Self-awareness is often listed as a core leadership skill — but how many leaders truly understand what it involves, and how many are unintentionally overestimating it?

In this episode of Influence & Impact, I am joined by Dr Julia Carden, former Royal Navy officer, leadership coach, and author of You Are Not As Self-Aware As You Think You Are. Drawing on her PhD research and years of coaching senior leaders, Julia shares why self-awareness is harder — and more confronting — than most people expect.

Together, we explore how self-awareness goes far beyond surface-level feedback, why it’s essential for healthy team dynamics, and how leaders can start uncovering their blind spots without becoming defensive.

In this episode, we cover:

1. Why self-awareness is often a blind spot for leaders
2. The moment you say “I’m very self-aware” — and why that’s a warning sign
3. How a lack of self-awareness shows up as team tension, conflict, and disengagement
4. Julia’s practical definition of self-awareness using interpersonal and intrapersonal “ingredients”
5. Why feedback can feel threatening — and how to work with it constructively
6. How leaders can build self-awareness without a coach or 360-degree feedback
7. The role of beliefs, values, emotions, and even physiological responses in leadership behaviour
8. Why the people who irritate us most can be powerful mirrors
9. Simple reflective practices that highly self-aware leaders use consistently
10. The one question leaders can ask themselves daily to deepen self-awareness
11. How greater self-awareness can lead to more compassion, acceptance, and connection at work

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder.

Work with Carla:

1. 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery call

About Dr Julia Carden PhD MSc PCC FCIPD

Julia was born and raised in Cornwall and “made in the Royal Navy” and now lives in Hampshire. She has been and continues to be on a lifelong journey in developing her own self-awareness. She works as a relational coach and coach supervisor practitioner, with an academic underpinning. Her work focuses on working with the whole person (both individuals and teams) to expand and deepen self-awareness, so that individuals can connect deeply with others and develop the capacity to sit with uncertainty. Julia has a deep interest in self-awareness and how it helps individuals develop and grow, by enabling firstly self-connection and then connection with others. This approach is underpinned by her PhD research into Self-Awareness. Alongside her coaching and supervision practice she is a visiting tutor at Henley Business School teaching on the Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching, MSc in Executive Coaching for Behavioural Change and heads up the Professional Certificate in Coaching Supervision.

Her new book “You Are Not As Self-Aware As You Think You Are” will was published in October 2025.

Julia is an accredited coaching supervisor and coach with the EMCC and ICF.

Website: https://carden-consulting.co.uk/

Book: https://youarenotasselfawareasyouthink.com/

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Many people find themselves in roles that look great on paper but feel misaligned or unfulfilling in reality. In this week’s episode I’m joined by Angela Rixon, founder of The Centre for Meaningful Work and author of Meaning Over Purpose to explore what meaningful work really is, why so many of us lack it, and how both individuals and leaders can create more meaning at work day-to-day.

Angela shares the five pillars of meaningful work—from autonomy to impact—and we dive into simple, practical steps you can take if you’ve fallen out of love with your role. We also look at the powerful role managers play in helping others find meaning, and how meaning can protect us from burnout when it’s balanced in a healthy way.

We talk about:

• What meaning is and how it differs from purpose

• The five pillars of meaningful work

• Practical ways to create more meaning in your current role

• How leaders can build meaning within their teams

• Why meaning boosts engagement—and how it can sometimes lead to burnout

• A powerful real-life example of how autonomy transformed performance

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder.

Work with Carla:

1. 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery call

About Angela Rixon

Angela Rixon is an award-winning leadership strategist, executive coach, and culture-transformation specialist with over 25 years’ experience spanning technology, professional services, and financial sectors. A former Partner at EY and Director at CGI and Mercer, she is recognised internationally for pioneering research and frameworks that close the Purpose-to-Meaning Gap™ enabling organisations to embed meaning into leadership, culture, and performance.

As Founder and CEO of The Centre for Meaningful Work Ltd, Angela helps CEOs and executive teams design human-centred cultures that perform. Her Amazon-bestselling book Meaning Over Purpose: The CEO’s Strategic Blueprint for Growth and Lasting Engagement (2025) combines behavioural science and applied positive psychology to redefine how leaders drive growth through meaning.

Angela’s work blends corporate rigour with psychological depth. An accredited executive coach (MSc, Distinction) and Fellow of the CIPD, she integrates Transactional Analysis, Adaptive Leadership, and Systems Thinking to help leaders achieve measurable business results while fostering inclusion, wellbeing, and authenticity. Clients describe her approach as “supportive, challenging, and transformative.”

