Shameless Leadership

Shameless Leadership

Welcome to Shameless Leadership! This show is for women, transgender people, non-binary folks, and allies who are committed to advancing their leadership and the leadership of those around them. In this space, we believe everyone deserves to feel seen, heard, valued, and supported. Our mission is to help you foster these feelings within your own circles of influence to build trust, psychological safety, and a culture of belonging. In each episode, we dive into essential topics impacting women in leadership - everything from shutting down your inner critic and imposter syndrome to overcoming perfectionism to using your voice in new ways to advocate for yourself, your ideas, and other folks carrying marginalized identities. You'll hear practical tips, effective strategies, and inspiring stories that will not only enhance your leadership skills but also broaden your perspective to become a more confident, thoughtful, and empathetic leader. Our stories come from people carrying identities who are often underrepresented, underestimated, and excluded. By sharing their experiences, we aim to provide you with invaluable lessons that will transform your leadership journey. We are thrilled to have you join this community of Shameless Leaders who are actively creating a world where everyone, regardless of gender, can intentionally lead through a more curious, compassionate, and inclusive lens.

Episodes

April 29, 2025 27 mins
937: LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES: 4 Truths To Hold When You’re Doing Hard Things Stepping into a new challenge or opportunity as a woman in leadership can bring up all kinds of fears—fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of not being enough. In this episode, I’m sharing four powerful truths to hold onto when you're on the edge of doing something bold, unfamiliar, or downright scary in your leadership. These reminders are here to groun...
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I don’t know anyone who loves engaging in disagreements.  In fact, most of the women I know avoid disagreements, conflict, and confrontation at all costs.  However, there are great costs to this avoidance, including missed opportunities for creativity and innovation, poor communication and growing resentment, slower or stalled decision making, a lack of trust and psychological safety, and higher potential for burnout and turnover. ...
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There is no denying we are in an extraordinarily tough season.  When things feel heavy and hard for an extended period of time, it’s easy to feel a sense of constriction in our thoughts, mental health, and worldview.  It’s easy to fall into a funk.  And, it can feel impossible to pull ourselves out of it.   During challenging seasons, it is crucial that you maintain a growth mindset. While it’s important to acknowledge what is hap...
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In 934 episodes, I’m not sure I’ve ever shared lessons learned from a TV show, much less a reality show.  However, the way a recent episode of Survivor has stuck with me is making it impossible for me not to talk about it here.   Before I dig in, I’ll admit that my husband and I are probably two of maybe 15 people who still watch Survivor faithfully.  We have watched every season together since we met 22 years ago.  I have to say,...
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Could you benefit from improving your emotional intelligence? If so, do you know how you can go about this? It seems there are constant references to the benefits of higher emotional intelligence, but actually attaining that is more elusive. In fact, it might even feel daunting if building a stronger connection to your emotions feels vulnerable to you.   As I’ve been speaking recently, I’ve been sharing some simple ways leaders ca...
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I'm here to share something that might give you great relief.    Your leadership doesn’t have to be loud to be LOUD. When I’m working with leaders and people who are developing leadership skills, there is a common misconception that you have to get louder in volume to be heard.  By volume, I mean auditory volume and quantity.  People assume they have to speak in a louder voice and/or say more things all the time.   To become a bett...
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Over the last couple of months, I’ve had the opportunity to speak on communication confidence at a handful of leadership events. One of the things that has been really eye-opening for attendees is learning about the connection between their internal communication and external communication. So, I thought this would be a helpful (and fun!) topic to dig into on the pod.   Let’s start with defining each of these terms. Internal commun...
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Can we talk about women masking at work? I spend a lot of time in conversation with women who are the only woman or one of very few women in the room at work. There is a fatigue and malaise that comes from being in this position long term - even if you enjoy and respect many of the men you’re sitting beside. When a person is notably different from the majority of the people around them, they mask themselves to fit in, be taken seri...
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I’ve recently had multiple conversations with women leaders who have expressed their desire to intentionally build part of their leadership legacy around supporting emerging leaders. Of course, this makes my heart sing. As someone who has benefited from the guidance of women who came before me, I know firsthand how impactful it can be when just one person shows they believe in you. In this episode, I explore how women leaders can e...
