No matter how much we’d like it to be true, we can’t think our way into changing.

We have so much information, language, and so many tools to help us understand what makes us tick right at our fingertips. And who doesn’t love a quiz, a personality test, a self-help book, or (ahem) a podcast that helps us make sense of ourselves and others in our personal and professional lives?

Whether it’s Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder, your Enneagram, or your astrological chart, you probably have years’ worth of exposure to various categories, frameworks, and language to call on. And yet, you still feel like a stranger to yourself in the moments that matter most.

Because we can’t intellectualize our way through change. We have to feel it. We have to do it.

This is where trauma-informed leadership work actually lives, not in collecting more language for what's wrong with you or others, but in helping you recognize the echoes of your own story that are still running the show, and developing the skills to help you take action and choose differently.

Today’s guest has spent her career studying people, the soul, and how we relate to ourselves and others. But in writing her most recent book, she found she had to dig deeper into her own story and start to really live the work herself. And when she started living things differently, she realized there was no looking back.

Dr. Alison Cook is a therapist, psychologist of religion, bestselling author, and host of the top-ranked The Best of You podcast. Widely recognized for her ability to bridge faith and psychology in a way that is both deeply practical and spiritually alive, