The Hard Skills

Most leaders are told to stay logical and remove anything that feels like friction. But real emotional intelligence in leadership starts with reading that friction, not erasing it.

Dr. Mira Brancu sits down with organizational psychologists Dr. Ross Blankenship and Dr. Maggie Sass, authors of the upcoming book Friction, to talk about the emotional data most of us are trained to ignore. They make a simple case: friction is not a malfunction, it is a signal. The discomfort, the tension, the hard conversation you keep avoiding, all of it is information you can actually use to lead better. They get into why using AI to smooth everything out can quietly make your work vanish instead of easier and why leadership only becomes real the moment your decisions meet other human beings. If you have ever felt that leading people is harder than it looks, this conversation explains what is actually going on, and what to do about it this week.

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Find our guest here:

https://www.tuesdayadvisors.com/ 

https://rossblankenship.substack.com/

https://www.rossblankenship.io/

https://www.talentsmarteq.com/articles/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggiesass-phd/

To find more of my work:

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

Learn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.com

Other resources referenced:

A Second Career: The Possible Dream, Harry Levinson: https://hbr.org/1983/05/a-second-career-the-possible-dream

You did not set out to become a micromanager. But if you got promoted for being the best expert in the room, perfectionism is probably running your leadership now, and it might be quietly burning you out or causing you to become ineffective as a leader.

Dr. Mira Brancu breaks down a pattern she sees constantly in expert-driven industries like research, law, medicine, and engineering. In those fields, being right and thorough is the entire job, so you learn to hold everything to one standard and never let anything drop. Then you get promoted, and that exact habit starts choking your team.

She tells the story of a VP at a biotech company who reviewed every deck, and then every revision of every deck, until her team started padding timelines just to work around her. Everyone could see she was stressed except her.

Here is the part most leadership advice gets wrong. Telling a high performer to let go of perfectionism does not work, because perfectionism is the thing that built their credibility in the first place. Mira explains what to do instead, and why the real fix is treating leadership as a second specialization you have to learn on purpose.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, burnout, and the human side of high pressure work.

To find more of my work:

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

Learn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.com

Get practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/books

Get my free Strategic Clarity and Leadership Resilience assessment: https://mailchi.mp/e1ebf8505764/slr-assessment 

Get my Free Burnout Root Cause Assessment: https://mailchi.mp/29d7d18fae4a/burnout-root-cause-assessment

Get my Workplace Grief Guide: https://mailchi.mp/46873b910380/workplace-grief-field-guide 

Find other free resources to support your leadership growth: https://gotowerscope.com/other-free-stuff 

Join the next Towerscope leadership workshop or fellowship: https://gotowerscope.com/fellowship 

Even Einstein doubted himself. Meryl Streep still waits for the other shoe to drop. Dr. Mira sits down with executive advisors Dr. Suzy Burke and Jamie Ramsden to explore what they call the inner game and outer game of leadership. 

Suzy explains why self-doubt is actually an evolutionary response, not a personal flaw, and walks through a simple three-step process for catching negative self-talk before it derails a decision. Jamie brings in the outer game, the part of leadership that is about reading your team, your context, and the moment in front of you. 

Together they explain why a leader's inner dialogue becomes the whole team's emotional weather, how sense-making should take up more of a leader's day than most people realize, and why saying no might be the most underused leadership skill there is. If you have ever felt like a fraud in a room you worked hard to get into, or wondered why your inner work isn’t landing, this conversation will change how you think about that feeling.

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Find our guest here:

Connect with Dr. Suzy Burke and Jamie Ramsden

www.suzyburke.phd

www.adastraleadership.com

To find more of my work:

Subscribe to this channel

Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribe

Work with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultation

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

Learn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.com

Get practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/books

Get my free Strategic Clarity and Leadership Resilience assessment: https://mailchi.mp/e1ebf8505764/slr-assessment 

Get my Free Burnout Root Cause Assessment: https://mailchi.mp/29d7d18fae4a/burnout-root-cause-assessment

Get my Workplace Grief Guide: https://mailchi.mp/46873b910380/workplace-grief-field-guide 

Find other free resources to support your leadership growth: https://gotowerscope.com/other-free-stuff 

Join the next Towerscope leadership workshop or fellowship: https://gotowerscope.com/fellowship 

Most leaders were taught that self-love is soft, or even selfish. It is actually the skill that keeps you from burning out. Self-love is the real foundation of sustainable leadership.