A regular keynote speaker on meaningful work, inclusion, and the future of leadership, Angela is the creator of the Lead with Meaning™, Own Your Meaning™, and Meaning Metrics™ frameworks.

She lives in London with her partner Tony and believes that when work works for people, people work better, and organisations thrive.

Email: [email protected]

Website: thecentreformeaningfulwork.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/angelarixon

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Psychological safety is the foundation of every high-performing team—yet many leaders unintentionally undermine it without realising. This week my Impactful Teams Co-Founder Lara Cullen and I explore psychological safety, why comfort isn’t the goal, and the small (but powerful) leadership behaviours that create a culture where people feel safe to contribute, challenge and innovate. 

💡 We talk about: 

• What psychological safety really means 
• The difference between psychological safety and trust 
• Why mistakes aren’t a bad thing 
• What destroys psychological safety 
• Why comfort isn’t the goal 

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder. 

Work with us: 

• Impactful Teams Scorecard – It takes just 2 minutes to discover where your team is strong and where you might want to focus next. You’ll get personalised results—and for a limited time, you can also book a free 30-minute call to talk through them. 
• Visit our new Impactful Teams website 

Work with Carla: 

• 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery call 

📢 If This Resonated… 

Please share this episode with a fellow leader who needs to hear it. 

Leave a review to support the show or reach out to me directly — I’d love to hear what landed most for you. 

In this episode, I talk with Julia Middleton, founder of Women Emerging, about how women everywhere are redefining what it means to lead. Julia shares how her global “expeditions” help women discover their own authentic way of leading and introduces her Four E’s framework — Essence, Elements, Expression, and Energy. 

We explore why traditional models of leadership don’t always fit women, how to lead in alignment with who you are, and the courage it takes to lead your way in systems not designed for you. 

💡 We talk about: 

• Why many women don’t relate to traditional leadership 
• The Four E’s of authentic leadership 
• How to find and lead from your true essence 
• The power of energy in leadership 
• How to trust yourself and lead your way 

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder. 

About Julia Middleton: 

Founder Women Emerging 

Julia Middleton is a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in”, "Leading beyond Authority" and "Cultural Intelligence" and the host of the Women Emerging podcast. 

She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to lead and speaks regularly about leadership to audiences around the world.  

In 2022, Julia launched an expedition of 24 women to find 'an approach to leading that resonated with women'. In 2024 she then founded Women Emerging. She now leads expeditions with women across the world using the 4Es methodology, discovered on the first expedition.  

Prior to this Julia was Founder and Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which she grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.  

Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the advisory councils of AUB in Lebanon, Fundação Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan. She is also a board member of Equality Now globally. 

Born in London and brought up in New York and Geneva, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and seven grandchildren. 

LISTEN TO JULIA’S TED TALK ON CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE 

Julia’s books can be found here: 

1. If that’s leading, I’m in 

2. Beyond Authority: Leadership in a changing world 

3. Cultural Intelligence: The competitive edge for leaders crossing boundaries: 

CONNECT WITH JULIA ON LINKEDIN 

Work with Carla: 

• Impactful Teams Scorecard – Discover how your team measures up and how you can grow your team’s impact. 
• 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery call 

📢 If This Resonated… 

Please share this episode with a fellow leader who needs to hear it. 

Leave a review to support the show or reach out to me directly — I’d love to hear what landed most for you. 

There are a lot of misunderstandings about Gen Z in the workplace and in this episode we aim to clear some of those up and equip you to lead intergenerational teams successfully. 

My guest Alex Atherton—former head teacher turned leadership coach and author of The Snowflake Myth—is here to challenge the “snowflake” stereotype and get practical about leading Gen Z.  

We explore what’s really driving Gen Z at work and how to recruit, onboard, and set expectations without lowering the bar.  We also talk about how to get intergenerational teams communicating successfully and the skills we need to develop as leaders to get the most out of this younger generation entering the workplace. 

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder. 

About Alex Atherton: 

Alex Atherton is an experienced educator, keynote speaker and leadership coach. Previously Alex spent 25 years working in inner-city comprehensive secondary schools, of which over half was spent as a headteacher in London.  

Links for Alex: 

Website 

Book: The Snowflake Myth 

LinkedIn 

Work with Carla: 

• Impactful Teams Scorecard – Discover how your team measures up and how you can grow your team’s impact. 
• 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery call 

📢 If This Resonated… 

Please share this episode with a fellow leader who needs to hear it. 

