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Own Your Impact equips experts and leaders to transform their expertise into meaningful influence. Host Macy Robison reveals how successful thought leaders use deliberate systems—not luck or volume—to amplify their authentic voice and create lasting impact. Through practical frameworks and strategic guidance, you'll discover how to build a self-reinforcing ecosystem of Core Resonance, structured Content, a Central Platform, strategic Connections, and intentional Commercialization. Whether you're just starting to share your expertise or scaling an existing platform, this podcast delivers the roadmap to turn your ideas into purpose-driven influence that resonates far beyond what you might imagine possible.
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[00:00:00] This year, I got to see two of my very favorite performers live. Back in April, my family and I went to Las Vegas for the opening night of Bruno Mars' concert tour. I have always loved him. I have always wanted to see him live. It was everything I hoped it was going to be. We went to the parade they had in Vegas that day.
They renamed a street after him. Anderson .Paak opened as his DJ Pewee persona. Leon Thomas was the other opening act. The show was amazing. We were secretly hoping he would come out, um, with Anderson .Paak and, and perform as Silk Sonic, and it was the first night of the tour, so no one knew what was gonna happen, and they did.
My son and I were so excited 'cause we've both loved them forever. The energy in the room was amazing, and so much of that is because of the kind of performer that Bruno is. He leaves it all on the stage.
And last week, my daughter and I were able to see my [00:01:00] very favorite singer of all time, Cynthia Erivo, perform at the Hollywood Bowl. it's been too soon. I, I have not fully processed the performance. will just give you some context and say that for years I have gotten emotional and teary-eyed watching recorded performances of hers and seeing her live was a completely different level experience.
And I think that being in the room with performers like that is different, and I think it's because of this. You can feel it when someone has done the work, and they know what they're about, and they just are open and share all of it, when they know who they are, when they know what they have to share, when they've practiced and prepared and can just be open.
You can feel it, and I think that's just as true for you and I as it is for someone singing on a stage in front of thousands of people. Now, I had to listen to a lot of recordings and watch a lot of videos to develop this love, [00:02:00] obviously, for both Cynthia Erivo and Bruno Mars, and even recordings of live performances, there's resonance, there's truth, there's presence that comes through.
But there really is something deeply powerful about being in the room with someone who's singing, and then you're around all of these other people that are experiencing it, too.
The other thing I've been thinking about is in order to get that many people to show up, to get them to buy tickets, get them to sing along, and then give them such a top-notch experience at the concert, you've got to do the preparation work in private so that you can be open and connected when you're on the stage.
And I think that's what we're feeling, that resonance and depth of that level of preparation is what we feel when we're in the room with someone like that.
You're feeling the depth and the openness of someone who's done the work they need to do in private, the preparation they need to do, and they know exactly what they're about and who they are. They can just [00:03:00] give their voice away like that in public. Cynthia writes about this in her book Simply More. She says, and I've heard her say this in interviews as well, "When you sing, you have to be as open as you possibly can be."
Those sound waves start with the breath that comes from the deepest part of you, and they have to move through your body, through your vocal cords, without any obstruction. But you can't just be open physically. You have to be open emotionally, because sometimes emotion can affect the parts of your body that, like, can carry tension.
If you've ever seen someone trying to sing clearly when they're emotional or crying, there's a lot of tension that can get in the voice, and that is an obstruction that keeps you from sharing your voice as freely as you can. So that openness means you give a piece of yourself to people without knowing whether or not they'll receive it, and that's vulnerable, but you take the risk.
I've always believed singing is one of the most [00:04:00] vulnerable, open things we can do, sharing our voice that freely. And if we respond to that vulnerability that we're feeling when we first start to share our voice, share our ideas, by shutting down and worrying about what we sound like and getting tense about it, we can't truly share the things that are ours to share maybe you have a favorite artist that you saw perform live that was life-changing for you, but the point here is people who truly open up and sing who they are, they've done the preparation, they've done the work in private so they can share generously in public, and that's what allows their music, their resonance, their truth to be felt and not just heard.
And it's the same for you. It's the same for me, even if I never sing an actual note. We still sing who we are. When you walk into a sales conversation or a workshop or a room full of people you've never met, they can feel whether you know what you're about. [00:05:00] They can sense it before you've said very much at all, and they can feel it when you don't.
