Shameless Leadership

Have you ever found yourself staring down a big decision, maybe making a move, a new job offer, a promotion, or even staying in a role that no longer fits — and thought, “How do I know if this is the right move?” In this episode, I walk you through four powerful questions I ask myself (and my clients) before making a big personal or professional decision. These questions help cut through the noise, slow down the overthinking spiral, and get you grounded in what you truly want and need. I will walk you through these questions, applying them to an example from my personal life, and then use a professional example that will likely be familiar to you. This episode will help you become a better decision maker and action taker, providing objective clarity to get you through tough decisions. Being able to make value-aligned decisions, guided by simple questions, will enhance your leadership, save you a ton of decision fatigue and mental energy, and open up space for you to do more of your best work.  In this episode, you will learn: The question I ask that always brings me back to clarity How to assess if a decision is additive or draining Why getting honest about the costs of a yes is just as important as the benefits How to make choices from purpose, not pressure Whether you’re weighing a big move or a small shift, this episode will help you trust yourself more in the process. Links Mentioned: Register for Sara’s October Influence & Ignite Retreat for Women Business Owners: saradean.com/retreat Hire me to speak: saradean.com/speaking Coach with me: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Having a boss who causes harm or holds leadership values that clash with yours is rarely a positive experience. But time and again, I’ve seen how negative role models can motivate people to lead better and do better. Poor leadership often sparks a commitment to do things differently and more effectively as we grow. So maybe, in the long run, even bad leaders leave us with something valuable? When I learned of Dr. Karen Hills Pruden’s work in leadership, partly inspired by her experience of having endured two incompetent leaders in close succession, I was eager to hear her story and learn from her.  In this episode, she shares her incredibly valuable lessons learned. Dr. Pruden is the CEO of Pruden Global Business Solutions Consulting (PGBSC), a premier professional development and leadership training company. With over 30 years of experience, Dr. Pruden has created trademarked frameworks that drive transformational change for leaders and organizations worldwide.  PGBSC programs are built on powerful, proven methodologies, including the Amplify Your Value framework, which helps leaders leverage their expertise to advance; the LPT (Learn, Practice, Teach) framework, designed to create a continuous cycle of learning and growth; and the PE (Professional Equity) framework, which empowers professionals to convert their experience into measurable business success.  Pruden Global specializes in cultivating leadership excellence, ensuring that our clients are not only seen and heard but also positioned to make a lasting impact.  Dr. Pruden is a Bestselling Author, published over 30 times, a sought-after Global Leadership Speaker, and a guest on radio, podcasts, and television. Listen in to hear Karen share: What women really need to make the leap into the C-suite, and how women sell themselves short when reaching for C-suite roles  What she learned about the “Dos and Don’ts of Leadership” after having two incompetent leaders in two years Her philosophy that “silence is not a superpower” and how to use your voice in strategic ways when you’re working under an ineffective or incompetent leader How to maintain your professional integrity and motivation when faced with leadership that doesn’t align with your organization’s values or your own leadership standards  How her experiences with poor leaders allowed her to create her own leadership methodologies and frameworks Links Mentioned: Register for Sara’s October Influence & Ignite Retreat for Women Business Owners: saradean.com/retreat Hire Sara to speak: saradean.com/speaking Coach with Sara: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services Connect with Dr. Pruden: drkarenhillpruden.com Get Dr. Pruden’s Free Download: 20 Things to Ask for to Raise Your Total Compensation Package: https://pro.speakerhub.com/speaker-feedback/?qr=d2fcc364-e93d-46fc-9eb3-2d7145a99535 Connect with Dr. Pruden on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkarenhillspruden/ Sister Leaders Community: sistersleadersconference.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last year, Google invited me to come lead trainings for Aging Awareness Week. This was a truly enjoyable opportunity to work with some brilliant leaders. When I asked about who to expect in the audience, I expected to be told, “People over 55.” Instead, I was told, “This ERG is for folks over 40.”  40!  I don’t think of 40 as “aging” just yet. But, I guess it is when society and culture start to stigmatize us, isn’t it??   