I was recently given the opportunity to step into some volunteer work at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Seattle. While I suspected I would find this work meaningful and enjoyable, I didn’t expect to be so overwhelmingly impressed with every aspect of the Cristo Rey mission and how their work is setting up students to be incredible leaders from such a young age.  As this work has quickly become very near and dear to my heart, I thought it would be fun to have a different kind of leadership conversation here on the show.  I asked Katie Seltzer, the Vice President of Corporate Work Study at Cristo Rey, to join me.  

Katie Seltzer leads the expansion of Cristo Rey’s signature (and truly exceptional) Corporate Work Study Program. In her role, Katie nurtures strategic partnerships with employers, ensuring students gain meaningful, real-world professional experience while earning toward the cost of their education. She is committed to preparing students from limited economic means for success in college and career through intentional mentorship, professional development, and high-expectation work placements. 

Katie’s journey with Cristo Rey Jesuit Seattle began as Feasibility Study Director, helping assess and mobilize support for the school’s launch in Seattle. In 2022, she relocated to Seattle to lead the foundational work of opening the new Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, collaborating with volunteers, donors, business leaders, families, and community leaders to bring the mission to open its doors in 2024. She holds a Master's degree from both Harvard Divinity School and Harvard’s Graduate School. Originally from the East Coast, she calls Queen Anne home now with her husband and six-year-old son.

Listen in to hear Katie share:

How she connects her family’s three generations of educational values to her work, impact, and service today

Her commitment to expanding equitable outcomes and what that looks like in action in her current VP role

Cristo Rey’s unique educational model built on service, mentorship, and sponsorship

What it looks like when work and leadership opportunities are integrated into high school education programming

The significance of providing a culture of belonging in Fortune 500 companies for young people who commonly face barriers to belonging

A systems thinking approach to leadership legacy that layers youth leadership, educational leadership, and organizational leadership

The power of dismantling systemic barriers to provide opportunity and advancement in your community and workplaces

Links Mentioned:

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Perhaps we need to stop celebrating resilience. Because we may actually be celebrating toxic resilience. Hear me out. In the corporate world, telling a woman she is resilient is often just a polite way of saying, “We are going to give you an impossible workload, broken systems, and no support… and we expect you to smile through it.” 

In fact, if you’re complimenting my resilience, I may question if you were complicit in building and upholding the systems that made my resilience mandatory when yours was not. 

Somewhere along the way, resilience became high praise for women in leadership. But too often it’s code for “Figure it out, we’re not going to fix this.” Women are expected to absorb dysfunction, manage emotional labor, navigate bias, and hold everything together without complaint. When resilience becomes a requirement instead of a choice, it stops being empowering and starts being extractive.

The truth is, many women develop extraordinary resilience not because they lack capability, but because they are operating inside systems that demand more from them than from their male counterparts. They are expected to be competent but warm, assertive but not threatening, and ambitious but endlessly accommodating. So they adapt. They endure. They carry. And then they’re praised for how well they survive conditions that were never equitable to begin with. But endurance is not the same as leadership strength. 

Endurance drains creativity, dulls voice, and quietly normalizes what should actually be challenged.

Resilience is an important skill, but it should not be constantly taxed. Real leadership isn’t about how much you can tolerate - it’s about what you’re willing to transform. Instead of asking women to be more resilient, we should be asking why the system requires so much resilience in the first place. Sustainable leadership includes boundaries, advocacy, and the courage to disrupt what isn’t working. Sometimes the most powerful move a woman can make isn’t proving she can handle it. It’s refusing to carry what was never hers to hold.

Links Mentioned:

Hire Sara to speak: saradean.com/speaking

Coach with Sara: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services

Connect with Sara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks

Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How often do you take action in a way that makes you think, “This is going to get me where I want to go!”

My guess is that you’re not taking these kinds of strategic action steps often enough, AND you’re probably taking many other action steps each day that are not helping advance your career growth.  In fact, you may be stuck in a vicious (exhausting?!) cycle of over-giving, over-producing, and over-proving yourself without any long-term benefit to your career.  

In this episode, I’m sharing five leadership skills that truly accelerate women’s careers - not in a hustle-harder, fix-yourself way - but in a grounded, strategic, and sustainable way. Too often, women are given vague advice like “just be more confident” or “speak up more,” without being taught the actual skills that create visibility, influence, and momentum. This episode is about naming the skills that actually move the needle in your career advancement and then making them actionable.  This is especially for women who are doing great work and still feel stuck or overlooked.

I walk through five specific skills that I’ve seen make a real difference over and over again: strategic self-advocacy, clear and confident communication (especially in high-stakes moments), intentional relationship-building, navigating power and bias without losing yourself, and setting boundaries that protect both your energy and your credibility. I talk honestly about the traps women are often socialized into, such as self-sacrificing, waiting to be noticed, staying quiet to stay “likable,” and how these skills help you move out of those patterns without becoming someone you’re not.

