The Well-led Podcast
Where professionalism meets imperfection. The Well-led Podcast invites leaders to explore the space where the need to get results meets the reality of managing people. Discover how to demonstrate care, support, and grace for your team–because the workplace needs human leaders. https://www.one23ltd.com Formerly the comfy chairs podcast.
Episodes
April 21, 2026 • 48 mins
Leadership clarity is one of the most practical skills a leader can develop—but it’s also one of the most overlooked. In this conversation, Kate Johnson explores what clarity really means in leadership with Kristie Schoonover, a learning and development leader who works daily with managers trying to align teams, communicate expectations, and support employees through change. Together, they examine how unclear direction creates conf...
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April 15, 2026 • 14 mins
Clarity is one of the most practical leadership skills, yet its absence is often felt before it is recognized. In this Other Voices episode, two experienced leaders reflect on moments when unclear expectations and conflicting direction disrupted their work. Their insights illustrate how a lack of clarity can affect focus, productivity, confidence, and even personal wellbeing.
Through real examples from healthcare leadership and ...
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April 7, 2026 • 13 mins
Clarity is one of the most practical leadership skills because it turns ideas into action. In this episode, Kate Johnson explores why clarity is the starting point for supporting employees and enabling performance. She explains how leaders create clarity in three key areas—purpose, communication, and relationships—and how doing so helps teams understand priorities, connect to their work, and move forward with confidence.
The lat...
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March 31, 2026 • 43 mins
Why do relationships matter so much at work?
In this quarterly synthesis episode of The Well-led Podcast, Kate Johnson reflects on the leadership competency of demonstrating care. Drawing on the past three months of conversations about vulnerability, empathy, and good humor, she explores how these skills combine to build trust, deepen understanding, and create consistency in leadership. Through a candid discussion with her husban...
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March 24, 2026 • 16 mins
This episode explores how leaders can actively choose a more balanced, effective mindset—what Kate calls “good humor,” also understood as equanimity. You’ll learn how to recognize unhelpful thinking patterns, replace them with more constructive perspectives, and apply simple practices to stay calm, curious, and intentional—even under pressure. The episode also connects mindset work to real leadership behaviors like giving feedback,...
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March 17, 2026 • 41 mins
Most of the time, we lead in workplaces filled with pressure, uncertainty, and constant change. Do leaders have to approach these circumstances with stress and anxiety? Or is there a different, better choice?
In this episode, Kate Johnson is joined by guest Michele Wilson to explore the role of good humor as a leadership capability. Rather than forced positivity or ignoring difficult realities, good humor is described as the abi...
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March 10, 2026 • 22 mins
What does it mean to go to work in good humor—especially when the workplace feels heavy or demanding? In this Other Voices episode of The Well-led Podcast, two experienced leadership practitioners reflect on the role of good humor in leadership. They explore how humor is not simply about laughter, but about a mindset leaders bring with them: a balance of perspective, calm, openness, and humanity. Through personal stories and though...
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March 3, 2026 • 12 mins
What does it mean to choose your attitude as a leader?
In this episode, you’ll learn how good humor is a leadership skill rooted in choice, mindfulness, and care—not forced positivity. Through personal stories and practical tools, this conversation explores how your mood shapes your team’s experience and how to respond intentionally instead of reacting on autopilot. You’ll walk away with concrete questions and strategies to hel...
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February 24, 2026 • 15 mins
In this episode, you will learn how empathy strengthens accountability and improves performance at work. Kate Johnson explains why empathy is not leniency, how mindset shifts shape leadership behavior, and what empathetic accountability looks like in real workplace moments. You will also hear practical guidance for supporting neurodivergent employees and understanding the Double Empathy Problem, so you can lead diverse teams with c...
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February 17, 2026 • 43 mins
In this episode, you will learn how to practice empathy as a leadership skill in real workplace situations. Kate Johnson is joined by Katharine Manning, author of The Empathetic Workplace, to explore what empathy actually looks like in action. They discuss how leaders can move beyond good intentions and develop practical behaviors that build trust, strengthen psychological safety, and improve performance. You will walk away with cl...
