Leadership With a Twist

By Heather McGonigal and Barbara SchindlerBusiness Entrepreneurship Careers Management

Leadership With a Twist episodes

November 02Water Signs & Your Rising Signs, and Leading with Intuition
"Water signs approach life through intuition, sensing what flows beneath the surface before anything is said."
Some leaders walk into a room and know within a minute that something is off. Nobody said a word. They read the undercurrent. In this episode of Leadership With a Twist, Barbara finishes the four elements of the zodiac with Water, the intuitive approach to life, and the three signs that carry it: Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces.
Barbara opens with a reminder to take a breath and use both sides of the brain, so you are neither memorizing with the left nor drifting into feeling with the right. Then she sets up the Water keywords: instinct, empathy, sensing, feeling, and the mysterious quality of what moves under the surface where we can't see it.
Cancer is cardinal Water and says "I feel." It reads the energy of a room, values privacy, and creates the natural safety that business calls psychological safety. Ruled by the moon, it carries the ebb and flow of the tides, a strong memory of the past, and a need for financial and emotional security. Scorpio is fixed Water and says "I create." It goes to the depths, lives by passion, and brings new life out of the ashes like the phoenix. Pisces is mutable Water and says "I believe." It is imaginative and spiritually oriented, absorbs the vibes around it, and sometimes has to ask whether a feeling is its own or someone else's.
Barbara also covers each Water sign as your Rising Sign, the sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment and place of your birth, and closes the series on elements with a look ahead to the personality trio of Rising, Sun and Moon.
Key Takeaways
Water signs approach life through intuition, and each modality shapes how that intuition moves.
Cancer senses the emotional undercurrent fast and protects the private space where people can tell the truth.
Scorpio is the fixed Water sign, which is where its steady personal power and strong inner knowing come from.
Pisces feels everything around it and needs time alone to come back to its own sense of self.
All twelve signs live in your chart. Planet and house placement show how each one expresses in you.
Action Steps
Download the Water signs slides at astrovibes4u.com.
Request your complimentary birth chart so you have your Rising Sign before the series moves into Sun and Moon signs.
Before your next difficult meeting, take a deep breath and notice what you sense in the room before anyone speaks.
Schedule one block of retreat time this week and protect it the way you would protect a client meeting.
Questions to Reflect On
Where in your work do you lead with intuition, and where do you override it?
What do people on your team need from you to feel safe telling you the truth?
When you absorb someone else's mood, how long does it take you to notice it isn't yours?
Your Complimentary Astrology Birth Chart Barbara will prepare your personal birth chart from your date, time and place of birth. Email [email protected] to request yours.
Free slides and episode materials: astrovibes4u.com
24 min
October 28Your Tempo Healing, A Guide to Authentic Leadership with Alison Dagger
"When you build a strong, trusting, secure relationship with yourself, it becomes easier to form those relationships out in the world."
Barbara Schindler sits down with Alison Dagger, MA, LCMHC, MT-BC, a licensed mental health counselor, board-certified music therapist, and owner of Your Tempo Healing LLC in Waterbury, Vermont. Alison corrects the name of her practice in the first two minutes, and the correction tells you everything about her work. It is Your Tempo, because so much of life, school, and work pushes you to move at someone else's pace.
Alison trained as a classical flute player. Years of trying to give the conductor exactly what he wanted, nailing the tone and playing every note the exact right way, built a perfectionism that spread into every other part of her life and left her doubting her own instincts. She went on to work as a baker and pastry chef at 22, in a kitchen culture she describes as militaristic and full of men telling her what she could and couldn't do. Her practice, and her path to becoming an entrepreneur, grew out of wanting to build a space where she could stand in what is authentically her.
Barbara and Alison get into what a session actually looks like. Alison works from the body up, asking questions like "Does that sensation have a rhythm?" and whether it feels like a whole orchestra or one lonely melody. The music comes from the client's own repertoire, heavy metal and Taylor Swift included. Barbara shares her own reset word, peace, and Alison offers something more reachable for many people: a sense of okayness. Barbara also tells the story of moving to Vermont at the tail end of the pandemic and how a cashier at the local co-op, deliberately practicing people's names, started to give her a sense of belonging.
In this episode
Why the name "Your Tempo" matters, and what it means to move at your own pace
How rigid feedback loops in classical music training built perfectionism and self-doubt
Coaching sessions where "And what about yourself?" comes up last
The cultural belief that putting yourself first makes you egotistical
Somatic work, brainspotting, and why healing happens in the body rather than the head
Using rhythm and melody to describe what you feel without retelling the whole story
Okayness as a step before peace
Barbara's co-op cashier story and what it taught her about belonging
Alison's message: the authentic you is still in there
Key Takeaways
Self-trust is built internally first. Once you have a secure relationship with yourself, it carries into your relationships and responsibilities at work.
Most of us find safety in our heads, analyzing and problem-solving, because the body is where we feel everything. The real shift starts when you notice what your body is telling you.
A sense of belonging starts with small, repeated moments of being known, like someone remembering your name.
You do not have to reach peace to lead well in a hard moment. "I am okay" is a strong place to lead from.
Action Steps
At your next check-in with yourself, name one physical sensation before you name a single thought.
Choose a word, phrase, or piece of music that brings you back to center, and keep it in your back pocket.
Learn and use the names of the people you see every week, on your team and beyond it.
In your next one-on-one, ask the person how they are doing before you ask about the work.
Questions to Reflect On
Whose tempo are you leading at right now, yours or someone else's?
Where did your own perfectionism get trained into you?
What would it take to feel okay in this moment, without needing to feel peaceful?
Who on your team might still feel like the new kid on the block?
_________________________________________________________
Alison Dagger, MA, LCMHC, MT-BC, is a licensed mental health counselor, board-certified music therapist, and owner of Your Tempo Healing LLC, a private practice based in Waterbury, Vermont.