This conversation is for women at any stage of their career who want to lead with more intention, influence, and ease. My hope is that as you listen, you’ll identify one skill that feels especially relevant right now - one lever you can pull that creates momentum instead of burnout. Leadership isn’t about perfection or a dazzling personality; it’s about practicing the skills that help you be seen, heard, and valued for the leader you already are, so that when the right opportunity opens up, you are well-positioned to step right into it.

Links Mentioned:

Hire Sara to speak: saradean.com/speaking

Coach with Sara: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services

Connect with Sara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks

Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the world feels heavy and chaotic, I hear the same question from leaders over and over again: “What do I say?” In this episode, I talk about why that question matters and why saying nothing can be just as harmful as saying the wrong thing. When the people we lead are overwhelmed, grieving, angry, or exhausted, pretending it’s business as usual erodes trust and undermines our integrity as leaders. You don’t need perfect words or a polished message, but you do need the willingness to name the moment and lead with humility and humanity.

What people truly need right now is trust, transparency, connection, and a sense of meaning in their work. This episode offers examples of what leaders can say to help people feel seen, supported, and safe, while still moving forward with compassion and grace. I share practical language leaders can use during tough days, weeks, or seasons - words that honor the moment without asking people to perform or explain their pain. These are ways you can acknowledge the reality of the moment without having to do a deep dive into sensitive topics.  

I also name what inclusive leadership requires beyond empathy. Trauma and systemic harm are not new for many people, and leaders need to be mindful not to center their own shock or selectively extend compassion. This conversation is an invitation to recognize privilege and power, elevate Black and brown voices and experiences, and act with integrity when neutrality could erode trust and integrity. Rest assured, you don’t need to be an expert on the issues at the center of global politics.  You don’t need to be a therapist.  You just need to show up as a human who demonstrates awareness and compassion.  Sometimes the most powerful thing a leader can say is simply: I see this. I see you. You are not alone.

Links Mentioned:

Hire Sara to speak: saradean.com/speaking

Coach with Sara: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services

Connect with Sara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks

Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Work that is meaningful has the power to change not just what we do, but who we become.” Gloria Steinem

Meaningful work isn’t just about what you do for a living—it’s about how your values, strengths, and sense of purpose show up in the world. Meaningful work is where your strengths, values, and actions intersect to drive a sense of purpose.  In this episode, I explore why meaningful work matters so deeply, especially for leaders and high achievers who look successful on paper but feel disconnected on the inside. I talk about how meaning sustains us through hard seasons, protects us from burnout, and helps us stay grounded in who we are rather than chasing external validation.

I also unpack a misconception I see all the time: that your job should meet all of your meaning needs. That belief can create unnecessary pressure and disappointment. Meaningful work can live inside your workplace, but it can also exist outside of it through mentoring, service, creativity, advocacy, and leadership in your community. I share how anchoring meaning in values and strengths, rather than titles, opens up far more possibilities for fulfillment and impact.

This episode also provides simple, practical ways to do more meaningful work right now, without quitting your job or blowing up your life. We talk about redefining work, creating micro-purpose moments, and giving yourself permission to diversify where purpose comes from. If you’ve been craving more depth, alignment, or impact in how you spend your time and energy, this episode will help you reconnect with what actually matters - and take your next meaningful step.

Links Mentioned:

Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network: https://waisn.org/

Become a Rapid Responder (next virtual training 2/6/26): https://waisn.org/events/

Create a neighborhood Whistle Brigade and other action steps: https://seattleindivisible.com/support-immigrant/

[Open Enrollment] Join Sara’s Aligned Leadership Incubator: saradean.com/aligned

Hire Sara to speak: saradean.com/speaking

Coach with Sara: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services

Connect with Sara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks

Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Leadership in 2026 is asking more of us. But, not necessarily in volume, output, or productivity.  It’s asking more from us in terms of depth, awareness, nuance, and intentionality.  The old leadership rules simply aren’t holding anymore - which is a good thing! In this episode, I break down six leadership trends I’m seeing shift in real time and what they mean for how we communicate, build trust, measure success, and lead humans through complexity and change.

Shift 1: Control >>> Adaptability: Leadership power is shifting from control to adaptability, where flexibility, responsiveness, and calm under constant change matter more than rigid authority.

Shift 2: Output-Focused >>> Wellbeing-Centered: Burnout leadership is giving way to sustainable leadership, where boundaries, emotional regulation, and long-term stamina are performance indicators, calling leaders to separate self-worth from output and productivity.