Leave a review to support the show or reach out to me directly — I’d love to hear what landed most for you. 

Do you ever feel like your to-do list is controlling you instead of the other way around? As a leader, overwhelm can sneak up fast—and it can take a toll on your confidence, focus, and impact. 

In this episode we’re diving into practical strategies to help you pause, regain clarity, and take control of your day. You’ll learn four key steps that can shift your mindset, streamline your priorities, and help you feel more grounded—even when the pressure is on. 

Whether you’re juggling multiple projects, managing a team, or just trying to stay sane through back-to-back meetings, this episode is packed with insights to help you work smarter, not harder. 

Listen in to discover: 

• How a simple shift in perspective can instantly reduce stress 

• Why doing less might actually increase your impact 

• What tasks to start saying no to 

If you’re ready to feel more focused, confident, and in control at work, this episode is for you. 

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder. 

Work with Carla: 

• Impactful Teams Scorecard – Discover how your team measures up and how you can grow your team’s impact. 
• 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery call 

📢 If This Resonated… 

Please share this episode with a fellow leader who needs to hear it. 

Leave a review to support the show or reach out to me directly — I’d love to hear what landed most for you. 

If you’ve ever found yourself dreading a meeting with your boss or wondering how to navigate a tricky relationship with them, you’re not alone. In this episode of Influence & Impact for Leaders, I’m joined again by the brilliant Jennifer McCanna – accredited coach, podcast host of My Emotional Work Life, and expert on navigating the emotional highs and lows of work. 

Together, we explore why our relationship with our boss has such a huge impact on how we feel at work, the different “types” of difficult bosses you might come across, and how to work more effectively with them – without losing your sanity or confidence. 

We cover: 

• The most common “types” of difficult boss 
• How to understand what’s driving your boss so you can partner with them 
• Simple tools to stay calm and grounded before tough meetings 
• Ways to make sure you’re not accidentally someone else’s “difficult boss” 

If you want to feel calmer, more in control and more influential in your relationship with your boss, this episode is packed with ideas and tools you can start using right away. 

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder. 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

My Emotional Work Life Podcast 

Ep 03: The difficult boss survival guide | Jen McCanna 

Ep 02: Finding a job after a toxic work experience | Jen McCanna 

About Jen: 

Jen is sought after as a leadership coach who is often asked to help clients overcome periods of challenge and change, helping them rebuild their confidence and self-belief and realise their ambition. She supports leaders to manage their energy and navigate their emotions so they can feel calm and resourceful at work. 

Not only an experienced coach with the international coaching federation, Jen is a emotional freedom technique (EFT) practitioner, Resilience Dynamic practitioner and designs and delivers leadership development programmes and team building days for clients across the charity, corporate and public sectors. 

In her podcast – My Emotional Work Life – Jen and her guests share stories and strategies that help listeners navigate the rollercoaster that is working life. Check it episodes on difficult bosses, job hunting after a toxic work experiences and navigating the menopause at work. 

Ever experienced a toxic work relationship, badly handled restructure or the challenge of an HR process which rumbles on and on? Feel it knocked you for six a bit? Then Jen is your coach! 

Find My Emotional Work Life here: https://podfollow.com/my-emotional-work-life 

And her website is full of resources designed to make the lives of busy leaders easier  

You can follow Jen @jen_the_leadership_coach on Instagram or here on LinkedIn. 

Work with Carla: 

• Impactful Teams Scorecard – Discover how your team measures up and how you can grow your team’s impact. 
• 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery call 

📢 If This Resonated… 

Please share this episode with a fellow leader who needs to hear it. 

Leave a review to support the show or reach out to me directly — I’d love to hear what landed most for you. 

Conflict at work doesn’t have to be scary. In this episode of Influence & Impact for Leaders, I talk with Alice Driscoll and Louise Van Haarst, authors of Smart Conflict, about why avoiding tough conversations harms teams — and how to do them better. 

You’ll hear the difference between task and relational conflict, learn their 5R model (Reflection, Regulation, Readiness, Response, Repair) and pick up quick, practical tips you can use to calm my nerves, land your message and repair relationships. 

Alice Driscoll and Louise van Haarst are the founders of The Power House, a global 

leadership development and cultural transformation business on a mission to unlock human and organisational potential. They work with organisations including BBC Studios, PwC, Deutsche Bank, LVMH, Johnson & Johnson, ProperCorn, Bethnal Green Ventures and Zinc VC. 