In this episode of The Hard Skills, Dr. Mira Brancu sits down with psychologist and life coach Dr. Dana Gionta, author of "52 Weeks to Self-Love." They get into what self-love actually means for someone in a high-pressure leadership role, and why it has nothing to do with being self-centered. Dr. Dana shares the health scare and the two-month sabbatical that forced her to change course, and how fear turned out to be the first step toward courage every single time.

You will also hear why so many high achievers only stop when a health crisis stops them, how to spot the early warning signs in your own self-talk, and the simple shift from gap thinking to gain thinking that changes how you lead your team. If you have ever felt like people are walking on eggshells around you, this one is worth your time.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, burnout, and mental health.

Find our guest here:

Connect with Dr. Dana Gionta

www.danagionta.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danagiontaphd/

@danagiontacoaching

https://www.facebook.com/DanaGiontaCoaching/ 

https://lnkd.in/giKvuDqc (book link) 

To find more of my work:

Subscribe to this channel

Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribe

Work with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultation

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

Learn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.com

Get practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/books

Get my free Strategic Clarity and Leadership Resilience assessment: https://mailchi.mp/e1ebf8505764/slr-assessment 

Get my Free Burnout Root Cause Assessment: https://mailchi.mp/29d7d18fae4a/burnout-root-cause-assessment

Get my Workplace Grief Guide: https://mailchi.mp/46873b910380/workplace-grief-field-guide 

Find other free resources to support your leadership growth: https://gotowerscope.com/other-free-stuff 

Join the next Towerscope leadership workshop or fellowship: https://gotowerscope.com/fellowship 

Most leaders spot rudeness or a toxic workplace and rush to shut the behavior down. But incivility is often a symptom of stress, burnout, and something deeper nobody names.

Dr. Mira Brancu sat down as a guest on Dr. John O'Brien's show, Civility Matters, and this is the full conversation. They get into why punishing rude behavior usually backfires, and how to tell the difference between the symptom you can see and the root cause you cannot. Mira breaks down organizational grief, the quiet loss people carry after layoffs and reorgs that shows up as disengagement, quiet quitting, and cynicism instead of tears.

You will also hear her simple two by two office politics matrix that reveals whether your influence at work has turned self-serving, whether ambition and civility can actually coexist, and real advice for anyone stuck in a toxic job right now. The point they both keep coming back to is this: Leaders have to deal with their own stress first, because you cannot steady anyone else while you are running on empty.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, burnout, and workplace mental health.

Connect with Dr. John O’Brien : www.activatesuccess.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmobrienphd/

Host: Civility Matters Podcast: https://civilitymatters.buzzsprout.com

Rudeness Rehab Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1957651911?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback 

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

Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribe

Work with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultation

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

Learn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.com

Get practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/books

Get my free Strategic Clarity and Leadership Resilience assessment: https://mailchi.mp/e1ebf8505764/slr-assessment 

Get my Free Burnout Root Cause Assessment: https://mailchi.mp/29d7d18fae4a/burnout-root-cause-assessment

Get my Workplace Grief Guide: https://mailchi.mp/46873b910380/workplace-grief-field-guide 

Find other free resources to support your leadership growth: https://gotowerscope.com/other-free-stuff 

Join the next Towerscope leadership workshop or fellowship: https://gotowerscope.com/fellowship 

The modern workplace got great at performance and quietly stopped meeting basic human needs at work. This is a full season on those needs, and the leadership that brings them back.

Dr. Mira Brancu closes out Season 11 of The Hard Skills by walking through 13 human needs organizations have learned to ignore. Across eleven guests and two solo episodes, each need comes with a short, powerful clip and a practical way to rebuild it on your team. You will hear why self-deprecating humor makes leaders more human, why 85% of what makes a great boss has nothing to do with intelligence, and what a meaningful life actually asks of you. If you lead people, or you feel like something at work has quietly gone missing, this one is for you.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, burnout, and workplace mental health.

