LET'S GO WITH JULIO

In this episode I’m walking you through Above and Below the Line, a tool from The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership that Brené Brown also features in her latest book, Strong Ground. If this tool is new to you, I think it’s really going to help. It’s changed how I show up at work and at home, and I’ve seen it help the leaders I coach.

If the line represents fear, we are either above or below it at any given moment. Above the line, we’re open, curious, and committed to learning. Below it, we’re closed, defensive, and committed to being right.

I share why we drop below the line (spoiler: it’s biology), the trap even smart leaders fall into, and the story of how leading from below the line played a part in me getting fired from Google.

You’ll walk away with:

• A simple way to locate yourself above or below the line in any moment
• Why the riskiest place to lead from is below the line while believing you’re above it
• Four shifts to move back above the line, and how to “take a beat” at work and at home
• A one-week noticing experiment you can start today

This is a practice, not a test. No judgment, just awareness. Give it a try this week and let me know what comes up for you.

MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

• 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/15-Commitments-Conscious-Leadership-Sustainable/dp/0990976904⁠
• Strong Ground by Brené Brown: ⁠https://brenebrown.com/book/strong-ground/⁠
• Above/Below video: ⁠https://conscious.is/resource/locating-yourself-video/⁠

LISTEN TO THE LET'S GO WITH JULIO PODCAST

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3gEipo6bRygoQmD3G5w57s

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-go-with-julio/id1678195277

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@letsgowithjulio

FOLLOW JULIO:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/letsgowithjulio

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/letsgowithjulio

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER:

💌 My regular newsletter — honest reflections on leadership, presence, and staying human under pressure. Join Free: https://letsgowithjulio.com

ABOUT LET'S GO WITH JULIO

Julio spent 15 years leading teams at Apple, Google, Tumblr, Airbnb, and Lyft — hired and fired along the way. Today he's a leadership coach, speaker, and host who has coached leaders at many of the world's leading companies, and led programs for thousands of leaders navigating identity, emotion, and transformation.

His work helps driven people find steadiness under pressure — the courage to get out of their heads and into their hearts, and to find freedom in their work, relationships, and lives through self-discovery and self-acceptance. LET'S GO WITH JULIO — the podcast, the newsletter, and the coaching — exists to help leaders lead from a steadier, braver, more human place.

CREDITS:

Theme song: "Human" by Nick Deutsch

Produced and edited by Rikki Gunton

Recent studies show that 84% of tech workers report burnout, but that doesn’t stop at then end of the work day. Talk to any therapist working with families right now and they will tell you that parents have never been more overwhelmed, more reactive, more unsure of what to do when their child has a feeling.

We live in an era with more podcasts, more books, more retreats, more coaches, more language around emotional intelligence than any generation in human history. And yet we have not actually built the skills to be with our feelings and regulate our nervous systems. So we go to work — and come back home — dysregulated.

My guest today is the only person I know who can speak to this from both sides.

Sarah Harvey was the executive assistant to the Chief of Staff for the CEO of Google. She sat one degree of separation from one of the most powerful executives in the world — inside the room where the most consequential decisions in tech were being made. And then she walked away from all of it to become a child and family therapist, where she now has a thriving practice. She has watched leaders run the rooms. And now she sits with the families those leaders are coming home to.

My intention for you, by the end of this episode, is that you walk away understanding one thing: the change starts with you. Not with your team. Not with your kid. Not with your partner. With you. Because the most important practice you can build — for your home and for your career — is learning to regulate yourself. So that whatever comes up, in a world that is moving faster and feeling harder than ever, you can meet it.

LISTEN TO THE LET'S GO WITH JULIO PODCAST

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3gEipo6bRygoQmD3G5w57

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-go-with-julio/id1678195277

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@letsgowithjulio

FOLLOW JULIO:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/letsgowithjulio

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/letsgowithjulio

CONNECT WITH SARAH:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-harvey-lpc-1611401b/

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER:

💌 My regular newsletter — honest reflections on leadership, presence, and staying human under pressure. Join Free: https://letsgowithjulio.com

ABOUT LET'S GO WITH JULIO

Julio spent 15 years leading teams at Apple, Google, Tumblr, Airbnb, and Lyft — hired and fired along the way. Today he's a leadership coach, speaker, and host who has coached leaders at Anthropic, Adobe, Airbnb, Apple, and many of the world's leading companies, and led programs for thousands of leaders navigating identity, emotion, and transformation.