I know this from my own experience of doing this, of trying to be as open as possible and, and seeing what that feels like when I really want to share. Sometimes when I second-guess myself, if I'm not feeling confident, it just feels off. I'm doing my best, but I don't feel like I'm connected. I might start breathing up high where it's shallow, where I'm trying to talk, my voice can't be connected, and when that happens, people can feel it, even if they couldn't tell you what they're feeling.
When I taught voice lessons, we always started with the fundamentals: breath, posture, openness. A singer stands tall, and their bones are stacked on each other, and they're able to breathe low and deep with that posture still strong and tall. That deep breath creates a lot of vulnerability and openness, and it's what allows resonance to travel.
Our vocal cords are very small, and in [00:06:00] order for our voices to be heard, our bodies almost have to act as an amplifier, as a resonator, and be as open as possible is required. One of my mentors years ago, I remember him saying to me, " When you meet people who truly know who they are, they are singing who they are, even if they never sing a song or sing a note."
And when I talk about resonance and the way truth travels and the way we feel that energy from people when they know who they are and they know how they're wired and they're showing up and they're sharing that deliberately to try and serve other people and guide them to a better outcome, to a better impact That just rings true
And really, this doesn't just apply to singing. My friend Mike is a remarkable coach and guide. He is one of the most deeply present, resonant people I've ever met, and he mentioned to me in passing that he focuses [00:07:00] on his breath on purpose, not only for himself, but for the clients that he works with. I think as we go about our day-to-day, we don't think about breathing deeply on purpose.
But as I said, it's one of the most fundamental parts of singing well, and I think it's one of the most fundamental parts of showing up as ourselves, too
So if you want to know where to start with all of this,
If you want to show up as the kind of person that people can feel the truth that is coming from them, if this idea of hearing that, man, people can feel who you are when you're in the room, if you've had that experience from the other side and you want to develop this kind of openness and willingness to share, the best place to start is to start with your breath.
Breathing deeply, standing tall. And once you've got that, you can remember the things that you know, the thoughts that you've had that have helped
You know that you can serve other people. I think that's what it means to know what you're about, [00:08:00] to know who you are, what you believe, what's yours to share. Leadership just means stepping out and putting yourself and your ideas out there. It takes confidence, but confidence comes from taking action, and taking action can sometimes be as simple as a deep breath.
This isn't always easy to do. I've felt grateful when I've had people tell me That they can feel that energy from me. I try to take responsibility for that. I do my very best to manage the energy I bring into every space, and I do a lot of work in private so I can be open and generous in public
Because if I have ideas that can help other people, I want to be the kind of person that generously shares them And that's what I want for you. I want the people you're hoping to help, hoping to reach, to feel that too Cynthia's book, I really recommend it. it's called Simply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been Told They're Too Much.
And I think a lot of the people that I get the chance to work with carry the opposite story. They've been told or they've told themselves that they're not [00:09:00] enough, that they don't have enough experience, not enough credentials, not far enough along to have something worth sharing. Or if they have been told that they are too much, they shrink because they don't want to
impose. But I think everyone has something worth sharing, and I think it starts when you discover and strengthen what's already within you, getting quiet enough, having enough presence, breathing low enough to notice what's there. And it doesn't mean you won't feel nervous to be open and share A lot of performers, Cynthia in her book included, say she still gets nervous before she sings, but I think that's how you know something matters to you.
Nervous and excited are the same feeling. It's just the difference of a breath
So if you're feeling nervous about any of these ideas, about sharing what you know, about stepping into visibility, that isn't proof that you're not ready. It just means that what you have to share matters to you. So here's what I'd love for you to try this week. Before your next important conversation or opportunity to share something that you've been working on,
take a few minutes on your own first. Take a [00:10:00] few slow, low breaths. Let your shoulders stay low and still, and then ask yourself what you know that could help the person you're about to talk to, and be ready to say it. That's private preparation. That's private work. It's a small little action to take, but I promise you'll carry yourself differently into that room, and I know the right people will feel the difference.
You don't have to be louder. You don't have to be more. You just have to choose to resonate into the gap that's yours to fill because you can feel it when someone knows what they're about. They've done the work in private so that the people they're trying to reach can feel it, and you can do the same.
It starts with knowing who you are and how you're wired, and then choosing to show up and send that signal. If you wanna know a little bit more than that, as you know, you can take the Resonant Thought Leader Archetype assessment. It's free if you go to [00:11:00] macyrobison.com/quiz.
Thank you for listening. I'll see you next week