If you are a woman over 40 who is done shrinking and ready to lead with the clarity, power, and confidence that comes from your decades of wisdom, with zero apologies, this episode is for you! In this episode, I’m speaking directly to women over 40 who are ready to start leading with the full force of their lived experience. I know what it feels like to be in rooms where youth, speed, and loud voices are mistaken for leadership - but I’m here to tell you that your depth, clarity, wisdom, perspective, and emotional intelligence are exactly what’s needed right now. We’re not the past. We are the future of work. And, data backs this up: 42% of labor force growth in the next decade will come from people 55 and older, mostly women. Together, we’ll explore how to navigate the double bind of age and gender, where you’re expected to stay relevant but not be perceived as “too much.” I identify the forces at play (such as the intersectionality of ageism and sexism) and provide tools to help you reclaim your space with power and intention. You’ll hear how your ability to read a room, speak with clarity, and lead for legacy, not ego, is your greatest asset. Your ability to listen deeply, ask better questions, and build meaningful collaborative (not competitive) relationships? That’s the edge younger leaders are still learning. This episode is your reminder that you don’t need to fight for a seat at the table—you are the table. Your leadership is expansive, rooted, sturdy, and deeply needed. So if you’ve been waiting for permission to own the room, this is it. Links Mentioned: Hire me to speak: saradean.com/speaking Coach with me: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks Article: Five Facts on Older Women in the Labor Market Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How can joy serve as an act of resistance in tough times? This discussion challenges the notion that joy is tone-deaf amidst suffering, asserting it as a necessity for mental health and leadership. Backed by neuroscience, the conversation reveals how joy rewires your brain and enhances team dynamics. Listeners gain practical joy practices, such as daily rituals and leadership tools, aimed at cultivating resilience. Joy is framed not as a betrayal of pain, but as a powerful balm that can foster connection and empowerment in the face of adversity.

When I decided to start inviting guests onto Shameless Leadership, I immediately knew I wanted my dear friend and speaking colleague Elena Joy to join me. The work Elena Joy does around inclusion always captivates me. She is smart, witty, and strategic in all the best ways - as you’ll hear in this conversation. She knows what needs to be done to get the work done. Her unflinching commitment to tackling tough conversations while upholding human dignity always blows me away. While her knowledge around inclusion and its connection to burnout is robust, her methods for tackling challenges where these areas intersect are approachable and welcoming. This is all to say, Elena Joy makes me want to be a better human, and I suspect she will have the same impact on you.   In an official capacity, Elena Joy Thurston, she/her, is the CEO of LATITUDE, a boutique HR consultancy specializing in creating sustainable leadership pipelines through burnout prevention and emerging leader programs. A Mormon mom of four who lost her marriage, her church, and her community when she came out as a lesbian, her viral TEDx talk on surviving conversion therapy has attracted clients such as the Denver Broncos, Peloton, and Planned Parenthood. She is featured in the award-winning documentary CONVERSION, recently launched on AppleTV and Amazon. Elena Joy lives in Arizona with her four children and spends her spare time dreaming of her next fly-fishing trip. Listen in to hear Elena share: How she saw the writing on the wall with DEI and made an intentional pivot in her work in order to continue to achieve her goals around inclusion in the workplace  The truth about the state of DEI - what has been taken from us and what we still have to work with, and what it all means in terms of sustainable leadership  How understanding our co-workers' identities opens the door to communication and decreases burnout What burnout looks like in 2025 and how it looks different for Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z How burnout is universal and individual at the same time The importance of creating positive emotional experiences to counter the feelings that trigger your burnout How to use the Release & Restore Method to shift your energy daily, weekly, monthly, yearly Links Mentioned: Women Business Owners, join me for a free business-building workshop on July 16th, Focused & Fierce: Lead with Purpose and Build Your Business in a Noisy World: saradean.com/fierce Hire me to speak: saradean.com/speaking Coach with me: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks Work with Elena Joy: https://latitudeleaders.com/ Get Elena Joy’s Free Burnout Starter Kit: https://latitudeleaders.com/burnoutstarterkit Attend Elena Joy’s Free Office Hours: http://joyfulofficehours.com Latitude Leaders on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/latitude-leaders/ Latitude Leaders on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latitudeleaders Elena Joy on on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenajoythurston/ Elena Joy on Instragram https://www.instagram.com/elenajoyspeaks/ Elena Joy’s TEDx talk on Youtube: https://youtu.be/rIhPZMC4UEg Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Discover how to thrive even when your boss undermines you. This discussion focuses on reclaiming your power through bold self-advocacy and setting firm boundaries. Learn to cultivate a strong leadership brand and surround yourself with supportive allies. Strategies for documenting toxic behavior and understanding your boss’s motivations are shared, empowering you to make strategic choices and protect your emotional well-being. Emphasizing the importance of preserving your peace, the conversation encourages you to lead yourself first.

