The JOY CEO

What do you do when your team is overwhelmed, overworked, and coming apart at the seams?

You take work off their plate for them, right? I mean, that might instinctively seem like an obvious answer. Or you might push everyone to work harder, optimize their time, and somehow get more done.

But what if there’s a third option?

In this episode, I’m talking about what happens when there is simply too much work moving through too few people — and why the answer isn’t always to work harder. Instead, we need to ask a different question: Who is best suited to do this work, and where does the work actually belong?

I share a story from my time as a VP running a billion-dollar sales team, when I learned that my greatest value wasn’t in doing the tactical work my team was already doing. My value was in the strategic thinking, identifying opportunities, and moving the business forward. I also share my “90% approach” — getting the work to 90%, then bringing in the people closest to the work to add what I couldn’t see.

Because great leadership isn’t about doing everything yourself. It’s about knowing where you add the most value, trusting your team’s expertise, and creating enough space for everyone to do their best work.

1. Overload can be a routing problem.

When too much work is passing through too few people, the answer may not be to work harder. Look at who is best suited to do the work and where the work actually belongs.

2. Know your zone of genius.

As a leader, your job isn’t to go back and do the work you were once promoted for doing. Get clear on where you bring the greatest value, where you are energized, and where your strengths can move the business forward.

3. Get to 90%, then invite your team in.

You don't need to finish everything alone. Get clear on the direction, then ask your team: What am I missing? What would you add? What would you delete? This creates ownership, uses their expertise, and builds trust.

The 90% Approach – Lori’s practice of getting strategic work to 90% before bringing in her team to add their expertise, perspective, and knowledge.

Zone of Genius – Understanding where you, as a leader, add the most value and where your strengths, energy, and perspective are best used.

Ritz-Carlton – Lori references the well-known example of Ritz-Carlton empowering employees to resolve guest issues on the spot, illustrating what can happen when leaders trust their people to make decisions.

Positive Intent – The leadership practice of trusting that people are showing up each day intending to do the right thing and give their best.

What work are you currently doing that someone else may actually be better suited to own?

Where is your zone of genius, and are you spending enough of your time there?

What could you bring to 90% and then hand to your team by asking, “What am I missing? What would you add? What would you delete?”

What is one decision your team could make without you?

CEOs, executives, and leaders managing overloaded teams

Leaders who find themselves absorbing work instead of leading strategically

Managers who want to create more ownership and decision-making within their teams

High-achieving women who want to lead with more trust, clarity, and joy

Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation.

Book a Leadership Strategy Call with Lori at loripyne.com.

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📲 Share this episode with a leader who may be carrying work that doesn’t belong to them.

What if your team isn’t overwhelmed because they have too much work? What if they’re overwhelmed by the guessing?

Welcome to The Leadership Reset, a four-part series about what you carry, what you choose, what you pursue, and how you stay engaged. In Part 1, I'm starting with the issue I see most in the leaders I coach: ambiguity.

I once inherited a team that looked like it had a workload problem. Deadlines were slipping, work was overlapping, people were waiting on each other, and the finger pointing had started. The obvious fix was to ask for more resources. Instead, I stepped away from my desk.

What happened next is the heart of this episode.

We also dig into new research featured in Harvard Business Review on the three kinds of role stress, and why workload may not be the one weighing on your team the most.

You can't simply hire smart people, tell them to figure it out, and then judge the outcome. Clarity is your job. When your team knows what is expected, they finally have room to do their best work. That is where JOY at work starts. JOY is the strategy.

1. Your team may not have a workload problem.

When people look stressed, our instinct can be to move work around, add resources, or suggest time off. But role ambiguity and competing priorities can be just as damaging as having too much work.

2. Clear direction is a leadership responsibility.

You can’t tell smart, capable people to simply “figure it out” and then judge them when they make a decision without the information they needed. Leaders need to own the direction, expectations, priorities, and decision-making.

3. You have to slow down to speed up.

The thinking work may not be visible, but it is essential. When you protect time to get clear, map responsibilities, define priorities, and decide what matters, your team can execute faster and with greater confidence.