She specializes in helping performing artists, creative adults, and healthcare workers recover from PTSD, complex trauma, and imposter syndrome rooted in their experiences of sexual trauma, relational abuse, and dysfunctional family systems.

Drawing from somatic psychology, music therapy, and neuro-experiential approaches, she helps clients reconnect by centering their relationship to music.

Her work is grounded in the belief that healing happens through learning to listen inward with greater curiosity and compassion, creating an internal sense of worthiness and belonging that is no longer dependent on external validation.

A classically trained musician herself, Alison has worked extensively with survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse in both community-based victim advocacy settings and private practice.

She is passionate about helping survivors reclaim a sense of embodied safety, self-trust, and authentic expression by growing their capacity for creative connection.
https://www.yourtempohealing.com/
[email protected]
_________________________________________________________
Let's Talk
Want to talk through what self-trust and authentic leadership could look like for you and your team? Book a complimentary Discovery Call with Barbara https://www.empoweringleadershipteams.com/discovery
43 min
October 26Air Signs, Rising Signs + Workplace Culture: Boost Leadership with Astrological Wisdom
"Air signs approach life through the intellect, and their modality shapes whether that mind initiates, sustains, or adapts."
In this episode, Barbara continues sharing the language of astrology through the element of Air and its three signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius. We begin by examining the qualities these signs share as expressions of the Air element, exploring their common intellectual approach to life.
From there, we discover how each sign vibes in its own distinctive way. By exploring both their shared elemental nature and their unique characteristics, we begin to understand what distinguishes Gemini, Libra, Aquarius. as individual expressions of Air.
Barbara also applies the sign in the Ascendant position, or Rising Sign, as a foundation for understanding how the Air signs express themselves in this important dimension of the birth chart. This opens the door to exploring how each sign brings its particular qualities into our way of engaging in the world.
In this conversation we begin to build an understanding of how the Fire, Earth and Air signs express differently. Therefore, advancing in the knowledge of how to read a birth chart through the language of astrology.
Highlights
Air signs share an intellectual approach: communication, curiosity, logic and flexibility.
Gemini (I think) is mutable: quick, witty, adaptable, and always learning.
Libra (I balance) is cardinal: diplomatic, fair, aesthetic, and the sign that connects heart to mind.
Aquarius (I know) is fixed: inventive, community-minded, and firm in its ideals.
Your Rising Sign is the lens of presence and perception you bring into every situation.
Action Steps
Email me for your complimentary birth chart and look up your Rising Sign.
Download the free Air signs PDF and spend five minutes pairing each symbol with its keyword. astrovibes4u.com
Pick one conversation this week where you would normally keep the peace and say the harder thing instead.
Notice whether your team rewards fast thinking, smooth relationships, or new ideas, and who gets left out.

