Communication Skills for Healthcare Leaders:
How to Be Heard

Transforming Healthcare Coaching Podcast — Episode 125: Communicating for Impact & Influence for Healthcare Leaders with Salvatore Manzi. Host Lillian Liang Emlet, MD MS CHSE CPC ELI-MP in conversation with Salvatore Manzi, leadership communications coach and author of Clear and Compelling. Published September 7, 2026.

Salvatore Manzi: We need to start with the you then me. And when it comes to technical data, it's based on the fact that emotion precedes cognition.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Hi, everybody. So thanks everyone for joining us and my name is Lillian Liang Emlet. I'm the founder of Transforming Healthcare Coaching, and I'm super excited today to introduce our guest today, which is, Salvatore Manzi, who is the author of Clear and Compelling. Salvatore, thank you so much for being here.

Salvatore Manzi: Thank you, Lillian. It's great to join you.

Lillian Liang Emlet: so I just want to introduce you a little bit. You are a leadership communications coach, helping leaders amplify their influence and their impact. And you have coached people who have presented at the United Nations. You've, guided startup founders. You've helped, physicians and clinicians speak with more presence. You've helped people through their TEDx talk. So you've done all kinds of communication. You've been doing this for over 20 years, and so I'm really so happy to bring you to our world and our audience because I would say that leaders in healthcare- Sometimes we don't really mean for that to happen, and the words just come out of our mouth, and it's an oops. And so instead, we know that there's ways we can improve our skills beforehand. And so I just want to, give you a chance to talk about some of the things that you've learned all these years in terms of helping people be able to communicate with more clarity and with more presence.

Salvatore Manzi: Wonderful. It is so awesome to be with everybody today, and 20 years has been quite the journey.

Lillian Liang Emlet: And so, what we want to talk about today is the fact that, Salvatore has a new book coming out, and this is coming out in October, and we will be actually featuring it on the Transforming Healthcare Coaching medTHRIVE, Community Book Rounds. So we actually have a nonfiction leadership book club quarterly, with, Transforming Healthcare Coaching, and this is actually for healthcare professionals of any, flavor or sort who just wants to be able to have a private place to be able to think, learn, and grow, and develop their leadership skills. And as we all know, leadership is not just one thing, it's many skills all together. And so, we're really glad that you're here to be able to help get a sneak peek of what's in the book before it even gets released, and that way people can check out your book when it comes out in October, and then hopefully join us in January 2027 for our very first, book club. So

Salvatore Manzi: Yes, please do. And thank you for that generous opening. And you know what? The book is several years in the making. It's 20 years of communication strategies and coaching all over 1,500 leaders from different sectors and elevating their communication. We all have our own quirks when it comes to communicating, and hopefully today we'll cover some of the fun things that you can put into practice immediately to start using. And then definitely join us in January. We're going to have fun.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Yeah. So I'm going to start off with, the fact that most of us in science-based and clinical, fields, physicians, we're trained to lead with evidence. It has to be about the study, it has to be about the numbers, it has to be about all of these sometimes actually sort of boring data slides. And so because of our background, because we are so analytical and maybe sometimes j- like engineers tend to be a little bit more comprehensive and, love the data, how does that work against us actually when we are stepping outside the clinical context, when it means we're talking to families, to patients, to the public, and to be able to convey our message for a very diverse leadership team, especially whenever we are now speaking to C-suite, non-clinical staff, vendors, buyers in the marketplace?

Salvatore Manzi: Yeah. it's a challenging problem, and most of my clients are in the technical field or working with data, numbers, science, and what happens is translating all of that brilliance into something that they can relate to and connect to is a bit of a code switch for us. if a clinician's talking to a clinician, they're using acronyms and they're using inside language. When they go outside of that, it becomes more complicated. So there's something called the curse of knowledge. I'm sure you've heard of it. I'm sure many people have heard of it. It's the fact that we're so familiar with our own information that we forget what it's like for a new beginner to that information to connect with it. So we don't always start with the right amount of context for what we're talking. The opposite is that we deliver so much context and so much data that it just overwhelms. It becomes a wash of information. And what I would share is that, my go-to in these situations for anybody out there that is working with technical information, metaphors move minds. Drop your data, use your information, give them the research, give them the backing, but connect it to a story, a metaphor, an analogy, or an example. Something to paint the picture so that they're not just getting all the data, they're able to connect it with an image or something emotional that's going to help them concretize what you're talking about.

