Pick a stakeholder to face
Practice the meeting before the meeting. Pick a character and try to win them over. (They are not easy.)
A 400-year-old dragon who hoards budget like gold. Convince him anything is worth the spend.
Speaks only in startup buzzwords. Has not read a dashboard in 8 months. Radiates confidence.
Scenarios
Structured practice with a specific goal and a stakeholder to win over.
Drakon has summoned you to his cave to explain your budget ask. You need approval to hire one data engineer for your team. He is in a foul mood — last quarter's numbers disappointed him.
Goal: Get Drakon to approve the headcount before he loses patience.
Drakon has been asking about the data platform migration for weeks, expecting it done by now. It's not. You're six weeks late, and honestly, you're going to miss the next date too if nothing changes. He's called you into the cave for a status update. He thinks this is a quick check-in.
Goal: Tell Drakon the project is late and going to slip further, take ownership without collapsing into apology, and leave with a specific, credible recovery plan he's agreed to.