His work helps driven people find steadiness under pressure — the courage to get out of their heads and into their hearts, and to find freedom in their work, relationships, and lives through self-discovery and self-acceptance. LET'S GO WITH JULIO — the podcast, the newsletter, and the coaching — exists to help leaders lead from a steadier, braver, more human place.

CREDITS:

Theme song: "Human" by Nick Deutsch

Produced and edited by Rikki Gunton

It’s September, baby! Today I’m sharing a few experiences and reflections from my summer, including:

• Why it's time to stay conscious and connected to who you are, because the next 10 years are going to be unlike the last hundred
• Dropping my niece off at college and feeling hopeful about the next generation
• Reclaiming a part of myself on Fire Island
• Reviewing The Hoffman Process’s Cycle of transformation

As we close out Q3 and step into Q4, it’s time to lock in, baby. You got this. Let’s go! And always remember: I’m here for you. Reach out – I mean that!

LISTEN TO THE LET'S GO WITH JULIO PODCAST

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3gEipo6bRygoQmD3G5w57s

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-go-with-julio/id1678195277

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@letsgowithjulio

Listen to Braving Big Tech: bravingbigtech.com

FOLLOW JULIO:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/letsgowithjulio

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/letsgowithjulio

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER:

💌 My regular newsletter — honest reflections on leadership, presence, and staying human under pressure. Join Free: https://letsgowithjulio.com

ABOUT LET'S GO WITH JULIO

Julio spent 15 years leading teams at Apple, Google, Tumblr, Airbnb, and Lyft — hired and fired along the way. Today he's a leadership coach, speaker, and host who has coached leaders at Anthropic, Adobe, Airbnb, Apple, and many of the world's leading companies, and led programs for thousands of leaders navigating identity, emotion, and transformation.

His work helps driven people find steadiness under pressure — the courage to get out of their heads and into their hearts, and to find freedom in their work, relationships, and lives through self-discovery and self-acceptance. LET'S GO WITH JULIO — the podcast, the newsletter, and the coaching — exists to help leaders lead from a steadier, braver, more human place.

CREDITS:

Theme song: "Human" by Nick Deutsch

Produced and edited by Rikki Gunton

All over tech right now, everyone is talking about storytelling. Scott Galloway calls it the #1 skill. Marketing departments, founders, comms teams, product — we’re all trying to be better storytellers. But you can’t tell a clear story if you can’t see yourself clearly. And that’s because, as the saying goes, “you can’t read the label from inside the bottle.”

My guest today is Shachar Aylon. He is the founder of Dawn, a brand studio for tech companies at moments of change. He's worked with companies like Intel, Lyft, Picsart, and Amazon Music, always at inflection points, and noticed the same thing every time: the way a company sees itself on the inside rarely matches how it's actually coming across.

I help leaders see themselves clearly. Shachar helps companies see themselves clearly. And the work turns out to be the same — because most of the time, the founder and the brand are tangled up in the same person!

This is a conversation about that gap: Why we get stuck telling outdated stories. What it costs. And how we update — see it clearly, say it sharply, make it unmistakable!

LISTEN TO THE LET'S GO WITH JULIO PODCAST

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3gEipo6bRygoQmD3G5w57s

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-go-with-julio/id1678195277

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@letsgowithjulio

Listen to Braving Big Tech: bravingbigtech.com

FOLLOW JULIO:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/letsgowithjulio

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/letsgowithjulio

CONNECT WITH SHACHAR:

💻 Website: https://dawn.la/

✉️ Newsletter: https://dawn.beehiiv.com/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saylon/

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER:

💌 My regular newsletter — honest reflections on leadership, presence, and staying human under pressure. Join Free: https://letsgowithjulio.com

ABOUT LET'S GO WITH JULIO
Julio spent 15 years leading teams at Apple, Google, Tumblr, Airbnb, and Lyft — hired and fired along the way. Today he's a leadership coach, speaker, and host who has coached leaders at Anthropic, Adobe, Airbnb, Apple, and many of the world's leading companies, and led programs for thousands of leaders navigating identity, emotion, and transformation.

His work helps driven people find steadiness under pressure — the courage to get out of their heads and into their hearts, and to find freedom in their work, relationships, and lives through self-discovery and self-acceptance. LET'S GO WITH JULIO — the podcast, the newsletter, and the coaching — exists to help leaders lead from a steadier, braver, more human place.