Lillian Liang Emlet: I love that. And so I think that's also why sometimes the most effective teaching we often get in our clinical world is when we start with, an image or it starts with, here's the setting in terms of we're entering into your, paint this picture of you're entering to your shift. You have a person who has this problem, and then you sort of leave it at a cliffhanger question, and then you introduce the data, and then you introduce the rationale for the study, and then you move into your big takeaways.

Salvatore Manzi: I like that. That's a good strategy. Start with something that's engaging and engages their mind the way the brain works so that they can hold that as a starting point. Brilliant.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Yeah. And storytelling is hard. Let me just say, I don't think it's easy in any way. I'm actually, for our, local Pittsburgh startup week, we're actually having, some video storytellers come to talk about how do you translate tech and product into the story behind the, like the thing, what's the story behind an object? and so I think the reality, that's one way of telling a story. But you know what, I think one of my favorite parts inside this book was the you then me framework. So this is a sneak peek into your book. tell us about your framework and why you titled it that way and, sort of how you came up with it.

Salvatore Manzi: Thank you. And it is 20 years of trying to refine the important message of what I call the number one principle of communication: you then me. Anytime I open my mouth to speak to somebody, I need to start with their world, their situation, their perspective before I get into my world and my agenda, my talking points. If I don't start with their world first, I'm not creating the connection, I'm not creating the relevance. And I'll give you an example. It'd be like me giving you directions to my house, starting from my house. "Okay, from my front door, go one block down, turn left. At the light, go right, go past Target, turn left again, and then you'll be there." No, but it doesn't make sense. You can't get there. And yet, how often do we begin explaining something to somebody else where we begin telling them our experience from our world before we actually get it from their world to ours? So the you then me is a principle of connecting your listeners to what you want to speak about from their perspective first, and then the bridge is opened up for you to begin speaking about your perspective at that point

Lillian Liang Emlet: I like that. And it just really, I mean, I love the simplicity of that formula because, when we're curious about the other person first, not only do we get more data, but it's also just fun to, hear about other people's perspectives. and you just never know what you might discover. I mean, I think that's part of the reason why clinicians like being clinicians, that we get a chance to see somebody else's lived experience and chit-chat about who they are as a person, much less the disease or the surgery or the procedure about to undergo. But it's just, it's, that's the part that actually comforts everybody, is just these shared stories

Salvatore Manzi: Yeah. And you hit the word I was looking for is comfort. And I judge so many clinicians and those in healthcare are dealing with the emotional weight that's being brought, not just do you understand me, but do you understand how I feel right now? And that's critical for, reducing that emotional load so that they can start talking about things in a rational level. So starting with a you then me is going to help them create that connection and that comfort to begin hearing the wisdom that you have that's going to help them.

Lillian Liang Emlet: You know, and so I think the other thing why I also really liked about your book is that you also talk a bit about neuroscience and psychology. You do not lead with like stage techniques and acting, because it is not about acting. It really is about grounding in, the way we communicate. so what does the research actually say about the people, the way they take in information, and what does, why is that, why does the neuroscience and the psychology science, contradict maybe some myths or stereotypes that we were, on how we were taught to present?

Salvatore Manzi: I like where you're going with this, but I think the, the myth is perpetuated by the fact that we emulate the people that we watch. And too oftentimes we see people in meetings and interactions and things start with their perspective. "Well, I'm going to tell you what the research I've done. I'm going to share with you the bullet points. I'm going to tell you how this flows out, and I'm going to tell you how this is going to impact you." It's like, no, no, no, no, no. We need to start with the you then me. And it's simply based on, when it comes to technical data, it's based on the fact that emotion precedes cognition. And what research shows us in neuroscience is that your amygdala is firing before you're even processing the words. Your amygdala is firing and determining how safe you are, whether you want to listen to this, and that's going to shut down your, listener's ability to hear whatever valuable information you have if the emotion hasn't been connected first. And that's the essence of storytelling, of metaphors, of you then me. When you're able to create that connection and establish relevance and create a picture of what you're trying to explain, to your point, starting with that image and cliffhanger, that's when the emotion's going to kick in and allow the person to begin, listening to what you have to say