• "Research: Work Stress Isn't Always About Workload" by Gargi Sawhney and Mallory McCord, Harvard Business Review, September 2026: https://hbr.org/2026/09/research-work-stress-isnt-always-about-workload
• Role overload, role conflict, and role ambiguity: the three types of role stress
• Kobe Bryant's line, "You have to work hard in the dark to shine in the light.”
• The Five-Mile Walk – Lori’s personal example of stepping away from the noise, moving her body, and using that space to map out her team’s roles and responsibilities.

• Where is my team guessing right now?
• When did I last make time for the thinking work my leadership role requires?
• What is one thing I’ve been keeping big because committing feels risky?
• Who owns what, who decides, and what does good actually look like?
• What priorities do I need to make crystal clear for my team?

• CEOs, executives, and leaders managing teams
• Managers whose teams seem overwhelmed, stuck, or unclear
• Leaders dealing with missed deadlines, duplicated work, or unclear ownership
• Leaders who want their teams to move from guessing and waiting to confident execution
• High-achieving leaders who need to make more space for strategic thinking
• Anyone who wants to create more clarity, confidence, and joy at work

Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation.

• Book a Leadership Strategy Call with Lori: loripine.com
• Explore Lori’s coaching, community, and retreats at loripine.com

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📲 Share this episode with a leader who needs a little more clarity—and a little less guessing.

What if the people around you aren't disengaged, careless, or pulling away? Specifically, what if the people who work for you are actually doing their absolute best? In this episode, I'm talking about the power of positive intent and how simply changing the story we tell ourselves about other people can completely change the way we lead.

I share a conversation with a CEO client who noticed that when budgets and timelines got tight, his anxiety would kick in and he would become more reactive and start micromanaging. The problem was that he was interpreting short replies and lack of response from his team as apathy, when in reality, they were heads down doing the very work he was so worried about.

Positive intent isn't about being naive or ignoring problems. It's about starting from the belief that the people you hired, your team, your partner, your friends, and the people you love are likely trying to do their very best.

1. Your assumptions shape how you lead.

When pressure rises, it’s easy to interpret silence, short replies, or delays as a lack of investment. But the story you create in your head may not be the truth.

2. Positive intent can interrupt the cycle of reactivity and micromanagement.

When you trust that your people are trying to do good work, you create space for them to work from motivation rather than fear of your reaction.

3. Pause before creating a story about someone else.

The next time someone goes quiet or their response feels short, ask: What would I assume if I believed this person had positive intent and was doing their absolute best right now?

• Positive Intent – The leadership practice of assuming that the people around you are showing up with good intentions and doing their best.
• The CEO Client Story – A client noticed that pressure around budgets and timelines caused him to become reactive and micromanage his team.
• Motivation vs. Fear – The difference between having a team that works from motivation and one that works out of fear of their leader’s reaction.
• The Story We Create – How short replies, silence, or unanswered messages can lead us to make assumptions that may not reflect what is actually happening.

• Where have you assumed someone stopped caring when they might simply be overwhelmed or focused on solving a problem?
• What story are you creating about someone based on their silence or a short response?
• What would you assume about this person if you believed they had positive intent and were doing their absolute best right now?

• CEOs, executives, and leaders managing teams
• Managers who find themselves becoming reactive or micromanaging under pressure
• Leaders who want to build teams motivated by trust rather than fear
• Anyone looking to communicate and lead with more awareness, curiosity, and joy

Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation

• Book a Leadership Strategy Call with Lori: loripine.com

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In this episode, I’m calling myself out. We all do this: judge people before we actually know them. You walk into a meeting, meet someone new, and within seconds you’ve decided whether they’re capable, trustworthy, professional, or someone you want on your team. We like to call it intuition, but sometimes it’s simply our brain taking a shortcut with almost no information to go on.

I bring in Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, including the Warren Harding error and our strange habit of linking physical appearances (height) with leadership ability. I also tell you about the day someone joined my team and my first reaction was, “Ew, who picked him?” The important part wasn’t my first thought—it was what came next: “What am I missing?”

This episode is an invitation to catch your judgments, question them, and give people enough space for your second thought to know more than your first one did.