Your Complimentary Astrology Birth Chart Barbara will prepare a personal birth chart from your date, time and place of birth. Request at astrovibes4u.com
Free episode slides and PDFs: astrovibes4u.com

Barbara Schindler is a professional astrologer and transition & leadership coach with 35+ years’ experience. Through Astro Vibes and Leadership With a Twist, she blends astrology, psychology & mindfulness to help clients navigate change courageously.
16 min
October 21Why Kindness is Your Competitive Edge in Leadership and Life
"Calm does not erase frustration or anger; it gives you the choice of how to express it."
Pressure in business is not easing up. The economy has people on edge, the AI conversation keeps adding uncertainty, and your team still brings ordinary life stress into every Zoom room on top of it all. Heather McGonigal and Barbara Schindler talk about what kindness actually looks like on a team that is running hot, and why leaders who care for the human element will keep their people when other companies lose theirs.
Barbara opens with something most leaders miss. The triggering email and the "this is the most wonderful thing that's ever happened" message land on your nervous system with equal intensity. You label one bad and the other good, but your body experiences both as extreme energy, and most people walking into your meeting are carrying some version of it. Heather ties this to culture. When a leader sends a Slack message saying she is stepping away for a break, everyone else gets permission. When nobody does it, the one person who says "I need five" after a brutal meeting becomes the drama of the afternoon.
They also share the personal practices they use to get back to center. Heather asks herself, "What could I tell myself that would have things go better from here?" Barbara's word for the year is calm, and her cue is a simple question: "Am I calm?" Heather tells the story of a night waitressing in a packed LA restaurant when the computer system crashed and the credit card slips had to be run by hand, and Barbara compares sustainable energy to the battery in her Prius, which recharges while she drives.

