If leading with empathy feels risky, this is your recalibration. Discover why compassion and performance aren’t opposites — and why your humanity may be the missing link to sustainable outcomes.

You’ve been told to choose: be human or be high-performing. But that’s a false binary — and it’s costing you peace, presence, and leadership trust.

This episode dismantles the lie that compassion and clarity are in conflict. Julie unpacks the neuroscience behind leadership safety, explores why bracing backfires, and invites high-capacity humans to lead from soul instead of performance.

We reflect on the personal cost of emotional inaccessibility — the walls we build, the weight we carry, and the subtle ways we trade presence for polish. Through the lens of Brené Brown’s leadership, we reclaim vulnerability as a strategic strength.

If you’ve been bracing… regulating tone, pulling back your humanity, fearing softness will discredit you — this is your episode.

Key Takeaways:

• Why emotional safety increases performance (ventral vagal insight)
• The difference between codependence and compassion
• Why presence — not performance — drives sustainable outcomes
• A one-liner recalibration you can use in any meeting or message

Today’s Micro Recalibration:
“Where have I traded clarity for coldness — or compassion for codependence?”

You don’t have to pick between heart and outcomes.
But you do have to stop waiting to lead from alignment.

Let’s recalibrate.

Linked Resources:

#31 How to Break the Patterns That Keep Holding You Back

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