Dr. Daniel Cruz Lattimore: 

https://www.instagram.com/omiyoconsultingllc 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellattimore/ 

Dr. Paul Damiano:

www.creategoodworks.com 

www.linkedin.com/in/pauldamiano 

Ira Chaleff:

www.irachaleffauthor.com

Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriezolezziwyndham 

https://promotinggoodllc.com/ 

Dr. Mehul Mankad: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmankad/   

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/psychiatry-and-law-podcast/id1352806975 

https://www.novumhealth.com/   

Dra. CarolLaine Garcia: 

https://www.drcarollainemgarcia.com 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drcarollainemgarcia 

https://www.instagram.com/drcarollainemgarcia 

Duygu Alptekin Gursu: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/duygualptekingursu 

https://www.instagram.com/duygualptekingursu/ 

Candice Schutter: 

https://thedeeperpulse.com/  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/candiceschutter/  

https://www.facebook.com/candice.schutter  

https://www.instagram.com/candiceschutter/ 

Margaret Andrews: 

https://www.margaretandrews.com 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaretcandrews/  

Dr. David W. Robinson-Morris: 

www.reimaginelution.com 

www.centerforthehumanspirit.org 

www.drmphd.com  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrm/  

Dr. Mark L. Vincent: 

https://www.youtube.com/@MARKLVINCENT 

www.marklvincent.com 

www.maestrolevelleaders.com

To find more of my work:

Subscribe to this channel

Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribe

Work with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultation

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

Learn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.com

Get practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/books

Get my free Strategic Clarity and Leadership Resilience assessment: https://mailchi.mp/e1ebf8505764/slr-assessment 

Get my Free Burnout Root Cause Assessment: https://mailchi.mp/29d7d18fae4a/burnout-root-cause-assessment

Get my Workplace Grief Guide: https://mailchi.mp/46873b910380/workplace-grief-field-guide 

Find other free resources to support your leadership growth: https://gotowerscope.com/other-free-stuff 

Join the next Towerscope leadership workshop or fellowship: https://gotowerscope.com/fellowship 

Episodes and other resources referenced:

Watch this next: 

#thehardskills #mirabrancu #selfawareness #leadershipdevelopment #emotionalintelligence #executivecoaching 

Most leaders think succession is just naming the next person for the chair. It is not. Real leadership succession is about protecting everything you spent years building.

Dr. Mira Brancu sits down with Dr. Mark L. Vincent, author of The Maestro Effect, to close out the season on rediscovering human needs at work. They get into why handing off a company is so much harder than picking a name, and why the value you built can quietly leak away if you treat the transition like a finish line.

Mark breaks down the two traps most leaders fall into. There is the one where you check out early and reach for the golden parachute, and the one where you cannot let go and slowly choke the life out of the team. He walks through his Maestro theory, the three turns of a leader's life, and the four key elements that actually make or break a succession plan. Near the end the conversation turns personal, and that is the part that stays with you. If you lead anything now, or you will one day, this one is worth your time.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, mental health, and the human side of work.

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Connect with our guest:

https://www.youtube.com/@MARKLVINCENT

www.marklvincent.com

www.maestrolevelleaders.com

Connect wth me:

Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribe

Work with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultation

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

Learn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.com

Get practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/books

Add this podcast to your feed: www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-hard-skills-dr-mira-brancu-m0QzwsFiBGE/

"Imposter syndrome" gets thrown around constantly in leadership spaces. But what if the label itself is doing more harm than good?

Dr. Mira Brancu breaks down why the original researchers never called it a "syndrome" and what that distinction actually means for high achievers. If you've ever been promoted into a leadership role and suddenly felt like you had no idea what you were doing, this episode explains why that's not a flaw. It's the normal experience of someone learning a completely new skill set that nobody trained them for. Mira also gets real about why this hits harder for women and marginalized professionals, and draws a clear line between the kind of self-doubt that comes with growth and the kind that needs clinical support. Whether you're navigating this yourself or trying to support someone who is, this conversation will change how you think about it.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, resilience, and the hard skills nobody teaches you.