Key Takeaways
You have the most influence over your own state, so checking in with yourself is the start of leading others, not the last item on the list.
Culture is whatever people see demonstrated. How a supervisor paces her workday, and whether she ever takes a break, sends green flags or red flags to your team.
Calm and frustration can exist at the same time. Calm lets you express the frustration in a way that has the impact you care about.
Burnout takes far longer to recover from than it takes to build a team environment that sustains itself.
Action Steps
Choose one word, phrase, or question you can pull out of your back pocket under pressure.
Tell your team when you are stepping away so a break becomes normal instead of noteworthy.
After a big launch, use your one-on-ones to ask when people are planning time off.
When you catch yourself multitasking in a frenzy, stop and name the single next task.
Questions to Reflect On
Who are you in your team's worst conditions, when the tech is down and the inbox is overflowing?
What story are you telling yourself about today, and is it helping?
If a new hire watched you for one week, what would they conclude about your culture?
Where does "how am I doing?" land on your list right now?
Want to talk through how kindness and self-care could work inside your team? Book a complimentary coffee chat with Heather and Barbara: https://www.empoweringleadershipteams.com/coffeechat
Tell us in the comments what word, phrase, or mantra you picked. Someone else might want to try it on.
About the Hosts: Coach Heather and Coach Barbara are the lead Executive Coaches of Empowering Leadership Teams. They specialize in helping entrepreneurial businesses and their teams meet the moment and become the most empowered they can be to work together and achieve optimal results. With deep expertise in leadership development, team dynamics, and navigating organizational transition, they bring practical, actionable wisdom to leaders facing the challenges of today's rapidly changing business environment.
Weekly Leadership With a Twist Newsletter:
https://leadershipwithatwist.substack.com
Subscribe & Review: If you found value in this episode, please subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. Your feedback helps us create content that serves entrepreneurial leaders like you, and it helps other leaders discover these conversations.
Questions or topics you'd like us to address in future episodes? Send us a message at or leave a comment on our latest post.
Cheering You On!
33 min
October 19Earth Signs, Rising Signs, and the Leaders Who Get It Done
If a colleague described the first impression you make, would it sound like easygoing charm, careful attention to detail, or reserved composure?
In this episode, Barbara continues sharing the language of astrology through the element of Earth and its three signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn. We begin by examining the qualities these signs share as expressions of the Earth element, exploring their common practical approach to life.
From there, we discover how each sign vibes in its own distinctive way. By exploring both their shared elemental nature and their unique characteristics, we begin to understand what distinguishes Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn. as individual expressions of Earth.
Barbara also applies the sign in the Ascendant position, or Rising Sign, as a foundation for understanding how the Earth signs express themselves in this important dimension of the birth chart. This opens the door to exploring how each sign brings its particular qualities into our way of engaging in the world.
In this conversation we begin to build an understanding of how the Fire and Earth signs express differently. Therefore, advancing in the knowledge of how to read a birth chart through the language of astrology.
Your Complimentary Astrology Birth Chart Barbara will prepare a personal birth chart from your date, time and place of birth. Request at astrovibes4u.com