Over the last few years, I’ve been developing curriculum and resources that help leaders establish trust with their teams and enable teammates to build trust with one another.  Because different people have different needs around trust, it can feel tricky to know exactly the right formula to help build trust with others.  In spite of that, there are plenty of small things you can do every single day to help people understand who you are, how you operate, how you hold space for others, and how you navigate messiness that will inevitably help you build trust in any relationship. When people understand these pieces of you, they have the information they need to know if you are someone they can trust over the long haul.  In this episode, we explore what a lack of trust looks like in an organization (perhaps this will look and feel familiar to you?).  We talk about why trust is a foundational element required for high performance and a healthy culture, and what outcomes you can expect when you take the time to build trust within a team environment. Then, I give you simple, practical steps you can take to start building more trust today, no matter the current state of your team or organization.  There is a common misconception that trust and the vulnerability required to build it are “soft,” but I would like to invite you to view trust as one of your key strategies for building authentic, meaningful relationships that yield great outcomes.   Episode Highlights: 00:00 Building Trust: An Introduction 02:49 The Importance of Trust in Teams 06:05 Signs of a Lack of Trust 12:06 Leadership's Role in Trust Building 15:51 Practical Steps to Build Trust 21:05 The Outcomes of Teams that Trust  25:47 How to Run Team Trust Diagnostics 29:59 Connecting Values Around Trust to Action Links Mentioned: Hire me to speak: saradean.com/speaking Coach with me: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I was recently sitting in one of my Change Leadership classes for my Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership, and my teacher asked us, “What would it look like if, as change leaders, we were to suspend certainty more often?”  I immediately made a note to myself, “podcast episode on suspending certainty!”  As someone who craves certainty but understands that nothing is certain, I often think about becoming more comfortable with impermanence.  I’ve never heard this referred to as “suspending certainty”, but this term struck me, and I knew I wanted to dig into it with you all!   In this episode, we talk about the importance of suspending certainty in leadership and personal growth. We talk through the benefits of embracing uncertainty, including: Increased curiosity Access to new perspectives Openness to learning and new opportunities Increased surprise, delight, and joy Gifts that come when we step out of our “I got it all figured out” ego Resilience, resourcefulness, tenacity, creativity, fun, and JOY are all born out of figuring out new things, embracing new realities, letting go of the old, and stepping into new opportunities where we don’t know exactly how things will go.  What might happen for you if you felt prepared to step into uncertainty at any time?  Suspending certainty will help you with this preparation.  Episode Highlights: 00:00 Introduction and Exciting Updates 03:35 The Concept of Suspending Certainty 04:03 Understanding the Gifts of Suspending Certainty 11:10 Benefits of Embracing Uncertainty 20:10 Navigating Personal and Collective Uncertainty 30:30 Conclusion and Upcoming Workshop Links Mentioned: Attend my free workshop for women small business owners, Focused and Fierce: Lead with Purpose and Build Your Business in a Noisy World: saradean.com/fierce Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks Hire me to speak: saradean.com/speaking Coach with me: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I met Maria Ross 12 years ago when we shared the stage at a women’s event. Her work is centered around human behavior and empathy in the workplace. What I love about talking to Maria is how she can dig into the nuts and bolts of concepts and theory while also making tricky concepts very approachable and applicable to everyone. If you want to cultivate more empathy or help others cultivate more empathy, Maria is your gal.   