Lillian Liang Emlet: I think also the reality is it's also sort of how we design things, right? even coming to this space right now for those of you who are listening, took a second or two to enter into the room, and so be it, right? So you get a chance to relax, take a breath, take a beat. put down, what you were doing in the hour before to be able to come in during your break and come listen to us. some of you might be walking. Some of you might be just listening on your phone. Some of you might be at your computer. But just having that chance to sort of switch calms down the amygdala, the emotion center, so that we can have a chance to hang out together here, on the live stream

Salvatore Manzi: Yeah. And to follow up on that, there's, known research about when you have humor, you can approach things that are scary in an easier way. That's why we have, clowns that come visit the hospitals, and we have dogs that come in into hospitals because when there is a, a, a moment that lights up our brain to warmth and humor or openness, we can take a breath, and then we can be more receptive to the valuable information that needs to be shared. And I'm not encouraging anyone to make a joke if you're not funny. But if you are funny or you know a good joke, practice it. Practice the levity. And, I had the awesome opportunity to officiate a wedding, and one of the strategies I employed in the wedding was that I would take them all the way up to a point of humor, and then I would drop them into something that's very serious and heartfelt and emotional. And what happened was the, the people that were watching the wedding were taken to this mode of laughter and then immediately crying, and "My God, I'm laughing and crying." And it's like that's the emotionality of communication. When we can open them up with that connection, then they will then have more of an emotional ride. And it's the emotional ride that creates the memory. It becomes more memorable, and your messages are going to inspire more and connect with more out there.

Lillian Liang Emlet: So I have to admit, I do want to be selfish in this hour and, commandeer some free advice here in public, about things that make a lot of people nervous. So, you prepare people for, the United Nations. There is a wide diversity of perspectives in that room, and fundraising rooms, like venture capitalists and, pitch decks and people who are doing startups. There are lots of skeptics in the room, and so you get really anxious because you're presenting, to the C-suite to decide if they're going to buy your software. It's various different perspectives to close that deal. And so what's true to help prepare someone enter into these kinds of rooms where it's very large, you don't know them at all. you're probably not going to be using humor, or maybe you might. I'm curious what kind of advice and how do you prepare people for that kind of diversity?

Salvatore Manzi: I love the question, and there is, another principle of know your audience. The more you know your audience, the more you can create that you then me opening. The more general your audience, the more we need to speak from, the general conditions. We are all experiencing life in certain ways similarly. We all have the same frustrations with work and life and the economy and job growth and, we all have similar experiences, so we can start very general and keep it there if you have a general audience. And when you're doing that, I do recommend using some mitigating languages. It might sound like many of us today are dealing with changes in the economy that we hadn't anticipated. Many of us are still coming out of the COVID fog and all the changes that happened to our community. And in healthcare in particular, there's... There... Many are trying to get from that burnout into a place of actually taking advances and not just trying to fight the fires that are out there. I didn't say anything specific necessarily, but what I've done is I've connected with my listeners in a way by talking about generalities. That's the you then me. But I want to touch on what you said, because in order to have a really powerful presentation, a talk, whether it's on the stage to all of your conference, colleagues, or if it's in a boardroom, or if it's even just to somebody else in the office, in order to have success with that, you need to know your goal.

Salvatore Manzi: A lot of times when I'm working with somebody, the first thing I ask is, "What do you want them to say, do, or decide? What do you want them to say, do, or decide?" If you don't know that, you're not ready to give that talk. You're not ready to have that conversation. It'd be the same as if an archer was out there practicing with their bow and arrow, but they didn't have a target. You're just, shooting arrows everywhere. It's not going to work. If you know what your goal is, that is going to help you direct your energy, the way you use your voice, and the way you deliver the message to connect with your person to achieve that goal

Lillian Liang Emlet: Ah, so good. So good. So that's like the bigger nerve-wracking, panel that you need to present to. There's another type of presentation that we often do almost every other day in the hospital, right? Or at work. You're on different projects and you got to make a case. You got to make a case to your department chair, to your boss, your supervisor. You have a proposal. you're very emotionally tied to it, and, you really want them to say yes or to at least get to the very next step to allow something to move forward or an idea to take off. And so when we're just doing these quick one-on-one meetings with someone who's above you hierarchically for the ranking, what kind of framework, what kind of move can like average, normal, normal physicians like me when we're talking with our boss, like to make sure that they actually say yes to our ideas?