CREDITS:
Theme song: "Human" by Nick Deutsch

Produced and edited by Rikki Gunton

Hey, leaders! We're halfway through the year, it's the heart of summer, and this is a solo episode about taking time to pause and honor yourself — for all you've done so far, and all that's still to come.

I believe there's another technology we're not talking enough about. There's no app for it. It comes pre-installed, and it's available to you for the price of your presence. Your heart, your courage, your ability to navigate emotional complexity. Most podcasts stay at the intellectual level, but real wisdom is deeper than that — this is the lesson that took me longest to learn.

For many years, my body was talking to me and I kept overriding it — four times, at four companies, until stopping stopped being my choice.

In this 1:1 together we’ll get into:

• What a pause actually is, and what it isn't
• Why pushing through works, right up until it doesn't
• A phone detox you can scale down until it fits your real life
• Five questions worth carrying into the back half of the year
• Why joy is the hardest emotion to let in
• A hot tub in Puerto Rico, and what happens when you look up

This is our last episode of July. We're taking a summer siesta through August and we'll be back in September with a new rhythm, including more conversations with real leaders like you — all aimed at helping you become steadier and more grounded. And more solo lessons. Think of the solo as a life class, a brown bag.

While we're off, we'll be putting more content over to TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn…so come find us there!

Have a beautiful summer. See you in September.

Let's go.

LISTEN TO THE LET'S GO WITH JULIO PODCAST

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3gEipo6bRygoQmD3G5w57s

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-go-with-julio/id1678195277

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@letsgowithjulio

FOLLOW JULIO:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/letsgowithjulio

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/letsgowithjulio

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER:

💌 My regular newsletter — honest reflections on leadership, presence, and staying human under pressure. Join Free: https://letsgowithjulio.com

ABOUT LET'S GO WITH JULIO
Julio spent 15 years leading teams at Apple, Google, Tumblr, Airbnb, and Lyft — hired and fired along the way. Today he's a leadership coach, speaker, and host who has coached leaders at Anthropic, Adobe, Airbnb, Apple, and many of the world's leading companies, and led programs for thousands of leaders navigating identity, emotion, and transformation.

His work helps driven people find steadiness under pressure — the courage to get out of their heads and into their hearts, and to find freedom in their work, relationships, and lives through self-discovery and self-acceptance. LET'S GO WITH JULIO — the podcast, the newsletter, and the coaching — exists to help leaders lead from a steadier, braver, more human place.

CREDITS:
Theme song: "Human" by Nick Deutsch

Produced and edited by Rikki Gunton

Every one of us is shaped by patterns we picked up long before we ever had a team — and they’re showing up in our meetings, our one-on-ones, our hardest conversations.

I know this to be true. It cost me four jobs — Apple, Google, Tumblr, Airbnb — before I learned to see what was actually happening: I was well-intentioned, but poorly implemented.

My guest today is Suha Patel. We met in 2018 in the same Hoffman Process cohort, where we both learned how to see our own patterns. Suha has spent three decades as a marketing executive in biotech and medicine. She lives in evidence, data, and logic, while walking one of the most honest healing journeys I’ve ever witnessed up close. She’s in tune with both her head and her heart, and it makes her one of the most powerful leaders I know.

Together we get into what Hoffman taught us about becoming regulated leaders, and Suha shares practical takeaways for staying human at work and building trust with your team.

We discuss:

• What led us to the Hoffman Process
• How inner child work can change how you show up in your life
• Tools for building trust and humanizing your team
• How a decision made from fear feels different in the body than one made from care
• How a regulated leader regulates the room

MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

• Hoffman: ⁠https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/⁠
• The Second Mountain by David Brooks
• Kristin Neff’s Self Compassion: ⁠https://self-compassion.org/⁠

LISTEN TO THE LET'S GO WITH JULIO PODCAST:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3gEipo6bRygoQmD3G5w57s

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-go-with-julio/id1678195277

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@letsgowithjulio

FOLLOW JULIO:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/letsgowithjulio

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/letsgowithjulio

CONNECT WITH SUHA:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suhapatel

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER:

💌 My regular newsletter — honest reflections on leadership, presence, and staying human under pressure. Join Free: https://letsgowithjulio.com

ABOUT LET'S GO WITH JULIO:

Julio spent 15 years leading teams at Apple, Google, Tumblr, Airbnb, and Lyft — hired and fired along the way. Today he's a leadership coach, speaker, and host who has coached leaders at Anthropic, Adobe, Airbnb, Apple, and many of the world's leading companies, and led programs for thousands of leaders navigating identity, emotion, and transformation.