Your First Thought Is Not a Fact

• We size people up in seconds, long before we have enough information to actually know them.
• That snap reaction gets shaped by our own history, our insecurities, and whatever mood we walked in with.
• The leadership skill isn't eliminating judgment. It's catching it and choosing what you do next.

Replace Judgment With Curiosity

• My first reaction to a new team member and how I actually experienced him later were two completely different stories.
• Instead of letting that first impression become the final word, I asked, "What am I missing?"
• Curiosity buys people the time to show you who they really are.

The Box You Put Someone In Costs Everyone

• When a leader judges fast, that opinion carries weight. It shapes how the rest of the team sees that person too.
• Someone who feels boxed in stops bringing their ideas, their energy, and their full self to the room.
• Before you make it permanent, ask yourself: “How would I want to be treated in this situation?”

• Malcolm Gladwell's Blink — his research on snap judgments and the unconscious assumptions running the show underneath our decisions.
• The Warren Harding Error — judging someone's capability by how they look instead of what they can actually do.
• The CEO Height Example — how something as simple as height quietly shapes who we assume is fit to lead.
• The "Mr. Chipper" Story — my own real time lesson that my first reaction to someone wasn't the truth.
• September Reset — my personal invitation to clear the slate after summer and take stock of the judgments you're carrying into the last months of 2026.

• Who have you judged in about five seconds flat?
• Did a first impression quietly become a permanent verdict?
• What might you be missing?
• Where could curiosity replace judgment this week?
• Is someone on your team holding back because they feel you've already boxed them in?
• How would you want to be treated if you were the one who made a rough first impression?
• Who might deserve a second look?

• Leaders ready to get honest about their blind spots
• Managers walking into a new team, or welcoming someone new to theirs
• High achieving women who want more curiosity and less snap judgment in how they lead
• Anyone who has made, or been on the receiving end of, a bad first impression
• Leaders who want their team to feel safe enough to show up as themselves

Follow Lori on LinkedIn or Instagram to continue the conversation.

• Explore Lori’s coaching, retreats, and community at loripine.com
• Consider joining Lori’s upcoming Hudson Valley retreat, October 14–16, for women ready to think differently about leadership and bring more joy into how they lead.

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In this inspiring conversation, Lori sits down with Heather Bell, CEO of the Orange County Chamber, to talk about resilience, leadership, entrepreneurship, and what it really takes to build something that lasts.

Heather shares the winding path that brought her to leadership—from being a single mom who went back to school at 30, to building a career at Heineken, taking a leap into entrepreneurship, leading at the YMCA, and eventually stepping into the CEO role at the Chamber during the chaos of 2020. Four years later, the Chamber was named New York State’s Chamber of the Year.

But this episode isn’t just about professional success. It’s about knowing when to take a risk, surrounding yourself with the right people, building a team instead of trying to do everything yourself, and leading with compassion without compromising accountability.

If you’re building a business, leading a team, or wondering what your next chapter could look like, this conversation is full of reminders that resilience, connection, and knowing your “why” can change everything.

You Don’t Build a Career or Business Alone

Heather’s journey is a powerful reminder of the importance of mentors, connections, and knowing when to ask for help. From leaders who saw potential in her to hiring the right people as an entrepreneur, she learned that success isn’t about doing everything yourself—it’s about surrounding yourself with people who can help you grow.

Resilient Leadership Means Knowing When to Adapt

When Heather stepped into the CEO role, the Chamber was struggling financially and lacked a clear vision. She created a 90-day plan, rebuilt the team, focused on delivering real value, and stayed committed through the challenges. Four years later, the Chamber was named New York State’s Chamber of the Year.

Joy Comes From Knowing Your Why—and Lifting Others Up

For Heather, joyful leadership means loving what you do, knowing who you’re doing it for, and seeing the impact of your work. She finds particular joy in watching her team grow and succeed, believing that great leaders don’t need to be the center of everything—they create space for others to shine.

