Every week I go deeper on the truths conventional leadership coaching won't tell you. Real situations. Specific tools. The conversations you're avoiding and exactly how to have them. No inspiration. No cheerleading. Just the playbook that actually works. Plus you'll find over 30 episodes on a range of topics that were recorded earlier.
The Compassionate Leader School Podcast
THE 15 PERMISSIONS
Ep 45: Are You Being Collaborative or Waiting for Permission to Lead?
Ep 49: The Missing Ingredient in Your Mindset Work
recent episodes
Ep. 47: What "I Don't Have Time" Is Really Telling You
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EPISODE!
Ep 48: Regular Check-ins Eliminate Surprises (the kind that start with "I quit")
Ep. 46: Your Lid Is Dictating Who Stays and Who Goes
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I've spent 40 years in leadership, the last decade coaching over 500 leaders through the same pattern.
A team member underperforms. The leader sees it. She knows the standard isn’t being met. But instead of addressing it directly, she manages feelings—hers and theirs. She rationalizes the gap. Lowers the bar. Picks up the slack.
And then finds herself working alone at 10 PM on a Saturday… resentful, exhausted, and wondering how she got here.
I know this pattern intimately because I lived it.
Here’s what most leadership coaching gets wrong: It tells you the solution is more empathy, more compassion, more “family culture.” As if caring harder will somehow make people perform better.
It won’t. I know, because I followed that playbook for years.
meet your host
Debbie
lawrence
I’ve worked with over 500 leaders across 40 years. And I’ve watched the same pattern quietly dismantle them again and again.
A team member underperforms. The leader sees it. She knows the standard isn’t being met. But instead of addressing it directly, she manages feelings—hers and theirs. She rationalizes the gap. Lowers the bar. Picks up the slack.
And then finds herself working alone at 10 PM on a Saturday… resentful, exhausted, and wondering how she got here.
I know this pattern intimately because I lived it.
Here’s what most leadership coaching gets wrong: It tells you the solution is more empathy, more compassion, more “family culture.” As if caring harder will somehow make people perform better.
It won’t. I know, because I followed that playbook for years.
meet your host