His work helps driven people find steadiness under pressure — the courage to get out of their heads and into their hearts, and to find freedom in their work, relationships, and lives through self-discovery and self-acceptance. LET'S GO WITH JULIO — the podcast, the newsletter, and the coaching — exists to help leaders lead from a steadier, braver, more human place.

CREDITS:

Theme song: "Human" by Nick Deutsch

Produced and edited by Rikki Gunton

Have you ever caught yourself shrinking — softening what you really think, playing smaller than you are, just to stay safe? There's a gap between how we present ourselves and what we know, deep down, to be true. This episode is about closing it.

Colin Bedell is a globally recognized astrologer and the creator of Queer Cosmos, who blends science and spirituality into something you can actually use. He writes for Cosmopolitan and Them, he's a best-selling author, and you may have seen him on the reality show Written in the Stars. He also happens to be the first boy I ever loved — my high school boyfriend, and twenty-plus years later, still one of my dearest friends.

It's Pride Month, and this one's for every leader — whether you're part of the queer community or you love someone who is. We get into why courage is really just faith, how to quiet the inner critic, why "too busy" is usually avoidance, and the five-minute practice that changes your whole day. Come laugh with us and leave 10% prouder of who you are! Happy Pride, y'all!! Let's go!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Undersociality
• A Course in Miracles
• The Awakened Brain by Dr. Lisa Miller

LISTEN TO THE LET'S GO WITH JULIO PODCAST

Spotify
Apple Podcasts

YouTube

FOLLOW JULIO:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/letsgowithjulio
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/letsgowithjulio

CONNECT WITH COLIN:

💼 Wedbsite: https://www.colinbedell.com/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/queercosmos/

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER:

💌 My regular newsletter — honest reflections on leadership, presence, and staying human under pressure. Join free: https://letsgowithjulio.com

ABOUT LET'S GO WITH JULIO:

Julio spent 15 years leading teams at Apple, Google, Tumblr, Airbnb, and Lyft — hired and fired along the way. Today he's a leadership coach, speaker, and host who has coached leaders at Anthropic, Adobe, Airbnb, Apple, and many of the world's leading companies, and led programs for thousands of leaders navigating identity, emotion, and transformation.

His work helps driven people find steadiness under pressure — the courage to get out of their heads and into their hearts, and to find freedom in their work, relationships, and lives through self-discovery and self-acceptance. LET'S GO WITH JULIO — the podcast, the newsletter, and the coaching — exists to help leaders lead from a steadier, braver, more human place.

CREDITS:

Theme song: "Human" by Nick Deutsch

Produced and edited by Rikki Gunton

#Pride #Confidence #Courage #QueerCosmos #ColinBedell #SelfExpression #HeartLedLeadership #LetsGoWithJulio

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the pressure to get it right, especially when the stakes are high? You're not alone — it is hard to stay yourself while it's happening — warm, calm, unarmored — when everything in you wants to brace. Our next leader on the show, Megan Cruz, models what’s possible for us.

On April 1, 2026, when NASA sent humans around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, Megan held millions of people on the live broadcast — and made each of them feel like she was sitting right there beside them. I watched her do it from my living room, and that's the moment I knew I had to bring her on — for all of us trying to figure out how to communicate well and stay grounded when it counts.

Every story you're trying to tell right now has a purpose. Are you informing? Inspiring? Connecting? The heart of communication is knowing who you're really speaking to — and why it matters to them.

Megan has spent her career — from a decade in the hardest reporting trenches to producing NASA's live broadcasts — learning how to communicate with care when everything is on the line. In this episode, we unpack a few themes every leader can use right now:

• Why preparation — not performance — is what unlocks clarity and calm
• Leadership as removing barriers and instilling faith in your team
• Communicating with care by leading with empathy and listening

This one's special. I'm grateful I got to sit down with Megan and gather as much wisdom as I could about staying steady under pressure. My hope is that you enjoy it, learn something, grow a little — and share it with someone who needs it.

Thank you, Megan Cruz, and thank you, NASA, for your time!