• Orange County Chamber – Heather’s work building membership, partnerships, programs, and community impact.
• Heineken USA – Where Heather began developing her corporate relations, government affairs, and community relations experience.
• YMCA – Heather’s leadership experience, including Executive Prep Institute and growing programs by 80%.
• Chamber Grow – Heather’s entrepreneurial success program, designed to help business owners understand the value of investing in support and professional expertise.
• Launchpad Program – A business academy for graduating seniors interested in entrepreneurship, culminating in a Shark Tank-style pitch competition with a $5,000 prize.
• Women Mean Business – A Chamber initiative focused on Mentoring, Empowerment, Authenticity, and Networking.
• New York State Chamber of the Year – The prestigious recognition the Orange County Chamber received after Heather’s leadership helped transform the organization.

• Where are you trying to do everything yourself instead of asking for help?
• Who are the mentors who helped you become the leader you are today?
• Are you leading people—or simply managing tasks?
• Where could you create more space for your team to step up?
• What is your “why,” and is your current work actually answering it?

• Entrepreneurs who are trying to grow without burning themselves out
• CEOs and leaders building stronger, more empowered teams
• Women navigating a career pivot or second act
• Business owners learning when to delegate and invest in support
• Leaders who want to build with compassion, resilience, and purpose
• Anyone wondering what their next chapter could look like

Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation

• Book a Leadership Strategy Call with Lori: loripine.com

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In this episode, I’m checking in halfway through the Fire Horse year and reflecting on the intentions I set back in February: to speak more and move my body more. Six months later, I can see those intentions have unfolded in ways I never expected—from speaking at Google and being invited back to Harvard, to growing The Connect, hosting my first retreat, and becoming stronger both physically and emotionally.

I also share what I’ve been seeing with my clients—women stepping into dream opportunities, leaving rooms that no longer fit, taking time to rest, and building something new. This episode is really an invitation to pause and take inventory: What has changed in your life since February that you never could have predicted? Sometimes the next right step is all we need to take before life starts surprising us.

Your Intentions May Be Bigger Than You Think

• Lori reflects on how her two simple intentions, speaking more and moving her body more, ended up representing something much deeper.
• Speaking became about sharing her truth and years of hard earned wisdom, while movement became about moving energy and becoming stronger emotionally and physically.
• Audience follow-up → Go back to the intentions you set earlier this year. What might they actually be asking of you now?

You Don't Need Ten Priorities

• Lori revisits the idea that a high energy year requires focus, not an endless list of goals.
• Her approach was to choose two priorities and stay intentional about taking the next step.
• Audience follow-up → If you could only focus on two things for the rest of the year, what would they be?

Sometimes You Need to Rest Before You Sprint

• One of Lori's clients took an entire year away from work and is now choosing between two dream senior level opportunities.
• Another accelerated her corporate exit and moved into consulting while building a business of her own.
• Audience follow-up → Where might rest, space, or a pause actually be preparing you for your next move?

The Room You're In Shapes What You Believe Is Possible (revised header)

• Lori shares the story of a client who left a larger company for a smaller organization where her creativity, diversity, and thinking are truly valued.
• Another client finally declared that it was time to leave, and that decision expanded what she believed was possible.
• Audience follow-up → Are you in a room that recognizes and values what you bring?

Pay Attention to What Has Changed

• Six months can create an enormous amount of movement when you consistently take the next right step.
• Lori encourages you to look beyond the goals you remember and notice the unexpected ways your intentions may already be showing up.
• Audience follow-up → What has changed in your life since February that you couldn't have predicted?

• The Fire Horse Year – Lori’s reflection on the rare energy and intensity associated with this lunar year.
• Speaking More & Moving More – Lori’s two personal intentions for the year and how they evolved beyond their original meaning.
• The Connect – Lori’s community for women, which has grown largely through referrals.
• The Connect Retreat – Lori’s Hudson Valley retreat and the powerful response from the women who attended.
• The Next Right Step – Lori’s reminder that intentional action doesn't require knowing exactly where everything will lead.

• What intentions did you set at the beginning of the year?
• What has happened since then that you never could have predicted?
• Where are you stronger than you were six months ago?
• Do you need to sprint right now—or do you need to rest?
• Are you currently in a room that values what you bring?
• What would happen if you trusted your next right step?