Salvatore Manzi: that I would start with relevance, tie it to their need. Whenever I'm speaking up the chain, I want to start with our shared purpose. This is what we are both hoping to accomplish here. It level sets, it states the obvious, and it gets them on board with, "Okay, you get me. You know where this is going. Now, what's your addition to it?" That's what I would offer, is be sure you can identify the shared interest first, and here's the mistake most people make. They assume it's a given. They assume that you and I already know this, and so they don't say it. Stating the obvious, speaking to the shared interest between you and that person up the chain helps to create a foundation for everything else that you share. So don't assume that everybody's on the same page. Start by stating the obvious and share the shared interest, and then you're going to be able to help inspire and move that person forward. I would also offer that it is when we are speaking up the chain that we use the most mitigating language. Maybe, and if you could, and I think that maybe, and you might be able to, and it's natural to deflect, to their authority and to their position. I would offer you can eliminate the mitigate most of the time using the tone of voice and still making your point clearly

Lillian Liang Emlet: those are really great points. and you do it just reflexively. and I think I know that for many women, they also feel like from a gender perspective, they accidentally do it. it's really hard for women to really try to remove some of these languages out of their vocabulary, because it happens unintentionally. And until you have a colleague, a peer, a coach like yourself, speaking coach like yourself come alongside, watch these conversations, you realize, "Oops, I did it to myself again." and then you have to be more intentional. This is why it's actually in some ways it's really great to have video review. And so it's great that, we're doing this live so then when I go back and watch the video, I can look for these opportunities that I, may have chosen a better word

Salvatore Manzi: I mean, to that point, and you mention female professionals often do have conditioning, and I would offer we've all been conditioned by society. We know what gets rewarded and what doesn't, and we try to stay within them because every human being's biggest goal is belonging. We will choose belonging over becoming, and so we default to our conditioned drivers. What are the conditions that are driving you? What are your knee-jerk responses to any contextual situation? And I would offer, take a look at when you're talking to this type of person, when you're talking about this topic, when you're talking in this environment, what are your conditioned behaviors in those situations? Watch yourself. Don't try to watch all three for all at the same time. Pick one. I'm going to watch for all day today, I'm going to watch how I am conditioned to respond to people in this role, and see how you show up. And then make one small adjustment, a little adjustment to try something a little bit differently, because we all know the thing that got you to where you are is not the thing that's going to get you to where you want to go. So you have to create those changes in our patterns in order to get to that next level

Lillian Liang Emlet: Yeah. And I love also who the reality is this little by little and just being really intentional to put yourself into the areas of uncomfortable zone, your zone of proximal development as cognitive and learning theorists would say. You need to just keep pushing the next step, and the next step. Which I guess leads me into my, one of my more final questions, which is we often do oopsies right in the moment. we open mouth, insert foot, and you gotta figure out how to recover. And so how do you recover? Whether you're on a big stage or you've veered completely, did the wrong answer to that, pitch, meeting with all the different investors and you're trying to like, let me, I need a reset. How do you get people back on your team in the communication world?

Salvatore Manzi: Yeah, I don't know because I've never done this before. I have fallen on my face so many times, I can't even count it anymore. Part of it is that I'm just used to falling on my face at this point. But you bring up a really good question. How do you recover when you forgot what you were going to say, or you said the wrong thing, or somebody's reaction, whether it was a facial expression or what they said, throws you off? Like, how do you recover in that moment? And I would offer that you want to use your physiology. Typically, when we're in that moment, we fall down, we collapse inside. It's a natural instinct. So train yourself to stay open in that moment. What this does is it sends a loop to your brain that I'm okay, and it gives you the resourcefulness to continue. Second thing to keep in mind is to breathe, and here's the fun thing. People always say, "If you're nervous speaking, take a deep breath." No, no, no. Take a deep breath, yes, you need to keep breathing. But as everybody in the listeners, I'm... because we are talking to clinicians, you know it's when the exhale that your body calms down. When the chest expands, the heart goes faster. When you exhale, it goes slower. So take a deep breath, but let it out and hold that exhale. That's going to help you calm down. So those are two things to manage your internal state in that moment of mistake. What research tells us, you don't need to apologize. You don't need to belabor the moment. You just need to self-correct and keep going. What you'll notice is the more, the higher the level the leader, the less they beat themselves up for the mistake. They made a mistake, they just keep going. And don't beat yourself up if you beat yourself up. Like I'm not saying don't, "Ah, Salvatore told me to do this, and now I'm actually saying I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." No. It's perfectly normal to apologize if you make a mistake or say the wrong word. I would offer it's not necessary, not in that moment. People understand that you're human, and you made a mistake, and you're going to keep going. I would reframe it in this context When I see somebody I think is a great communicator flub somehow, I think, "Ugh, thank goodness. They're human," right? "Ugh, they're human like me." It endears me to that person more to witness them have a mistake and recover from it than to simply be a perfect, polished news reporter giving us whatever the data is they want to. So embrace the mistake. Don't beat yourself up. Realign your body and your breath so that you can have the physicality to show up resourceful, and then just keep going.