Free episode slides and PDFs: astrovibes4u.com
Key Takeaways
Earth signs approach life practically and are willing to do the work to get things done.
Taurus builds slow and steady and finishes what it starts. Pair it with an Aries who loves to start and you get a project that crosses the goal line.
Virgo leans into the most efficient systems and processes and shows care by doing things for people.
Capricorn shows care through practical responsibility rather than through feelings, and steps fully into leadership once given authority
All twelve signs live within each of us, so notice when you are in Taurus nature, not only who you know with a Taurus sun.
Action Steps
Download the free Earth signs PDF at astrovibes4u.com.
Request your complimentary personal birth chart so you can follow along as the series builds.
Look at your current team and identify who starts projects and who finishes them.
Pick one recent week and note where you acted with Earth energy: steady, methodical or duty-driven.

Barbara Schindler is a professional astrologer and transition & leadership coach with 35+ years’ experience. Through Astro Vibes and Leadership With a Twist, she blends astrology, psychology & mindfulness to help clients navigate change courageously.
21 min
October 14Leading with Kindness: How to Make Human Connection Your Business Advantage
Your inbox is full of AI-written pitches that open with "I know all about you" and follow up with "just in case you didn't see my last three messages." Heather McGonigal and Barbara Schindler have had enough. In this episode of Leadership with a Twist, they argue that human kindness is the competitive advantage most businesses are overlooking right now.
This one gets personal. Barbara talks about her running battle with bank and cell phone chatbots. She admits to typing "you are a stupid robot" more than once, and says her phone's AI rewriting her texts pushed her over the edge. Heather separates the lazy, cut-and-paste use of AI from the kind that stretches your thinking, like brainstorming with ChatGPT after hours when the team is offline and you'd otherwise be working alone. From there the conversation turns to leadership. They cover taking a pause to ask how a message will land before you hit send, and remembering that you never know what mountain someone is climbing today. They also talk about asking your own team where technology should take work off their plate and where their judgment needs to stay fully engaged.
The framework they land on is simple enough to use Monday morning: put efficiency on the back end and keep kindness up front. Heather's local Toastmasters club fills the room every week because it meets in person, while nearby virtual groups struggle. That tells you how hungry people are for real connection.
Key Takeaways
Lazy AI puts extra work on the person receiving it. Partnering with AI to extend your own creativity is a completely different use.
Before you roll out a new tool, sit in your customer's seat and ask whether their experience actually gets better.
Kindness has to exist inside your team before customers can feel it. Culture can't be faked from the top.
The businesses that catch the next wave will be the ones that kept the human element front and center while everyone else raced toward automation.
Action Steps
Pick one customer touchpoint where automation replaced a person and experience it yourself this week.
Ask your team where technology could take work off their plate and where their thinking matters most.
Practice the second pause before sending anything that affects a relationship.
Questions to Reflect On
Where has speed quietly replaced connection in how your business communicates?
If you asked your clients whether working with you feels human, what would they say?
Want to talk through how this applies to your team? Book a complimentary coffee chat : https://www.empoweringleadershipteams.com/coffeechat