• Ambitious women reflecting on their goals and direction
• Leaders navigating a season of change or transition
• Women who feel like they’ve lost sight of their original intentions
• High-achievers who need permission to slow down and reassess
• Anyone looking for more joy, movement, and possibility in the second half of the year

Follow Lori on LinkedIn or Instagram to continue the conversation.

• Explore Lori’s coaching, retreats, and community at loripine.com
• Consider joining Lori’s upcoming Hudson Valley retreat, October 14–16, for women ready to think differently about leadership and bring more joy into how they lead.

🎧 Subscribe to The Joy CEO Podcast

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📲 Share this episode with someone who needs a reminder to pause, take inventory, and trust what’s unfolding

In this honest and candid conversation, Lori sits down with Kate Kripke, a clinical expert who has spent more than 20 years working with mothers, to explore the relationship between ambition, anxiety, and motherhood.

Together, they unpack what happens when achievement becomes tied to self-worth, and how beliefs we learned early in life can quietly fuel the pressure to get everything right.

Kate shares her path from clinical work with teenagers and mothers to founding the Postpartum Wellness Center, now the Parent and Family Wellness Center. She explains why anxiety is a normal response to uncertainty, how children can "borrow" our nervous systems through co-regulation, and why postpartum anxiety often goes unrecognized.

The biggest shift in this conversation is moving from strategic intelligence to relational intelligence. Motherhood isn't something to solve. It's a relationship to build, and that asks something different of the part of you that's used to fixing things.

If you're a high-achieving woman, a mother, or someone who has spent years managing uncertainty by becoming more capable, this conversation is an invitation: you don't have to fix every feeling. You can learn to stay with it.

When Ambition Becomes Tied to Worth

• Ambition itself isn't the problem. The challenge begins when achievement becomes the source of identity, value, or safety.
• Learned beliefs can teach us that doing more, achieving more, or being "good enough" will protect us from discomfort.
• Audience follow-up → What do you believe achievement says about you, and who would you be without it?

Anxiety Is a Response to Uncertainty

• Kate explains anxiety as a fear-based response to unpredictability.
• Rather than something broken to eliminate, anxiety can be understood as trying to communicate something.
• Audience follow-up → Where are you trying to create certainty because uncertainty feels uncomfortable?

Our Kids Borrow Our Nervous System

• Children learn emotional safety through relationship and co-regulation.
• When we're overwhelmed, our children can pick up on it, not because we're doing something wrong, but because connection is how humans are wired.
• Audience follow-up → When your child is struggling, can you regulate yourself before you try to regulate them?

Motherhood Isn't a Problem to Fix

• High-achieving women are often exceptionally skilled at strategic thinking and problem-solving.
• Motherhood asks for a different kind of intelligence: relational intelligence.
• Audience follow-up → Notice when your instinct is to fix, explain, or solve. What would it look like to stay connected instead?

Postpartum Anxiety Can Be Hard to Recognize

• It doesn't always look like what we expect: constant worry, hypervigilance, difficulty relaxing, or a need to control what happens next.
• Lori shares part of her own postpartum experience in this conversation.
• Audience follow-up → Instead of "Am I doing motherhood right," try "How am I actually feeling?"

Relational Intelligence Means Staying With Discomfort

• Building emotional fluency means noticing feelings without immediately judging or changing them.
• The goal isn't eliminating difficult emotions. It's staying connected to yourself and others while you feel them.
• Audience follow-up → Next time discomfort shows up, pause before solving. What is this feeling asking you to notice?

A Longer Exhale Can Signal Safety

• Kate shares a simple breath practice: make your exhale longer than your inhale.
• This can help signal safety to the nervous system before you react.
• Audience follow-up → Try it. Notice what changes in your body.

• Kate Kripke — clinical expert with more than 20 years working with mothers and families. (unverified, see flag above)
• Parent and Family Wellness Center — formerly the Postpartum Wellness Center, founded by Kate.
• Co-Regulation — how children develop emotional safety through connection with caregivers.
• Relational Intelligence — staying present and emotionally engaged rather than relying only on strategic problem-solving.
• Longer Exhale Breathing — a simple practice to help signal safety to the nervous system.