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“You can’t pour from an empty cup!” There is this long-standing narrative that women should practice filling their cups so they have something in their proverbial cups to pour out and share with others in the form of time, energy, love, and/or care.   This narrative reinforces that women should take care of themselves for the purpose of being better caretakers of others. Because, as the cultural narrative goes, caretaking at home, ...
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"I see you pulling a Beyoncé here,” I said to my client who was really tapping into her own inner Bey.   I’m referring to how Beyoncé broke the mold and rewrote the rules for herself—without anyone’s invitation or permission—to win her recent Grammy for Album of the Year. I saw the same thing with this client: breaking the mold and rewriting the rules for herself, without waiting for anyone’s invitation or permission. In fact, a nu...
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Every single time I mention being diagnosed with ADHD in my forties, women reach out to me. This has become the thing middle-aged women want to connect with me about the most. 10 years ago, I could have never guessed I would be talking about the importance of brain health for women leaders. This wasn’t something that was on my radar until two things happened: I realized through a series of doctors and diagnoses over the course of ...
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The chaos and overwhelm you are feeling in this first month of 2025 is by design. The fear, if not panic, that strikes you every time you see a new news story is intended to break you down. Your worry about all the what-ifs has been strategically created so you stay distracted and disheartened.   Being a sociology nerd at heart, I found myself at my desk last week making a list of all the ways systems of oppression are being intent...
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I’m not a doctor or any sort of expert on women’s health. But I am an expert on my body, as I’ve had 49 years to get to know her. We’re pretty tight. I like to think I know everything about her. However, a recent doctor appointment taught me so many things I didn’t know about her! At 49 years old, this body of mine is teaching me so many new things.   I never planned to do a podcast episode about my body at age 49, but I recently o...
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“Sara, should I stay or should I go?”  This is a very common conversation I have had with coaching clients over the years.  Because I have the great honor of helping women deeply (re)connect to their sense of self, my clients frequently find themselves in a position of having outgrown their professional roles. As they learn about themselves, embrace their strengths and talents, and challenge themselves to grow in new ways, there is...
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Have you ever gone to someone you trusted to seek help and they became defensive instead of holding space for you? Have you ever been in a conversation and felt yourself getting defensive as someone shared information with you?   You’ve likely been in both of these situations at some point, perhaps in personal and professional settings.   I found myself in the first situation a while back. I took a very serious concern to two leade...
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Every year I host an Annual Planning Workshop for my business coaching clients. This is a time for folks to look back at their wins from the past year, do some visioning for the upcoming year, and get crystal clear on the specific strategies and action steps they want to take to be successful in the new year.   As I was leading this workshop in early December, it occurred to me that you all, my lovely leader listeners, could benefi...
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I have used stories in leadership for some time now and have found them to be such a powerful way to engage people as well as a means to appeal to people’s heads and hearts. Years ago, I started studying how other speakers I followed used stories and I took notes.   As I’ve learned more about the power of storytelling from a theoretical perspective, so much has clicked for me in terms of how to use storytelling as a leadership tool...
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In the last episode of Shameless Leadership, I spoke about 5 Challenges Facing Women Leaders in 2025. While that episode had plenty of reasons to get us motivated and fired up, I am excited to kick off a conversation that leads with a positive edge this week. When we only focus on the challenges we face as women (or as a member of any marginalized group), it can feel harder to harness our power. So, how about we focus on our compet...
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To be honest, I was hesitant to spend thirty minutes pointing out the challenges facing women leaders, as I’m not sure we need to be reminded of what’s not working in our favor. However, as I started putting my notes together, I quickly decided that if I provide this list as a bit of a “Hey friends! Just a heads up…” and included some options for strategic responses we can all enter 2025 feeling better informed and well prepared to...
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