About the Hosts: Coach Heather and Coach Barbara are the lead Executive Coaches of Empowering Leadership Teams. They specialize in helping entrepreneurial businesses and their teams meet the moment and become the most empowered they can be to work together and achieve optimal results. With deep expertise in leadership development, team dynamics, and navigating organizational transition, they bring practical, actionable wisdom to leaders facing the challenges of today's rapidly changing business environment.
Leadership With a Twist on Substack:
https://leadershipwithatwist.substack.com
Subscribe & Review: If you found value in this episode, please subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. Your feedback helps us create content that serves entrepreneurial leaders like you, and it helps other leaders discover these conversations.
Questions or topics you'd like us to address in future episodes? Send us a message at or leave a comment on our latest post.
Cheering You On!
22 min
October 12Fire Signs, Rising Signs, and the Way You Walk Into a Room
Do you know your birth time, and have you ever looked up what was rising on the horizon when you arrived?
In this episode, Barbara continues sharing the language of astrology through the element of Fire and its three signs: Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. We begin by examining the qualities these signs share as expressions of the Fire element, exploring their common expressive approach to life.
From there, we discover how each sign vibes in its own distinctive way. By exploring both their shared elemental nature and their unique characteristics, we begin to understand what distinguishes Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius as individual expressions of Fire.
Barbara also introduces the Ascendant, or Rising Sign, as a foundation for understanding how the Fire signs express themselves in this important dimension of the birth chart. This opens the door to exploring how each sign brings its particular qualities into our way of engaging in the world.
Your Complimentary Astrology Birth Chart Barbara will prepare a personal birth chart from your date, time and place of birth. Request at astrovibes4u.com
Free episode slides and PDFs: astrovibes4u.com
In this episode
What the Ascendant is and what you need to find yours
How the rising sign shapes first impressions, body language and outward style
The shared nature of the Fire element
Cardinal, fixed and mutable energy in Aries, Leo and Sagittarius
Aries rising: "Here I am"
Leo rising: "Hello, everybody"
Sagittarius rising: expansive awareness in the moment
Coming next: the Earth signs
Action Steps
Track down your birth time on a birth certificate or by asking family.
Request your complimentary birth chart from Barbara to learn your rising sign.
Download the free slides for this episode at astrovibes4u.com.
Pay attention to your next few meeting entrances and notice what people respond to before you speak.
Barbara is a professional astrologer and transition & leadership coach with 35+ years’ experience. Through Astro Vibes and Leadership With a Twist, she blends astrology, psychology & mindfulness to help clients navigate change courageously.
17 min
October 07Navigating Entrepreneurship: Mieko Ozeki on Leadership and Personal Branding
Setting the Table: Authentic Branding, Community, and the Story Behind Your Business with Mieko Ozeki
Barbara Schindler sits down with fellow Vermonter Mieko Ozeki, founder of Radiance Studios LLC and co-founder of Vermont Womenpreneurs. They talk about what it takes to build a business, and a community, that people trust.
Mieko's business began while she was still at UVM's Office of Sustainability. She was helping student interns build portfolios, and her boss told her plainly: "We do not pay you for that part." That push turned into Radiance Studios in 2013. Today she helps entrepreneurs "get the chaos out of their head," shape it into a clear website, and then trains them to maintain it themselves so they never need her on retainer.
The conversation covers her years as the "Mary Poppins of organizations," cleaning up budgets and systems for other people's ideas. It covers the six-day retreat she walked into two days after quitting a toxic job, and the decision not to "take my burnout to whatever is next." It covers the first Vermont Womenpreneurs meetup at Fletcher Free Library in January 2018, where 19 women showed up after she put out a few posters. Mieko explains why she thinks elevator pitches are "total garbage," why group introductions work as an amuse-bouche for the real connection that follows, and how teaching her daughter about credit cards taught her more about economics than her econ classes did.
In this episode:
Your website as a base camp, with social media as the amplifier that brings people back to it
Why transactional networking feels icky, and how relational networking fixes it
Setting the table so people feel safe telling their real story
Progress over perfection: business is a series of pivots
Why the authenticity of the founder matters more in the age of AI
Raising the next generation with entrepreneurial skills, whether or not they ever start a business
Key Takeaways
Treat your website as home base. Social media is only a call to action that brings people back to it.
Name the themes in your body of work before you try to market it.
Networking gets easier when you show up to listen, not to prove you deserve to be there.
Leaders set the table, even as solopreneurs. The environment you create shapes the work that happens in it.
Reputation builds when people see how you operate, often without you ever pitching.
Action Steps
List your last five years of work and circle the themes that repeat.
Audit your website: which pages exist because you never figured out the system?
At your next networking event, ask one person about their story before you share yours.
Plan one deliberate pause before your next big decision.
Questions to Reflect On
Where are you taking old burnout into new work?
What does your team say about you when you leave the room?
Are you rewarding progress, or only outcomes?
Connect with Mieko: Radiance Studios LLC | Vermont Womenpreneurs
Mieko A. Ozeki is a Vermont-based small business and agriculture advocate, and owner of Radiance Studios LLC, where she provides website strategy, content, and branding support for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