• Where has ambition become connected to your sense of worth?
• What are you trying to control because uncertainty feels uncomfortable?
• When do you default to fixing instead of connecting?
• What emotions do you find hardest to sit with?
• How might your relationships change if you were more comfortable with not having all the answers?

• High-achieving women navigating ambition and motherhood
• Mothers experiencing anxiety, overwhelm, or pressure to get everything right
• Women who struggle with uncertainty and the need to control outcomes
• Leaders and parents interested in emotional and relational intelligence
• Anyone wanting to understand anxiety through a more compassionate, nervous-system-aware lens

Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation

• Book a Leadership Strategy Call with Lori: loripine.com

Find Kate Kripke on her website http://katekripke.com/ or her Instagram https://www.instagram.com/katekripke/

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What happens when you give your team complete freedom to do their work—and they still aren't moving forward?

In this solo episode of The Joy CEO Podcast, I explore a leadership mistake I made myself: assuming that being a good leader meant staying out of my team's way.

I was leading a team whose work I had never personally done, so I thought the best thing I could do was give them autonomy and stay hands-off. What I eventually discovered was that I wasn't protecting them from the things that were making their jobs harder—broken processes, redundant requests, unnecessary internal noise, and unclear ownership.

Once I walked through their workflow from beginning to end, I could see where my leadership was missing. My job wasn't to do their work. It was to create the conditions for them to do their work well.

That shift ultimately freed up roughly 10 hours a week for my team.

In this episode, I introduce the idea of right-sized leadership and revisit my Hula Hoop Principle: knowing what belongs inside your leadership responsibility, what belongs with your team, and where you've accidentally stepped too far in—or too far out.

If you've ever wondered why your team isn't stepping up, this episode may give you a different question to ask.

When a team isn't stepping up, our first instinct can be to assume they need more direction, more accountability, or more oversight.

But sometimes the problem isn't the team.

Lori shares how being too hands-off meant she wasn't seeing the obstacles that were slowing her team down. Leadership isn't about constantly checking on people. It's about understanding enough of their world to remove the barriers that keep them from succeeding.

We often talk about micromanagement as if the opposite—leaving people completely alone—is automatically good leadership.

It isn't.

Overleading and underleading can create the same result: confusion, frustration, and a team that doesn't know what belongs to whom.

The goal isn't to be more involved or less involved.

It's to be involved in the right places.

Lori realized that she couldn't effectively protect her team from problems she couldn't see.

So she walked through their entire end-to-end workflow.

That revealed broken processes, duplicated requests, unnecessary internal noise, and places where her team was spending time on things that weren't actually adding value.

Sometimes leadership starts with curiosity rather than answers.

As leaders, we don't need to become experts in every task our teams perform.

But we do need to understand enough to identify what gets in their way.

Lori's role wasn't to step into her team's work. It was to remove distractions, clarify ownership, protect their time, and make sure the right work was happening at the right level.

That distinction helped free up around 10 hours a week for her team.

Lori returns to one of her favorite leadership metaphors: the Hula Hoop Principle.

Think about your leadership responsibilities as one hula hoop and your team's responsibilities as another.

Your job isn't to jump into their hula hoop every time something gets difficult. And their job isn't to carry everything that belongs inside yours.

Healthy leadership requires knowing where your responsibility begins and ends.

The best leadership isn't about choosing between being hands-on and hands-off.

It's about being right-sized.

Sometimes your team needs you to step in. Sometimes they need you to step back. Sometimes they need you to ask a question instead of giving an answer.

The leadership skill is knowing which one is required in the moment.

One of the hardest things for capable leaders is resisting the urge to solve the problem themselves.

Lori encourages leaders to pause, get curious, and ask questions before jumping in with the answer.

Sometimes the most powerful leadership move isn't giving someone the solution.

It's giving them the space to find it.

