behaviors
and finding which resistible are coming out
so we can address those.
Carol Cox: And what's next for you with speaking.
Kelly Mallery: So I am very excited.
I'm giving a keynote again in April,
and I'm giving this topic as my keynote to a
different audience, so I will be adjusting it
to their needs. Um, and I'm also doing a
breakout session at the same conference.
Um, and I have just recently been applying to
a couple of TEDx talks as well with this same
topic. Um, and I've had a couple of people
now reach out and ask me to come speak at
their events. So I've got some filtering and
figuring out and planning to do.
Carol Cox: Oh that's fantastic.
I love it when the speaking invitations come
to you. And this is what happens. I always
say the more speaking you do,
the more speaking invites you're gonna get
because people see you and then they want you
for their event as well.
Speaker3: Yes, yes.
Kelly Mallery: And that has come true.
And it's it's wonderful.
But at the same time I'm like, oh gosh, now I
have to like pick and choose and be
thoughtful. But it does feel very,
very good.
Carol Cox: Well, you deserve it.
I know you've been doing an amazing job with
your speaking because I've had Katie,
uh, there in the audience and she has told me
about it. So congratulations on your success.
I'd love to see it.
And for those of you who are listening, if
you would like to join us in our Thought
Leader Academy, you can get all of the
details and apply at Speaking Your Brand
Academy. Again, that's speaking your Brand
Academy. Make sure to connect with Kelly on
LinkedIn. I included her LinkedIn profile
link here in the show notes.
I also connect with me if you haven't
already, and you can also check out Kelly's
website in the link in the show notes.
Kelly, thank you so much for coming on the
podcast.
Kelly Mallery: Yeah, Carol, thank you so much for having me.
I cannot recommend working with you enough.
It has been such a wonderful,
transformative experience, and I would really
recommend it to anybody who wants to improve
their messaging. And I'm just very grateful.
Carol Cox: Oh well, thank you so much, Kelly. I it's
been so fun to get to know you over this past
year. Until next time.
Thanks for listening.