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February 10, 2026 • 22 mins
This episode of The Well-Led Podcast: Other Voices explores what empathy really means in leadership—and why it plays a central role in building trust at work. Rather than treating empathy as a soft skill or personality trait, contributors describe it as a learned practice that requires presence, restraint, and the willingness to sit with discomfort. Through personal stories and professional reflections, this episode helps leaders u...
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February 3, 2026 • 13 mins
This episode introduces empathy as a core leadership competency and the second essential practice for demonstrating care. Building on the foundation of vulnerability, these Notes on Leading Well explain what empathy is, how it works in the human brain, and why leaders who practice empathy are better equipped to build trust, communicate clearly, and lead people through change.
Listeners will gain a practical understanding of affec...
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January 27, 2026 • 17 mins
In this episode, you will learn how vulnerability strengthens leadership effectiveness. Rather than treating vulnerability as oversharing or weakness, this lesson clarifies it as a leadership competency grounded in judgment, boundaries, and self-awareness. We translate vulnerability into observable behaviors leaders can practice immediately, outlining what it can look like in day-to-day leadership. You will leave with concrete beh...
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January 20, 2026 • 42 mins
In this episode, Kate Johnson and Peggy Mark explore vulnerability as an intentional leadership choice rather than a personality trait. Listeners will learn how openness, self-awareness, and authenticity create trust, strengthen human connection, and support healthier workplace cultures. Through personal stories and practical reflection, the conversation reframes vulnerability as bravery and a critical skill for leaders who want to...
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January 13, 2026 • 10 mins
In this episode, leaders will learn why vulnerability is not a weakness but a critical leadership skill. The conversation explores how openness, honesty, and the willingness to share both successes and failures directly influence trust, psychological safety, and team performance. Listeners will gain practical insight into how vulnerable leadership improves communication, strengthens relationships, and creates environments where peo...
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January 6, 2026 • 13 mins
This episode explains why vulnerability is a foundational leadership skill and how leading well begins with self-leadership, self-awareness, and the courage to be human. You’ll learn what vulnerability actually means in a leadership context, why it strengthens trust rather than weakening authority, and how leaders can practice vulnerability in practical, appropriate ways that support their teams and work.
Key takeaways
Why lead...
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December 30, 2025 • 4 mins
Looking ahead: The comfy chairs becomes The Well-Led Podcast
In this final episode of the year, Kate returns with a clear, simple update about the show’s evolution. On January 6th, the comfy chairs will officially relaunch as The Well-Led Podcast, beginning a year-long journey focused on the four essential domains of leadership: Demonstrating Care, Providing Support, Leading with Grace, and Staying Focused on Action.
Kate revisits ...
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December 23, 2025 • 61 mins
Culture Keepers: A conversation about managing versus leading.
In this conversation, Kate sits down with Layci Nelson, founder of the Transcend Leadership Collective, to explore a deceptively simple question with big implications: What’s the real difference between managing and leading?
Together, they unpack why effective leadership isn’t about choosing one or the other—it’s about integrating both. Layci emphasizes that leaders ne...
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December 16, 2025 • 61 mins
Revisit & enjoy: Early, direct, and well-structured conversations
As we near the end of the year, we’re resurfacing one of the most practical and personal conversations we’ve shared on the comfy chairs. In this rerun, Kate sits down with her dad, Charlie—a leader with decades of experience in higher education, the military, and church governance—to talk about why early, direct, and kind confrontation is one of the most underrated l...
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December 9, 2025 • 14 mins
Revisit & enjoy: Making sense of leadership, management, and the feedback we’d rather avoid
As we wind down the year, we’re resurfacing one of the most downloaded comfyHQ episodes—a listener favorite about three things leaders wrestle with all the time: feedback, the leadership/management divide, and the workplace words we toss around without checking for shared meaning.
In this rerun, we explore:
How to respond to feedback you ...
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