In this interview, host Speaker A welcomes fear‑expert Rebecca Heiss to discuss how speakers can transform the physiological response of fear into confidence. Heiss explains that while we cannot control the hormonal surge (adrenaline, cortisol) that accompanies fear, we can control the mental interpretation of those chemicals—reframing them as excitement. She emphasizes a simple breathwork technique: a slow, deep breath that signals safety to the brain, quieting subconscious chatter and activating the frontal lobe, thereby restoring executive control. Heiss also introduces the "Jennifer Lawrence Effect" (originally the Pratt Effect), describing research that shows people who display vulnerability—making small mistakes, owning them—are perceived as more likable, trustworthy, and having higher leadership potential. The conversation provides concrete, in‑the‑moment steps for speakers: reinterpret fear as excitement, use breath to engage the frontal lobe, and embrace vulnerability to connect with audiences. The host also promotes the Emerging Speaker Society as a resource for ongoing speaker development.
Chapters
Fear. It is just a part of what we do as speakers, but it does not have to hold us back. So I thought it would be awesome to bring on the show with me today an expert on fear and what happens in our bodies, Rebecca Heiss. She's big time. I'm really excited for you to check out this show with her. Before we dive into the show, it's my moment to invite you into the Emerging Speaker Society. You do not want to miss out all of the fun that is happening over there. We are doing daily inspiration, weekly trainings, monthly challenges, all to help you uplevel your speaking, making consistent revenue from your speaking, planned revenue. You know, getting paid on the regular. That's awesome. Let's do that more, right? Right. Okay. Find us over at bemoved.com for /ess. So Rebecca, let's get really specific about what we can do to bring the body from a place of fear where the, the body's having a different reaction, all the hormones that are flooding the system, that are pulling us out of the moment, What can we do? What are some steps that we can take in the moment to get our head straight and our body in line?
Yeah, it's great. So in that moment, there's not much you can do, and that's great. It truly is. It truly is, because your body's taking over. And so we control the tips of our fingers, right? We're in an environment, we don't control the environment. If we're there, the only thing that we can control is between our ears. It's the interpretation of the experience. So I talk a lot about whether things are going to be an adventure or an ordeal. That's what you control. Your body is releasing chemicals. You don't have control over that. The cool thing is that those chemicals that you're releasing get interpreted here, and you do have control over this, right? So if you're feeling this stress and this anxiety and oh my gosh, you can say, Oh, I must be excited. And that shift is very subtle. It's the exact same hormones, right? Fear and excitement, same adrenaline and cortisol cocktail. But the interpretation is, huh, all right, I'm excited. So if I'm excited, what would I do if I was excited? Well, I'd smile, right? I'd smile because I'm excited. And I'm going to take a deep breath because I'm safe. Right? Nothing bad is going to happen here. I don't need to be in fear. I'm safe. So that breathwork that we talked about, I don't want to— well, I do. I'm going to overemphasize it because it's so, so important. It is what you have control over. And that single slow, deep breath that you take allows this whole cluttering, like chatter back here in the subconscious to shut off and turn on this frontal lobe. That is literally what turns on your frontal lobe where you're making conscious cognitive decisions from. If you want control over your executive portion of your brain, it's all about taking slow breaths and signaling to your body, I'm not in danger. I'm not in danger. This isn't a tiger. I'm not about to get pounced on. The worst thing that happens is what? I freeze. Okay. All right. And then I can take a breath and try again. And then, oh gosh, I'm going to say something wrong. Okay. And then I can own my mistake. And it turns out we like people more when they screw up. It's, I call it, I call it the Jennifer Lawrence effect, right? You, we love Jennifer Lawrence. She's a great actress, but she's, she does stupid stuff all the time. She falls on red carpet events and she doesn't get up and like, oh, nothing happened. No, she gets up, she's laughing, she owns it, and we love her for it. So keeping in mind that it's actually, it's, there's science behind it. It's called the Pratt effect. And when we are human, right? When we allow ourselves to own our mistakes and just say, well, that was a disaster. We're more likable. We're trusted more. People see higher leadership potential in us. The original Pratt effect design study, they had an interviewee come in and answer like 90% perfectly accurate 100% accurate answers. Then a second interviewee came in, exact same thing, 90% perfectly. Just before he left though, he had a cup of coffee and he kind of like, oof, spilled it on himself. Ah, geez, clumsy. Right? Who gets hired? Of course, the one who makes the mistake, right? And is seen as more valuable, more committed, more leadership potential. All of these things that play out because we're vulnerable, we're human, we're making these errors and it's not life or death. Fine. Take that deep breath.
This is so huge to me because I talk about this, I talk about this all the time with my speakers, that your perfect story, you just sharing everything that you know and saying, here's all of my advice and my— here's, you know, all the good stuff, essentially.
Yeah, yeah.
I might admire it from afar and appreciate it from afar. Yeah, but I'm not gonna believe that I can do it. I didn't know it was a real thing.
That's a real thing.
I love it when eventually all my theories get validated.
I know.
Oh my gosh, I love it. We just renamed the Pratt Effect the Jennifer Lawrence Effect.
Yeah, so good.
There are so many awesome nuggets in this, Rebecca. So, so fabulous.