Shift 3: Information Hoarding >>> Transparent Communication: Trust now depends on transparent communication, where leaders openly share what they know, name what they don’t, and commit to frequent and consistent communication rather than gatekeeping.

Shift 4: Information Access Point >>> Insight Provider: With AI at our fingertips, leaders are valued less for sharing information and facts that people can find on their own and more for providing insight by connecting dots, adding nuance, and offering a unique point of view.

Shift 5: Individual Achievement >>> Collective Wins: Leadership success is moving from individual advancement to collective wins, where authority is shared, responsibility is distributed, and progress and success are measured by how people rise together.

Shift 6: Skill-Based Presence >>> Identity-Aware Influence: Leaders are increasingly expected to lead with identity awareness, cultural humility, and equity literacy, shifting the focus from representation to true belonging, trust, and psychological safety.

These shifts aren’t about becoming a “better” leader in the traditional sense.  They’re about becoming a more honest, adaptive, authentic, and human one. In 2026, the leaders who will have the greatest impact are those willing to let go of outdated metrics and practices, lead with clarity and care, and create environments where people don’t just perform, but actually belong, grow, and stay.

Links Mentioned:

Hire Sara to speak: saradean.com/speaking

Coach with Sara: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services

Connect with Sara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks

Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Leadership visibility sounds empowering, even exciting… until you’re the one being seen. In this episode, I’m talking about why stepping into new levels of visibility so often triggers discomfort, imposter syndrome, and a very loud inner critic, especially for women and others who were never encouraged to take up space or were judged for doing so in the past. I share a recent conversation with a friend facing a visibility opportunity and how it sparked a deeper reflection on why being seen can feel risky even when we know our work matters.

I unpack what actually happens when your leadership expands beyond your comfort zone and opens the door to judgment, assumptions, people unfollowing or quietly pulling away - and why none of that means you’re doing it wrong. I offer a reframe I come back to often: those who judge are rarely in the arena with you. Those who are not in the arena are not entitled to live in your head rent-free.  Visibility brings up emotions in others, but their reactions are not your responsibility. Your responsibility is your mission, your values, and the people who are helped because you chose not to stay quiet.

This episode is an invitation to think differently about visibility, not as self-promotion, but as service. I’ll walk you through questions to anchor yourself when discomfort shows up, including who your visibility helps, what’s at stake when you’re seen, and how being visible challenges the status quo and expands what’s possible for others. If you’ve been feeling the pull to step into a brighter spotlight in 2026 but the urge to avoid discomfort feels just as strong, this conversation is for you.

Links Mentioned:

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The Lean In and McKinsey & Company Women in the Workplace 2025 report claims that, for the first time, women are less likely than men to want a promotion, stating that 80% of women want to be promoted to the next level, compared to 86% of men.  They label this development an “ambition gap”, stating that women are currently less ambitious than men.  This label is wildly inaccurate, deeply offensive, and grossly irresponsible. Calling these findings an “ambition gap” is strategic reframing that places blame back on women, per usual, while letting broken systems (and the power players who uphold them) off the hook. 

When powerful institutions confuse correlation with causation and misdiagnose the problem like this, women pay the price. Again. These kinds of reports shape policy, leadership decisions, funding priorities, and how women are talked about at work. This label is not ok.  It is harmful.

The report assumes ambition is singular and linear, defined by traditional corporate ascent, and treats women’s slower advancement or disengagement as a personal failure instead of a rational response to inequitable systems and poor resource allocation. Most critically, the report ignores caregiving realities entirely.  You cannot meaningfully analyze women’s ambition in 2025 without examining care infrastructures - or lack thereof.  Choosing to ignore this is a distortion of reality.  In other words, this is gaslighting. 

In this episode, I highlight other voices and data that were conveniently ignored.  This counter data shows us what we already know - women are more ambitious than ever.  Rather than seeking out a deeper understanding of the data, Lean In and McKinsey opted to report dirty diagnostics.  What we know about data analysis is that to get to the real why, you have to dig deeper, think critically, and ask crucial questions of the actual people impacted.  This didn’t happen with this reporting.

When you actually talk to women, the situation is clear.  We are no longer willing to self-abandon inside systems that refuse to evolve. We know that to get to the reported 80%, we were required to work exponentially harder with fewer resources.  This is proof of our ambition, resilience, and talent, not lack thereof. The headline is not about an ambition gap.  The headline is that women are growing, evolving, and working smarter while institutions largely are not. In reality, what we are seeing is an institutional gap, a patriarchal gap, and a systems gap. 

The bottom line is this… If we want to truly understand the evolution of women’s ambition, we need to start by examining the systems that punish it.

