What does it take to make people feel genuinely heard at work?
Leadership strategist, keynote speaker, and author Nancy Marmolejo joins host Coach Dora Mendez on Building Leadership Community Podcast to explore how intentional listening, emotional intelligence, psychological safety, and effective communication can transform the way leaders build trust and strengthen their teams.
Nancy introduces her practical HEARD listening framework: Presence, Patience, and Phrasing. Rather than treating listening as a soft skill or good intention, she explains how leaders can turn it into an everyday leadership practice.
One deceptively simple question can change a conversation:
“Do you need to be helped, or do you need to be heard?”
That distinction can help managers resist the instinct to immediately fix a problem and instead understand what the person in front of them actually needs.
Coach Dora and Nancy also discuss sustainable leadership, setting boundaries, delegating effectively, leading from your strengths, overcoming the fear of appearing “cringe,” and creating environments where people feel safe enough to contribute authentically.
In This Episode, You'll Learn
- The HEARD Framework: How Presence, Patience, and Phrasing can improve listening, trust, and communication.
- Helped vs. Heard: The question leaders can ask before automatically jumping into problem-solving mode.
- How to Be More Present: Why putting down the phone, closing the laptop, and eliminating distractions can immediately improve a conversation.
- Sustainable Leadership: Why leadership doesn't require saying yes to everything, and how boundaries and delegation protect your energy.
- Leading From Strengths: Nancy uses the teamwork in Ocean’s Eleven as a memorable example of what can happen when people contribute their individual expertise.
- Authenticity and the Fear of “Cringe”: How fear of judgment can prevent people from speaking, connecting, and participating fully.
- Listening and Inclusion: How bias, microaggressions, racism, sexism, and neurodiversity can affect who feels heard and valued in the workplace.
Connect With Nancy Marmolejo
Heard Leadership + Free Listening Essentials Quiz
https://HeardLeadership.com
Take Nancy’s free Listening Essentials Quiz to explore your strengths across Presence, Patience, and Phrasing and receive results with practical action steps.
Heard: Transforming Leadership Through the Power of Listening
Nancy’s forthcoming book explores how intentional listening can strengthen leadership, communication, workplace relationships, and organizational culture.
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancymarmolejo/
Substack
https://thenancymarmolejo.substack.com/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/heardleadership/
Communities & References Mentioned
Lean In Latinas
Coach Dora and Nancy originally connected through the Lean In Latinas community, which comes up as they discuss the different kinds of communities that can support us personally and professionally.
Public Libraries and Community
Nancy discusses public libraries as sources of community, connection, learning, and shared resources, including experiences with Oakland Public Library and Mill Valley Public Library in California.
Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s 8
Nancy uses the ensemble-team concept from Ocean’s Eleven as an analogy for strengths-based leadership: strong teams bring together people with different areas of expertise rather than expecting everyone to be good at everything.
Resources From Coach Dora
Transform Your Leadership Coaching Course
https://CoachDoraMendez.com/courses
Coach Dora Resources & Courses
https://CoachDoraMendez.com
Coach Dora Merch
https://www.coachdoramendez.com/merch
Watch the Full Conversation
Prefer video? Watch Nancy Marmolejo’s full conversation with Coach Dora Mendez on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/CwRzXmccSJY
Subscribe to Coach Dora on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@CoachDoraMendez
Share This Episode
If this conversation brought someone to mind, share the episode with a colleague, friend, or fellow leader who could benefit from Nancy’s perspective on listening, communication, and sustainable leadership.
About Building Leadership Community Podcast
Building Leadership Community Podcast explores leadership, career growth, workplace culture, wellness, and the human side of professional development.
Hosted by Coach Dora Mendez, conversations with leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, educators, coaches, and changemakers examine what it takes to lead effectively without losing sight of the people behind the work.
Our mission is to enrich People, Culture, Wellness, and Joy while creating a trusted space for professionals of color and allies seeking career advancement, executive presence, stronger communication, and sustainable, human-centered leadership.
It can be lonely at the top. But it doesn’t have to be.
Connect With Coach Dora
Website
https://CoachDoraMendez.com
Substack
https://coachdoram.substack.com
LinkedIn
https://linkedin.com/in/coachdoram
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/coachdoram
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/coachdoramendez
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@CoachDoraMendez
Support the show
🎥 Watch on YouTube @CoachDoraM.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit: https://CoachDoraMendez.com/podcast
Join Coach Dora on Substack https://CoachDoraM.substack.com