• Lori's experience leading a team doing work she had never personally done.
• The danger of confusing hands-off leadership with effective delegation.
• Broken processes and redundant requests that created unnecessary workload.
• How Lori's team gained back roughly 10 hours a week.
• The Hula Hoop Principle and defining leadership responsibility.
• The difference between overleading and underleading.
• The concept of right-sized leadership.
• Using curiosity and questions instead of immediately providing solutions.
• Lori's Hudson Valley retreat and the importance of creating space for leadership reflection.

• Where might your team be struggling because you're too far away from the work?
• Where are you stepping into your team's hula hoop instead of letting them own it?
• What processes, requests, or distractions are making your team's work harder than it needs to be?
• Are you overleading, underleading, or leading at the right size?
• What would change if you asked a question before giving an answer?
• What could you remove or protect so your team can spend more time doing the work that matters?
• Where does your team need more autonomy—and where do they actually need more leadership?

• Executives and senior leaders managing high-performing teams.
• Founders and business owners who want their teams to take more ownership.
• Leaders who worry they are micromanaging.
• Leaders who have swung so far toward autonomy that they have become too hands-off.
• Managers struggling with delegation and accountability.
• High-achieving women who are used to solving problems themselves.
• Anyone who wants to become a more intentional, effective, and right-sized leader.

Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation

• Book a Leadership Strategy Call with Lori: loripine.com

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Every human will have chapters in trouble. Smooth sailing is never guaranteed. There are seasons in life when everything feels uncertain, but the people around you still need you to lead.

In this solo episode, Lori shares one of the hardest chapters of her life: losing her mother to cancer in five weeks, from diagnosis to death, while leading a demanding corporate career as a single mom. She talks honestly about what grief actually looks like when you don't have the option to stop, the pressure to keep performing, and what it really means to be strong when you don't have the answers.

Rather than offering quick fixes, Lori shares the mindset shifts that carried her through, and what she learned about choosing who to be when nothing else was certain.

If you're walking through a difficult season while still carrying responsibility at work, at home, or in your business, this conversation is for you.

One of the biggest misconceptions about leadership is believing you need to know exactly how everything will turn out before you can move forward. Lori shares how real strength is choosing your next step even when the future feels completely unknown.

Audience follow-up → Where are you waiting for certainty before allowing yourself to move forward?

When life feels overwhelming, trying to control everything only creates more exhaustion. Lori introduces her "Hula Hoop Principle"—a simple but powerful way to separate what you can influence from what you cannot.

Audience follow-up → What are you carrying today that actually belongs outside your hula hoop?

During seasons of uncertainty, circumstances constantly change—but your values don't have to. Lori shares three grounding questions that helped her keep showing up with intention, even while grieving.

Ask yourself:

• Who do I want to be while this unfolds?
• What values won't change?
• What energy do I want to bring today?

Audience follow-up → Which of these three questions do you need most right now?

Hard seasons are not the time to expect peak performance. Lori explains why reducing perfectionism isn't giving up—it's making space for healing while continuing to move forward.

Audience follow-up → Where could you replace perfection with "good enough" this week?

Resilience doesn't mean carrying everything by yourself. Lori reflects on the importance of trusted people who can hold hope, perspective, and strength for you when yours feels depleted.

Audience follow-up → Who are the people you can honestly lean on during difficult seasons?

When emotions are high, our thinking often narrows. Lori encourages listeners to avoid making major life decisions in the middle of upheaval and instead focus on the next right thing.

Audience follow-up → What's the next small step you can take today instead of trying to solve everything?

• Lori's personal story of losing her mother to cancer in 2011 while leading a corporate career as a single mother.
• The Hula Hoop Principle—focusing only on what is within your control.
• Three grounding questions for navigating uncertainty with intention.
• The importance of lowering perfectionism during difficult seasons.
• Why trusted relationships are essential when life feels overwhelming.
• The practice of choosing the next right thing instead of trying to control the entire journey.

• What's actually in your hula hoop today, and what have you been trying to carry that was never yours to hold?
• Where have you been mistaking certainty for strength, and what would it look like to lead without it?
• Who do you want to be while this season unfolds, and what values refuse to change no matter what's happening around you?
• Even load bearing walls need reinforcement. Who's someone you trust enough to lean on right now?
• What's today's assignment, not this year's, not this month's? Just today's.