She is the co-founder of Vermont Womenpreneurs, a community and event platform spotlighting women business owners across the state.

Mieko serves as a Steering Member of Senator Welch's annual Women's Economic Opportunity Conference and the Vermont Farm to Plate Network, sits on Congressman Peter Welch's Business Advisory Council, and is a board member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT).

A mompreneur based in Vermont with her husband and daughter, she brings a storyteller's eye and a deep commitment to community-building to everything she creates.
[email protected]
Let's Talk
If this conversation stirred up questions about how you're leading yourself and your business, bring them to a complimentary call with Barbara. We'll look at where your work is steering you and what it takes to get your hands back on the wheel: https://www.empoweringleadershipteams.com/discovery
1 hr
October 05Exploring the 12 Zodiac Signs: Understanding the Language of Astrology
In this episode Barbara introduces the language of Astrology beginning with the 12 Zodiac Signs. The signs are grouped within the four elements (Fire, Earth, Air and Water) to understand the characteristics of influence and expression of the signs.
The modalities of each sign indicates the natural way of expressing their energy, taking action and handling change. The signs in their element groups are further explored through the modalities of cardinal, fixed and mutable expression.
Free Download: The 12 Zodiac Signs
https://www.empoweringleadershipteams.com/astrovibes4u
Highlights
All 12 signs are part of your birth chart, not just your sun sign.
The four elements describe each sign's approach to life: fire expressive, earth practical, air intellectual, water intuitive.
The modalities describe how a sign moves through change: cardinal starts, fixed sustains, mutable adapts.
Combining element and modality gives each sign its distinct expression, like Aries as cardinal fire and Leo as fixed fire.
Learning astrology works best as layering, with keywords for the left brain and symbols for the right.
Action Steps
Download the episode slides and keep the combined element and modality chart somewhere you will see it.
Find your sun sign's element and modality, then watch for it in one meeting this week.
Think of one person on your team and guess whether they lean cardinal, fixed or mutable. Notice what changes when you work with that instead of against it.
Email me for your complimentary birth chart so you can see where the rest of the zodiac lives in you. [email protected]
23 min
September 30Harnessing Creativity and Leadership: Andie Asacker’s Entrepreneurial Journey
Andie Asacker was laid off in December 2020, and by the day she registered her LLC she already had clients. On this episode of Leadership With a Twist, Barbara Schindler talks with Andie, digital strategist and founder of Whirlybird, a one-woman marketing agency in the heart of Vermont, about what happens when a business grows faster than the plan behind it.
Andie spent nearly 15 years in sales and marketing managing six-figure advertising portfolios before going out on her own. She is also a musician, dancer, choreographer, fire spinner, potter, quilter, watercolor painter and illustrator, which says a lot about how she approaches work. She and Barbara get candid about the blurry line between work Andie and creative Andie once no employer sets the clock, and why she now chooses no more than three markers each morning that tell her the day is complete. She walks through the practical mistakes of her early years too: an unemployment case she won because she took notes on a single phone call, quarterly taxes she managed to both overpay and underpay, and a fee she paid for five years that she never owed. The deeper lesson took longer to see. If you don't steer your business, even as a solopreneur, it steers you by whatever lands in the inbox.
From there the conversation moves into platform instability in digital marketing, why Andie tells clients she learns alongside them every time Meta changes, and something she calls shiny software syndrome. Barbara lays out the stages leaders move through with change, from feeling it happen to them toward co-creation and flow, and both land on a new paradigm of leadership where everyone leads themselves first.
Key Takeaways
Choose one to three markers at the start of each day that define complete, so an endless to-do list doesn't decide when you stop.
Sitting at your desk all day is not the same as being productive. When you're circling the drain, a walk often moves the work further than another hour in the chair.
If you don't hold the steering wheel in your business, incoming requests will, and you can drift far from what you intended at the start of the quarter.
Foundational skills like communicating clearly, asking good questions and knowing how you'll measure success outlast any platform or algorithm.
Getting your lessons faster keeps deliberate pacing from sliding into perfectionism and rumination.
The question that makes you nervous to ask is usually the one someone else in the room has been holding too.
Action Steps
Before you open your inbox tomorrow, write down the markers that will tell you the day is done.
Build stop points into big projects so 5:00 has a natural place to land instead of a scramble.
Get help with taxes and business setup early, before a letter shows up a year later.
Before switching to new software, name the specific problem the current tool is failing to solve.
Put one idea in front of other people this week and pay attention to what comes back.
Questions to Reflect On
Where is your business steering you right now, and is that where you want to go?
Which foundational skill have you skipped in favor of the newest tool or tactic?
When did you last ask the question in the room that nobody else was asking?
Connect with Andie:
https://www.whirlybirdonline.com
@whirlybirdonline on Instagram
Let's Talk
If this conversation stirred up questions about how you're leading yourself and your business, bring them to a complimentary call with Barbara. We'll look at where your work is steering you and what it takes to get your hands back on the wheel: https://www.empoweringleadershipteams.com/discovery
More about Andie:
Andie Asacker is a digital strategist, creative powerhouse, and the founder of Whirlybird—a one-woman marketing agency based in the heart of Vermont.

She's spent nearly 15 years in sales and marketing—managing six-figure advertising portfolios, representing Fortune 500 brands, and playing key roles in small businesses and startups. Whether creating stunning visuals or meticulous spreadsheets, Andie is happiest at the intersection between inspiration and execution.

She brings a fresh perspective and keen attention to detail to her work, designing logos, websites, theater sets, trade show booths, and SOPs.

She is also a musician, dancer, choreographer, fire spinner, potter, quilter, watercolor painter, and illustrator. Andie loves the ins-and-outs of bringing ideas to life! Creativity isn't just what she does, it's how she's wired.
58 min

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Where mindful leadership meets practical action... Empowering Leadership Teams' Podcast, Leadership With a Twist, features mother-daughter executive coaching team Heather McGonigal and Barbara…

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