Links Mentioned:

Lean In and McKinsey & Company Women in the Workplace 2025: https://leanin.org/women-in-the-workplace

Blessing Adesiyan on the Care Gap:https://thecaregap.substack.com/

More about Blessing Adesiyan: https://blessingadesiyan.com/

Chief and Harris Poll Data on Women’s Ambition: https://chief.com/articles/calling-bs-on-the-myth-of-womens-fading-ambition

[Open Enrollment] Join Sara’s Aligned Leadership Incubator: saradean.com/aligned

Hire Sara to speak: saradean.com/speaking

Coach with Sara: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services

Connect with Sara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks

Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks

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In early 2025, my dear friend Jennifer started telling me about how she was preparing for her youngest child to leave for college.  She was celebrating this parenting milestone while also preparing for the grief.  Simultaneously, she was watching her father’s health deteriorate.  She knew 2025 would be a year of massive change.  And, it most certainly was.  I had the opportunity to connect with Jennifer throughout the year, and when she felt ready, I was honored to invite her to the show to discuss the overlap of life, grief, work, and the magical opportunities that arise for midlife women.  

Professionally, Jennifer R. Hudson is an award-winning communications leader with more than 25 years of experience helping organizations strengthen and grow their brands through strategic, effective communication. She has led communications programs, facilitated workshops, launched businesses, and secured high-impact media coverage for both corporations and nonprofits. Before founding ThinkBeyond Public Relations, Jennifer served as Vice President of Communications at British Airways, overseeing internal and external communications across 18 markets, and held senior communications roles at Sabre and American Airlines, where she was a Spanish-speaking spokesperson.

Jennifer is an accredited public relations professional (APR), a certified mentor and coach supporting entrepreneurs and social impact leaders, and a past president of PRSA Greater Fort Lauderdale. She was named PRSA Greater Fort Lauderdale’s 2024 Communicator of the Year.  Most notably, Jennifer is the proud mom of two grown children who still love coming home to visit their mom on a regular basis. 

Listen in to hear Jennifer share:

The difference between mentally preparing for change, loss, and grief and actually enduring them

How navigating change and life transitions has improved her leadership focus and personal and professional goals

Practices that help leaders stay centered and purposeful when personal life changes collide with professional responsibilities

The unique opportunities that come out of hard seasons to create new and transformational experiences

How vulnerability builds leadership trust and perfectionism erodes it

The importance of giving yourself time to reflect on 2025, release what needs to be released, and claim what you want to own and carry forward from 2025

The PR framework leaders can use to sustain visibility and consistency in their communications without burning out or losing themselves in the process

Links:

Learn more about Jennifer and ThinkBeyond: wethinkbeyond.com

Reach out to Jennifer: [email protected] 

Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenrhudson/

Connect with Jennifer on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thinkbeyondpr/

[Open Enrollment] Join Sara’s Aligned Leadership Incubator: saradean.com/aligned

Hire Sara to speak: saradean.com/speaking

Coach with Sara: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services

Connect with Sara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks

Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As we head into a new year, I’m just as focused on breaking rules as I am on setting goals. In this episode, I share six leadership “rules” most of us have followed for years that I’m consciously unlearning as I step into 2026. These are the quiet, normalized rules that fuel burnout, decision fatigue, over-functioning, and self-silencing - especially for women and especially in midlife. This episode is both a reflection and an invitation to question the rules you’ve inherited, absorbed, or outgrown, and to decide what actually serves the person you are choosing to become as you step into a new year.

I walk through productivity rules that say more output equals more value, and share why I’m shifting toward tracking energy instead of hours, creating more white space, and protecting time for thinking and breathing (I’m really bad at breathing). I unpack confidence rules like needing to “feel confident” before speaking up and the belief that strong leaders shouldn’t show doubt. We also dig into communication rules that tell women to soften their message to keep others comfortable, and visibility rules that limit us to who people think we’ve been rather than who we are becoming. 

Finally, I challenge the midlife career rules that say you should have it all figured out by now and legacy rules that tell us impact only “counts” if it’s big, visible, or measurable. The truth is that midlife can absolutely feel like expansion, not a plateau.   For the next year, I’m focused on my 2026 legacy rather than a lifetime headline.  I’m doing this by doubling down on upholding my values, challenging myself, making meaning, and defining success on my own terms. As you listen, I invite you to reflect on this question: “In 2026, I’m breaking the rule that says ______.”

Links Mentioned:

[Dec 9th and Jan 8th] Shameless Rising: a 2-part workshop series to release the noise, reclaim your voice, and reignite your vision in 2026: saradean.com/rising

[Open Enrollment] Join Sara’s Aligned Leadership Incubator: saradean.com/aligned

Hire me to speak: saradean.com/speaking

Coach with me: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks

Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices