Public speaking ranks as the number one fear in the general population. More common than fear of death. More common than snakes, heights, or flying. Research from the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that approximately 74% of people experience some form of speech anxiety, and a 2023 Deloitte global survey found that 65% of executives admit to it too.

So if you are a leader who gets nervous before a presentation, a board meeting, or even a camera, you are not alone. You are the majority.

I know this personally. I spent years being terrified.

The Progression That Most People Skip

When I look back, I can see that I spent decades dipping my toe in rather than jumping. Student council president in grade school. Improv group in high school. A public speaking course in university. Toastmasters when I entered the workforce. A handful of sessions with a coach from Second City. I had done more exposure than most people. And I was still afraid.

The exposure was not the problem.

When I worked with my Second City coach, she helped me see something that changed everything: it was not my structure that needed work. It was not my content or my delivery. The problem was entirely in my head. The fear was not about standing in front of people. It was about what I believed would happen when I did.

That realization sent me deep into the research. I became obsessed with understanding why so many capable, intelligent, accomplished people freeze when asked to stand up and be seen.

What the Research Actually Shows

The fear of public speaking is not a character flaw. It is a wiring issue.

From a neuroscience perspective, public speaking triggers the brain’s threat detection system. The amygdala reads an audience as a source of social evaluation risk, which activates the same fight-or-flight response as physical danger. This response is biological, not a reflection of your ability or preparation.

Psychologist Albert Bandura’s research on self-efficacy shows that confidence in our own ability grows primarily through *mastery experiences*, meaning we build it by doing hard things successfully, not by waiting until we feel ready. The problem is that most people avoid the thing they are afraid of, which guarantees the fear stays intact.

There is also the matter of how we carry ourselves when we are nervous.

During my deep dive into the research, I came across Amy Cuddy’s famous TED Talk on body language. I watched it maybe 100 times. What stuck with me was the core behavioral idea: that how you physically position yourself in a moment of fear actually changes how you feel in that moment. Multiple studies and a 2020 meta-analysis across more than 2,500 participants confirmed that adopting open, expansive postures leads to measurably higher feelings of confidence compared to closed, contracted ones. The hormone claims from the original 2010 study did not hold up in replications, but the confidence finding has been well supported: standing tall, physically taking up space, actually shifts how you feel about yourself in that moment.

I started practicing this. Before going in front of a group, I would find a private space, put my hands on my hips or raise them in the air, and hold that posture. A bathroom stall. An empty hallway. Anywhere no one could see me. And it worked. Not as a magic trick. But as a physical signal to my nervous system that I was not in danger.

I started using it in other high-stakes situations too. A conversation I was nervous about. A pitch I had been avoiding. Over time it became part of how I show up.

The Part No One Talks About

Here is what I have learned from working with hundreds of leaders: the body and the mind are in a constant conversation, and confidence lives in both.

The physical work is real. Standing tall, taking up space, using your body as a signal to your brain that you are not under threat — that is not a performance hack. That is science. And for many people, it is the entry point. You start in the body because the body is accessible. You can change your posture right now.

I had a conversation about this on my podcast, Grown to Lead, with Andrea Ross — a former stunt double, competitive wrestler, and gymnast who now coaches leaders. Her argument, backed by her own lived experience performing under extreme pressure, is that the body learns to perform before the brain catches up. If you want to go deep on this, [that episode is worth your time]

But confidence that only lives in your posture has a ceiling.

Because the fear of public speaking is almost never really about public speaking. It is about what you believe happens when people look directly at you and form an opinion. It is about old experiences of being judged, dismissed, or embarrassed. It is about the gap between who you are on the inside and who you want to be seen as on the outside.

This is why the most powerful approach works both directions at once: you use the body to shift the state, and you use the mind to change the story. Research on self-efficacy backs this up — confidence in your own ability is one of the strongest predictors of performance, and it is built through both physical action and the internal narrative that either supports or undermines it.

That is exactly where 1:1 coaching changes everything.

What Coaching Does That Practice Alone Cannot

A good coach does not just tell you to stand up straight and breathe. They help you locate the specific belief that is keeping you stuck. They ask the question you have been avoiding. They hold you accountable to doing the thing you keep delaying.

I have seen this with coaching clients at Plum who came in describing themselves as poor speakers or people who were not built for it. What we found, in almost every case, was not a skills problem. It was a story problem. They were running a narrative about what their nervousness meant about them, and that narrative was making the fear bigger than the actual task.

In a study published by researchers at Columbia and Harvard, participants who adopted expansive postures before a high-stakes evaluation were rated as more capable, more composed, and more persuasive by independent evaluators. The posture alone moved the needle. Now imagine pairing that physical preparation with a coach who has helped you specifically identify and disrupt the thought pattern that fires every time you are about to be evaluated.

That combination is not incremental. It is transformational.

Fear of public speaking has been shown to hold people back from promotions, raises, and career moves. Research estimates it impairs wages by as much as 10% and reduces promotion rates by 15%. Approximately 45% of people with significant speech anxiety say it has limited their career growth. That is not a small cost.

Where to Start

If you are a leader who avoids the camera, declines speaking opportunities, or leaves meetings wishing you had said more: start with the physical.

Before your next presentation, find a private space. Stand tall. Shoulders back. Feet planted. Hands on your hips or in the air. Hold it for a minute or two. Not because it will chemically transform you. But because your body and brain are in a conversation, and you get to decide what your body says first.

Then get a coach.

Not because you are broken. But because the fastest way to close the gap between the leader you are and the leader you want to be seen as is to work with someone who can see what you cannot. The internal work is what makes the external change stick.

At Plum, our 1:1 coaching is designed specifically for this. We work with business owners, general managers, and senior leaders who are capable in the room but know they are holding back. We help them find what is actually getting in the way, build the specific skills to address it, and then hold them accountable for showing up differently.

Public speaking is a learnable skill. The fear does not have to be permanent. But waiting for the fear to go away before you act is a strategy that does not work.

Show up. Show up tall. Then get the support to make it last.

Ready to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be? [Book a 1:1 coaching conversation with Plum.]