Lillian Liang Emlet: So good. So

Salvatore Manzi: Oh, wait. I just had a Dory moment there. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.

Lillian Liang Emlet: There you go, right? There you go. all the lessons we can learn from Disney, so this has been an amazing 30 minutes just in terms of all the different pearls and tips. and obviously for those of you who like to read, this will be a place where you can just have a little quick guidebook for yourself. What I love about it is that the frameworks are simple. You can almost, I mean, take, cut out the page or photocopy certain pages, and you can just work on small things. I think also, I think an advice that, you had given me when I read the book was just pick one thing. You don't have to read it from front to b- back. You can just read the small thing that you want to work on. So tell us a little bit about the book, how people can work with you, how they can find you.

Salvatore Manzi: Thank you, and I appreciate that nod and that you read my book so thoroughly. full disclosure everyone, Lillian found a typo in my book, and thankfully my publisher fixed that today, so thank you for that. The book, you can find out more about me and the book at clearandcompellingplaybook.com. Clearandcompellingplaybook.com. There are resources you can download that are related to it. And to what Lillian just said, open the book to any page, find a strategy or technique that you want to work on for one day, try it out, see how it works, and then go from there. I also would invite anybody to DM me on LinkedIn with Clear and Compelling, and I will send you a free framework that aligns with what we've been talking today

Lillian Liang Emlet: So exciting. I'm really grateful for, Carlos, who commented, and almost with prescient knowledge, that, that Salvatore's excellent at retreats and coming to your in-person conferences for your group and organizations, and you've spoken at very large healthcare organizations. so we are actually announcing a partnership together where we will be, working together in our first, retreat March 6th, 2027, Miami Beach. I mean, who could not want to have a private mastermind with the two of us in, Miami? And Salvatore will be doing a... Well, he really pretty much offers to his one-on-one clients, which is really helping people think through how do you practice, how do you get the video review, and actually we're going to do it live for real, and it's only going to be 25 at the most, maybe with a wait list 30 people, who will be in that room. And so we are looking at Miami Beach, March 6th, 2027. So the Leadership Learning Lab, is where we will have a preparatory incubator for this event in March. So healthcare leaders, who want to get in, this is extremely curated. So if you're listening now and you're hearing this in the replay, if you are in any kind of leadership position, we know that brainstorming how do you say these things, how do you prepare for these high-stakes conversations? I don't know how to give feedback to someone who did something very awkward in the workplace. We're going to have a private space just for healthcare leaders, to be able to think through that, through role play, rehearse so that you have a safe place, with our coaches at Transforming Healthcare Coaching. That's going to be October, November, December, with then the ticket to go to March. So, we're hoping that's where we'll actually get the feeder source to prepare everybody to then, But obviously some people can just buy the ticket alone, for Leadership Learning Lab. But this link, and if you sign up for the wait list, you'll get direct access to me, and you and I will have a conversation about whether you're the right fit and which program is better for you, So that we can make sure we customize it. You might just want to hire Salvatore to be your private coach, and that might just be a better way to go, so we'll chit-chat so that we can make sure it's the right fit for you. thank you everyone, And so we're so excited that people are listening from all over the world, for this LinkedIn Live. so Salvatore, any final concluding tips, encouragement, words of wisdom before we go?

Salvatore Manzi: I always like to leave people with the idea of spot it, got it. If you see somebody communicating in a way that you think is superb, the fact that you can spot it means that you've got it. All you've got to do is get out there and try it. So if you're spotting somebody great, it means that you have that greatness in you as well. Thank you to everyone that has listened in, and clearandcompellingplaybook.com is the place to get the book, and I look forward to seeing you in Miami.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Oh, so awesome. And here's the book. You can pre-order it anywhere you normally pre-order books.