To find more of my work:

Subscribe to this channel

Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribe

Work with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultation

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

Learn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.com

Get practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/books

Get my free Strategic Clarity and Leadership Resilience assessment: https://mailchi.mp/e1ebf8505764/slr-assessment 

Get my Free Burnout Root Cause Assessment: https://mailchi.mp/29d7d18fae4a/burnout-root-cause-assessment

Get my Workplace Grief Guide: https://mailchi.mp/46873b910380/workplace-grief-field-guide 

Find other free resources to support your leadership growth: https://gotowerscope.com/other-free-stuff 

Join the next Towerscope leadership workshop or fellowship: https://gotowerscope.com/fellowship 

Episodes and other resources referenced:

https://gotowerscope.com/fellowship 

Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 15(3), 241–247. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0086006 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1979-26502-001 

Imagination as a leadership skill? Most people wouldn't even put it in their top 10. But what if it's the one thing separating leaders who repeat old systems from those who build new futures?

In this conversation, Dr. Mira Brancu sits down with Dr. David W. Robinson-Morris, founder of Reimaginelution, to talk about why imagination might be the most underrated leadership competency of our time. David breaks down how imagination shows up in strategy, finance, and communication, and shares what happens when skeptical, numbers-driven leaders finally slow down and start asking: what have we been conditioned not to see?

This is a business discussion like none you’ve ever heard. You'll hear about the connection between Ubuntu philosophy, contemplative practice, and how historically marginalized communities have been practicing imaginative leadership for centuries! And here's the biggest reframe: scarcity thinking is already an imaginative act, just pointed in the wrong direction. It takes the same energy to imagine futures of possibility as it does to imagine futures of loss.

If you've ever felt stuck in reactive mode or trapped in a cycle of cutting, controlling, and surviving, this episode offers a completely different way through.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, resilience, and the human side of work.

Find our guest here:

Websites: 

www.reimaginelution.com

www.centerforthehumanspirit.org

www.drmphd.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrm/ 

To find more of my work:

Subscribe to this podcast

Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribe

Work with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultation

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

Learn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.com

Get practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/books

Get my free Strategic Clarity and Leadership Resilience assessment: https://mailchi.mp/e1ebf8505764/slr-assessment 

Get my Free Burnout Root Cause Assessment: https://mailchi.mp/29d7d18fae4a/burnout-root-cause-assessment

Get my Workplace Grief Guide: https://mailchi.mp/46873b910380/workplace-grief-field-guide 

Find other free resources to support your leadership growth:

https://gotowerscope.com/other-free-stuff 

Join the next Towerscope leadership workshop or fellowship: https://gotowerscope.com/fellowship 

You've been working so hard to be an effective leader, and somehow your team still doesn't see it. This episode shows you exactly why, and how to close the gap before it stalls your career.

Margaret Andrews ran the MBA program at MIT Sloan for seven years and is now an Associate Dean at Harvard. She's spent two decades teaching leadership and emotional intelligence to high achievers, and her conclusion is uncomfortable: some of the highest achievers still get stuck in the people management skills even when they have developed the greatest business strategies. In this conversation with Dr. Mira Brancu, Margaret breaks down the S-curve framework that explains why your growth sometimes feels like regression, six questions that build real self-awareness, and an interactive Best Boss Exercise you can do right now. Plus the story of Phil, an executive who looked in the mirror, didn't recognize the leader he had become, and rebuilt himself from scratch.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on the intersection of culture, mental health, and the real hard skills of leadership.

Find our guest here:

Connect with Margaret Andrews

Website: https://www.margaretandrews.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaretcandrews/ 

To find more of my work:

Subscribe to this channel

Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribe

Work with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultation

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

Learn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.com

Get practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/books

Get my free Strategic Clarity and Leadership Resilience assessment: https://mailchi.mp/e1ebf8505764/slr-assessment 

Get my Free Burnout Root Cause Assessment: https://mailchi.mp/29d7d18fae4a/burnout-root-cause-assessment

Get my Workplace Grief Guide: https://mailchi.mp/46873b910380/workplace-grief-field-guide 

Find other free resources to support your leadership growth: https://gotowerscope.com/other-free-stuff