SOURCES:

• NASA's Artemis II Crew Launches To The Moon (Official Broadcast): https://www.youtube.com/live/Tf_UjBMIzNo
• NASA’s Artemis II Crew Comes Home (Official Broadcast): https://www.youtube.com/live/nfhDuOHMp0A
• SpaceX’s 25th Resupply Services Mission: Broadcast Begins (NASA's Kennedy Space Center): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEMWJM-sySY
• Homelessness and Addiction in New Mexico (KOAT): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gya3cNtHbM
• Megan Cruz Anchoring Clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOHy9DId19w
• Artemis II Watch Party Held at Adler Planetarium (CBS Chicago): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc_JMclUSm0

LISTEN TO THE LET'S GO WITH JULIO PODCAST

Spotify

Apple Podcasts

YouTube

FOLLOW JULIO:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/letsgowithjulio

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/letsgowithjulio

CONNECT WITH MEGAN:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-cruz

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/mdccruz

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER:

💌 My regular newsletter — honest reflections on leadership, presence, and staying human under pressure. Join free: https://letsgowithjulio.com

ABOUT LET'S GO WITH JULIO:

Julio spent 15 years leading teams at Apple, Google, Tumblr, Airbnb, and Lyft — hired and fired along the way. Today he's a leadership coach, speaker, and host who has coached leaders at Anthropic, Adobe, Airbnb, Apple, and many of the world's leading companies, and led programs for thousands of leaders navigating identity, emotion, and transformation.

His work helps driven people find steadiness under pressure — the courage to get out of their heads and into their hearts, and to find freedom in their work, relationships, and lives through self-discovery and self-acceptance. LET'S GO WITH JULIO — the podcast, the newsletter, and the coaching — exists to help leaders lead from a steadier, braver, more human place.

CREDITS:

Theme song: "Human" by Nick Deutsch

Produced and edited by Rikki Gunton

#Leadership #CommunicationSkills #NASA #ArtemisII #HeartLedLeadership #LetsGoWithJulio

What if you could access the inner resilience required to navigate change in a world that's shifting faster than ever? That’s the focus of today’s episode.

I sit down with Light Watkins to help us leaders unpack:

• Why our good intentions fall apart under pressure
• The tortoise approach — why we should prioritize consistency over perfection
• The inner gym — how practices like meditation and gratitude are like strength training for your mind
• What we can learn from leaning into discomfort

Light Watkins is a meditation teacher, five-time bestselling author, and TEDx speaker whose talk has reached nearly a million people. He's taught meditation to leaders and celebrities across the globe, and his latest book, The Year You Transform, is a guide to the kind of lasting change that many of us are seeking.

My hope is that this episode invites you to rethink what it takes to actually change. It’s full of practical takeaways, mindset shifts, and experiments to get you started, so that this can be the year you transform!

Share this with your team or a friend. Subscribe to the show, write us a review, or send us some love in the comments!

CONNECT:

Follow Julio on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠LinkedIn⁠

Book Julio to speak, coach, or consult at ⁠letsgowithjulio.com

CREDITS:

Theme song: "Human" by ⁠Nick Deutsch⁠

Produced + edited: ⁠Rikki Gunton⁠

There's a voice in your head that is constantly riding you, yes or no? It reminds you all the time: You're not enough. You're not far enough along. You should be working harder. This is the #1 thing I see slowing leaders down — and the thing I still struggle with too. So I made this episode for me just as much as I made it for you. Something I could come back to every time I need to ground myself and get steady around this voice. Something I could hand to a client and say, here, listen to this. It might help.

Here's what we're answering: Where does this voice come from? Why do you still listen to it? And how do you shift your relationship with it without trying to silence it (because you're already trying that and how's that working out)?

I'll walk you through the practices that changed things for me — the 30-minute noticing exercise, the "ouch" practice, and how to find the love buried underneath the criticism. These are real, practical tools that can be practiced over and over, like building a muscle. And they work.

Come back to this episode each time you need to remember: You are not the voice. You are the one who notices. You are the observer!

Let's go there, baby. Let’s talk about THAT 🙏🏽

Share this with your team or a friend. Subscribe to the show, write us a review, or send us some love in the comments!

CONNECT:

Follow Julio on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠LinkedIn⁠

Book Julio to speak, coach, or consult at ⁠letsgowithjulio.com

CREDITS:

Theme song: "You Are The One" by ⁠Nick Deutsch⁠

Produced + edited: ⁠Rikki Gunton⁠