• Women leading teams while navigating personal hardship.
• Executives, founders, and business owners carrying heavy responsibility.
• High achievers struggling with uncertainty, grief, or major life transitions.
• Leaders learning to let go of perfectionism and control.
• Anyone who needs permission to lead with courage—even when life feels messy and uncertain.

Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation

• Book a Leadership Strategy Call with Lori: loripine.com

🎧 Subscribe to The Joy CEO Podcast

⭐️ Leave a review to help other heart-centered leaders find the show

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Have you ever replayed a leadership moment over and over in your mind, wishing you'd handled it differently?

In this episode, I explore something I've seen in myself, my clients, and so many accomplished women I work with: we often become our own harshest critic. We replay moments of intensity, convince ourselves we "messed up," and forget to acknowledge why we spoke up in the first place.

I share a story from my own corporate career when I passionately defended my under-resourced team in a management meeting. The outcome was exactly what my team needed—we secured more resources—but instead of celebrating the result, I spent the next week criticizing myself for how I delivered the message.

I also tell the story of a client who still cringed over a meeting from five years ago, where she firmly challenged leaders over issues involving conflict minerals and child labor. Looking back, it wasn't a failure. It was courageous leadership.

Finally, I reflect on a powerful retreat with my coaching community, The Connect, where women discovered that the stories they had been using against themselves looked completely different through the eyes of trusted peers.

This episode is an invitation to put down the hammer. The very moments you criticize yourself for may actually be evidence of your courage, conviction, and leadership.

I've learned that speaking with conviction doesn't automatically mean you've done something wrong. There are moments when leadership requires us to challenge the room, advocate for our people, and hold the line—even when it's uncomfortable.

Reflection → What leadership moment have you labeled as a failure that may actually have been an act of courage?

For years, I've focused on how I said something instead of remembering what happened because I said it. My team received the resources they desperately needed, yet I only remembered my discomfort.

The outcome matters too.

Reflection → Are you overlooking the positive impact because you're fixated on your delivery?

One of the greatest gifts of community is perspective. During our retreat, I watched women describe moments they were ashamed of, only to have everyone else see strength, wisdom, and integrity.

Often, the story you're telling yourself isn't the story anyone else is seeing.

Reflection → If someone you loved shared your story, would you judge them the way you judge yourself?

The qualities that make you an exceptional leader—passion, courage, conviction, high standards—can also become the things you criticize in yourself.

But those strengths don't need to disappear. They simply need awareness and refinement.

Reflection → Which strength have you accidentally mistaken for a flaw?

The biggest shift isn't becoming a different leader. It's becoming a kinder one—to yourself.

The more grace you extend inward, the more confidence, resilience, and authenticity you'll bring to everyone around you.

Reflection → What would change if you stopped punishing yourself for being deeply committed to what matters?

• My experience advocating for my under-resourced team during a corporate leadership meeting.
• A client working in sustainability who challenged executives over conflict minerals and child labor.
• The Connect retreat in the Hudson Valley and our Spotlight Sessions.
• Identity transitions, belonging, succession planning, and the power of trusted peer coaching.
• The importance of extending yourself the same compassion you naturally offer others.

• What leadership moment are you still carrying that deserves a different story?
• Where are you judging yourself more harshly than anyone else ever has?
• What evidence do you have that your passion has actually made you a better leader?
• If you replaced self-criticism with curiosity, what would you learn?
• What would it look like to put down the hammer this week?

• Ambitious women who constantly second-guess themselves after difficult conversations.
• Leaders who carry the emotional weight of advocating for their teams.
• Professionals navigating identity, confidence, and belonging at the next level of leadership.
• Women who want to lead with courage without punishing themselves afterward.
• Anyone ready to replace self-criticism with self-compassion while becoming an even stronger leader.

Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation

• Book a Leadership Strategy Call with Lori: loripine.com

🎧 Subscribe to The Joy CEO Podcast

⭐️ Leave a review to help other heart-centered leaders find the show

📲 Share this episode with someone who’s navigating pressure and wants to do it with more grace