The Three Pillars of Authority for Speakers | Tim Newman Speaks

How do truly powerful speakers command authority without relying on sheer volume or aggressive body language? That’s the question we’re answering on today’s episode of Speaking with Confidence.

In this episode, I dive deep into the art and science of authentic authority in communication. As someone who’s coached hundreds of professionals—and as a recovering college professor myself—I’ve seen firsthand that the most influential communicators aren’t the ones who try to dominate the room; they’re the ones who remain poised and structured, even under pressure.

There’s no guest on this episode; it’s just me, Tim Newman, guiding you through the exact three-step formula I teach my clients to help them show up with quiet confidence rather than performative bravado. We unpack the misconception that authority is about sounding loud or forceful, and replace it with a new paradigm built on control, clarity, and composure.

Here’s what we explored together:

• Why real authority can’t be faked and why it collapses under tough questions if it’s only an act.
• The first pillar: Structure. Most speakers fail before they begin because they don’t have a clear framework. You’ll learn how the “scaffolding principle” and the rule of three—simplifying your main points—help you build clarity, respect, and influence.
• The second pillar: Strategic pause. I share why silence is the most powerful tool for authoritative delivery. You’ll discover how replacing commas and periods in your mental script with intentional pauses instantly commands a room, eliminates filler words, and projects composure.
• Stories from my coaching experiences, including how a client turned a tense Q&A into a moment of control and how Steve Jobs used silence to demonstrate real thinking.
• The third pillar: The unavoidable verdict. We go beyond just informing audiences to inspiring action, guiding them to a single, compelling conclusion by engineering every aspect of your communication for clarity and impact.
• A step-by-step example of structuring a pitch and how to use the three pillars to build a winning case.
• Common pitfalls—like rambling or flooding people with data—and how to avoid them by focusing on simplification, strategic silence, and clarity of purpose.
• Practical takeaways for you to start practicing right away: from structuring your next team update, to slowing your speech with pauses, or defining your key verdict before preparing a presentation.

By the end of the episode, you’ll know how to stop chasing authority and start embodying it—naturally and consistently. If you’re ready to transform the way you communicate, visit speakingwithconfidencepodcast.com for your free eBook, Top 21 Challenges for Public Speakers and How to Overcome Them, and consider registering for the Foreman for Public Speaking.

Remember, your voice has the power to change. Progress, not perfection—let’s step confidently into every conversation that counts!

Chapters

• 0:00 Redefining Real Authority
• 1:12 Pillar One: Scaffolding Your Message
• 3:23 Real-World Scaffolding Example
• 5:00 Pillar Two: The Strategic Pause
• 7:00 Composure Under Tough Questions
• 8:30 Pillar Three: The Unavoidable Verdict
• 10:20 Building An Airtight Case

Transcript

Tim Newman: 0:08

Welcome back to Speaking with Confidence, a podcast that helps you build the soft skills that lead to real results. Communication, storytelling, public speaking, and showing up with confidence in every conversation that counts. I'm Tim Newman, a recovering college professor turned communication coach, and I'm thrilled to guide you on your journey to becoming a powerful communicator. If you think unstoppable authority comes from a loud voice or aggressive body language, you're chasing the wrong goal. That performance collapses the moment someone asks a tough question. Real authority isn't something you put on. It's the quiet confidence that comes from having a system. It's control, not volume. After coaching hundreds of professionals, I've seen the same pattern. The most influential speakers aren't the loudest, they're the calmest under pressure. Today I'm giving you the exact three-step formula that I teach. Master scaffolding, the strategic pause, and the unavoidable verdict, and you won't need to try to sound authoritative. You just will be. The first pillar of authority is structure, and this is where most people fail before they even open their mouths. The problem isn't a lack of ideas, it's a lack of scaffolding. When you ramble, jump between points, or fill space with verbal filler words like um and you know, you reveal that you don't have a clear internal blueprint. You're building your argument as you go, and the audience feels your uncertainty. The scaffolding principle is simple. Every idea needs a strong, logical, and visible structure. Think of it as pillars, evidence, and conclusion. You don't just talk, you actually build. See what I just did there? When you present three main pillars, you give your audience a clear framework. They know where you're starting, where you're going, and how you're going to get there. Here's a real world example. Imagine you're in a high-stakes team meeting proposing a new project. Instead of dumping all your data set at once, you scaffold it. Your first pillar, this project addresses our biggest customer complaint. Your second pillar, it's achievable with our current quarter's budget. And your third pillar, it positions us ahead of our main competitor. Now, under each pillar, you offer one or two pieces of key evidence. And this structure does the heavy lifting for your audience. They don't have to work to follow you. And how does this build authority? Because clarity is a form of professional respect. It shows you've done the thinking beforehand. It demonstrates control and discipline. The common mistake is to overcomplicate the structure, try and include every minor point. But authority comes from simplification, not complication. A solid structure is your foundation. But it's useless if your delivery, or really how you actually speak, undermines it. So you build a solid structure with a scaffolding principle. But a blueprint is useless if the construction is shaky. This is where most authority falls apart in the delivery. The problem isn't what you're saying, it's how you're saying it. Rush speech, filler words like um and like, and that upward inflection that turns statements into questions. These are all tells that you're nervous, that you're not in control. You're giving away your power with every rush sentence. The principle here is counterintuitive but powerful. Silence is your most effective tool for building authority, and we've talked about that before. When you use a deliberate pause, you shift the control of the room to you. You force the audience to wait. You're not rushing to fill the space, you're commanding it. This is the difference between someone who is reacting to the pressure and someone who's controlling it. Here's the actionable technique. It's simple but requires discipline. Every comma in your mental script replace every comma in your mental script with a one-second pause. And replace every period with a three-second pause. This does two things immediately. First, it physically forces you to slow down and control your breathing, which also calms your nervous system. Second, it systematically eliminates filler words because you're giving yourself designated spaces to actually breathe and think. But the real power move is what you do during that three-second pause after a key point. You look at your audience, you make eye contact, and that silence signals what I just said is important. I'm giving you time to absorb it. The psychological effect is profound. It makes your words feel heavier, more considered. You're not just sharing information, you're landing ideas. I saw this in action with a client during a panel Q ⁇ A. She was asked a challenging, almost hostile question. Instead of rushing to defend her position, she took a full three second pause, made eye contact with the questioner, and then began her answer with a calm, scaffolded response. The entire dynamic shifted. She wasn't defensive, she was in control. The ability to be silent under pressure is the ultimate sign of composure. Another example is I saw a video with Steve Jobs one time where he was asked a pretty tough question, and he actually paused for 20 seconds before he answered it. And that really showed that he was truly thinking about his response and getting his ideas or getting the answer in a in a way that he could express it and said it made sense. The common mistake is the discomfort that fills that silence with a um or so. You need to fight that urge. Lean into the quiet. It's where your authority actually grows. Now you have control over your structure and your delivery. But without this final step, you're just a clear, calm speaker. Authority isn't just about how you communicate, it's about why. The problem I see most is speakers who present to inform rather than to transform. They share data. They list features, but they fail to inspire action or change minds. They're a data dump, not a guide. And this brings us to the unavoidable verdict. The principle is this. You are leading your audience to a single undeniable conclusion. You're not walking alongside them. You're the expert guiding them to a destination that you knew before you even started. Your entire communication is engineered so that by the end, the verdict you've predetermined is the only logical conclusion that can possibly be drawn. The actionable technique is to define your unavoidable verdict in one non-negotiable sentence before you write a single word of your presentation. What is the one thing they must believe or do when you're finished? For example, in a sales pitch, your verdict might be, our solution is the only one that solves your core financial inefficiency. In a team meeting, it might be, my proposed strategy is a necessary step to hit our quarterly targets. Everything you say, your three pillars from step one, your evidence, your strategic pauses from step two, all that serves to build an airtight case for that verdict. Let me give you another real world example for my coaching. A client was preparing a pitch to a major investor. Her verdict was investing in our platform will give you a monopoly on an emergency market niche. We structured her entire pitch around three pillars. The size of the unmet need, the uniqueness of her technology, and the scalability of the business model. Every piece of evidence pointed directly to that verdict. She used strategic pauses to let the weight of each bullet sink in. The result? The investor didn't just agree, he set it like the only logical outcome, and that's authority. The common mistake is presenting information without a clear point of view or call to action. You leave the audience to connect the dots themselves, and they often won't. When you guide them to an obvious necessary conclusion, your expertise becomes indispensable. And that's the complete system. Scaffolding for structure, the strategic pause for delivery, and the unavoidable verdict for impact. These three steps form a formula for genuine authority that works because it's built on control, not performance. Remember, authority isn't about being the loudest voice in the room, it's about being the calmest under pressure. Here's what I want you to do next. Pick one of these three steps, whichever feels most challenging to you right now, and practice it this week in a low stake situation. Maybe it's structuring your next team update using the rule of three. Maybe it's consciously inserting three-second pauses during a one-on-one conversation. Or maybe it's defining your unavoidable verdict before your next presentation. The goal isn't perfection. The goal is to build the habit of control. When you master the system, you won't need to try and sound authoritative. Your calm, structured, and purposeful communication will make authority unavoidable. And that's the real transformation from tracing authority to embodying it naturally. That's all for today. Remember, we're looking for progress, not perfection. Be sure to visit speakingwithconfidence podcast.com to get your free ebook, the Top 21 Challenges for Public Speakers and How to Overcome Them. You can also register for the Foreman for Public Speaking. Always remember, your voice has empowered you. We'll talk to you next time. Take care.