Their new book ‘Smart Conflict - how to have hard conversations at work’ is a highly 

practical, evidence-based guide to getting good at conflict and hard conversations at work. Whether your default conflict style is avoidant, inflexible or aggressive, this book will give you the tools to embrace Smart Conflict and transform your leadership, your team and maybe your life. 

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder. 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

Buy Smart Conflict, How to have hard conversations at work:  https://mybook.to/SmartConflict   

Download free resources including our read-along workbook: https://thepowerhouse.company/resources 

Take the default conflict style and team diagnostics:  https://thepowerhouse.company/diagnostics 

LinkedIn: Alice Driscoll  

LinkedIn: Louise van Haarst  

Work with Carla: 

• Impactful Teams Scorecard – Discover how your team measures up and how you can grow your team’s impact. 
• 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery call 

📢 If This Resonated… 

Please share this episode with a fellow leader who needs to hear it. 

Leave a review to support the show or reach out to me directly — I’d love to hear what landed most for you. 

In this episode, I’m delving into the common pitfall of many leaders - getting stuck in the weeds of daily tasks and acting operationally instead of strategically. If your calendar is packed with tasks your team should be able to handle, you might be trapped in an operational role rather than leading effectively. Discover how to rise above the day-to-day grind, lead strategically, and drive impact without burning out. 

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high-performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately to be better at your job without working harder. 

In This Episode: 

• Operational vs. Strategic Leadership 
• Why Leaders Get Stuck in Doing 
• The Cost of Staying in the Weeds 
• Signs You’re Too Operational 
• The Strategic Leader’s Role 
• Building a Self-Sufficient Team  
• Creating Space for Strategic  

Mentioned in This Episode: 

Episode 61 - How to be great at delegation. 

Episode 174 - How to be a coach-like manager with Jude Sclater. 

Work with Carla: 

• Impactful Teams Scorecard – Discover how your team measures up and how you can grow your team’s impact. 
• 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – Define your unique leadership brand and thrive outside the mould. Book a discovery call 

📢 If This Resonated… 

Please share this episode with a fellow leader who needs to hear it. 

Leave a review to support the show or reach out to me directly — I’d love to hear what landed most for you. 

In this episode, I’m joined once again by the brilliant Eleanor Tweddell, coach and change consultant and author of the new book Another Door Opens. You might remember her from an earlier episode where we talked about her first book on redundancy. This time, we’re diving into her fresh take on navigating change—one that acknowledges how messy and human it really is. 

Eleanor introduces us to her five-step Change Mastery model, a practical and powerful framework designed to help leaders process change themselves before they try to lead others through it. We explore why traditional approaches to change often fall short, the emotional complexity leaders face in transition, and how we can show up more intentionally and empathetically during uncertain times. 

This episode is for any leader navigating change themselves or trying to lead a team through transformation. Whether you’re facing restructures, technological shifts, personal crossroads—or simply the everyday micro-changes of life—this conversation offers clarity and compassion. 

Episode highlights: 

• Why change is rarely linear and almost never neat 
• The difference between managing change and mastering it 
• How leaders can work through change themselves before leading others 
• The five steps of Eleanor’s Change Mastery model for leaders: 

1. Pause – Start by stopping. Create space to rest and think. 
2. Mess – Acknowledge the emotional complexity and personal impact. 
3. Play – Get curious and explore possibilities without pressure. 
4. Try – Take small, intentional steps forward. 
5. Restart – Begin again, but with clarity and intention. 

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder. 

About Eleanor Tweddell: 

Eleanor Tweddell is a coach, change consultant, facilitator, keynote speaker and author. After over two decades working in senior corporate management roles, including Whitbread, Virgin Atlantic and Vodafone, she founded Another Door with the mission of helping individuals, teams and businesses navigate change. 

• Website: Another Door 
• LinkedIn: Eleanor Tweddell 
• Book: Another Door Opens (Coming 4th September 2025) 

Work with Eleanor: 

Eleanor now offers Change Mastery for Leaders and Change Mastery for Teams—high-impact workshops designed to help people navigate transition with intention and resilience. 

Work with Carla: 

• Impactful Teams Scorecard – Discover how your team measures up and how you can grow your team’s impact. 
• 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – Define your unique leadership brand and thrive outside the mould. Book a discovery call 

📢 If This Resonated… 

Please share this episode with a fellow leader who needs to hear it. 

Leave a review to support the show or reach out to me directly — I’d love to hear what landed most for you.