Maria is a speaker, facilitator, author, strategist, and empathy advocate who believes cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive. She’s spent decades helping forward-thinking leaders, teams, and brands connect and engage through empathy to accelerate growth. Maria has authored multiple books, including her newest, The Empathy Dilemma: How Successful Leaders Balance Performance, People, and Personal Boundaries, Her previous book, The Empathy Edge sparked a movement and she now hosts the top-rated The Empathy Edge podcast, speaking with leaders, changemakers, authors, and activists on how to achieve radical success through empathy.  Listen in to hear Maria share: Navigating the empathy dilemma of balancing empathy with performance What empathy is and what it’s not Why empathy is now especially challenging in our multigenerational workplaces  How you can uphold empathy when it feels like it’s being “canceled” The 5 Pillars of Effective Empathetic Leadership Links Mentioned: Book: theempathydilemma.com Connect with Maria: www.red-slice.com Maria’s Podcast, The Empathy Edge: www.TheEmpathyEdge.com Maria's new 2 day mastermind event for high-achieving leaders who want to balance empathy with performance: www.TheEmpathyEdge.com/event Maria’s LinkedIn Learning Course: Leading with Empathy Maria on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariajross/ Maria on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redslicemaria/ Maria on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redslice Maria on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Redslice-MariaRoss Maria’s Tedx Talk: https://bit.ly/MariaRossTEDx Hire Sara to speak: saradean.com/speaking Coach with Sara: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services Connect with Sara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stephanie Chung is a leader, fighter, survivor, breast cancer warrior, and barrier-breaker in corporate leadership who consistently embodies resilience and courage.  I knew from the moment we met online that this would be a special conversation, which is why Stephanie is the first guest to join me on Shameless Leadership! As a pioneering woman of color in the aviation sector with 35 years of aviation experience, Stephanie has ascended to top executive roles, including her tenure as Chief Growth Officer at Wheels Up and as the first African-American President of a private aviation company, JetSuite, marked by innovative strategies that significantly expanded membership and redefined brand positioning. She led a private aviation sales team that consistently exceeded its quota of almost $1 billion every year.  Stephanie is also a sought-after keynote speaker and #1 international best-selling author, whose work in applying neuroscience to sales and leadership offers groundbreaking and practical strategies for professional growth.  This conversation is high-energy, high-impact, and a lot of fun.  Be prepared to learn, challenge yourself, and walk away with some important action steps!  Listen in to hear Stephanie share:  Her 40-year career in aviation - starting at the bottom and working her way to the very top How one leader saw something special in her early on that changed the course of her career The long-term career impact of owning your power and accomplishments in front of your peers and other leaders How to be powerful and noticeable when advancing your leadership in rooms where people don’t look like you What "Ally Leadership" is and why it’s so crucial for today’s diverse workforce actionable steps a leader can take tomorrow to begin leading more equitably and build trust across a more diverse team How to spot the difference between performative and authentic Ally Leadership Links Mentioned: Connect with Stephanie: https://stephaniechung.com/ Get Stephanie’s Book: Ally in Leadership: How to Lead People Who Are Not Like You  Your Ally in Leadership Substack: https://www.yourallyinleadership.com/ Connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/TheStephanieChung/ Connect with Stephanie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheStephanieChung/ Connect with Stephanie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheStephanieChung/ Connect with Stephanie on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thestephaniechung Connect with Stephanie on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Coachstephaniechung Hire Sara to speak: saradean.com/speaking Coach with Sara: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services Connect with Sara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices