If you’ve ever walked out of a meeting thinking, “Why didn’t that land?” Or if you’ve ever felt invisible in corporate… Or if you’re building a life outside of corporate and wondering why some conversations connect and others fall flat… This episode will hit you hard. Today, Brett welcomes back Jake Stahl — author of the brand-new book Own the Room and creator of the STRATA framework, a system for reading people, decoding signals, and communicating with true presence instead of performance. Twelve years ago, Jake lost everything to opioid addiction — his marriage, his home, his reputation, and the identity he’d spent decades building. But his path back didn’t begin with a new job or a second chance. It began with learning how to read people . Jake realized that most communication has nothing to do with the words being spoken. It’s the signals beneath them — the micro-expressions, the posture shifts, the emotional triggers — that determine whether someone trusts you, connects with you, or shuts down entirely. Today, Jake breaks down STRATA , the six-part framework you can use to own every room you enter: • Signal: What you broadcast before you say a word • Trigger: The moment resistance appears • Reframe: How you shift someone’s lens without force • Anchor: Making the insight stick • Transfer: Turning your idea into their idea • Action: Where the next step becomes inevitable We talk about how STRATA applies to sales, relationships, leadership, marriage, friendships — and most importantly, the escapee journey. Because leaving corporate and building your own path requires one core skill: 👉 You must connect with people in a way that feels real. This episode gives you the playbook. Connect with Jake Stahl • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakestahl/ • TikTok: @JakeTheMindMechanic • Podcast: https://thejakestahl.com/podcast/ • Book: Own the Room: https://thejakestahl.com/books/
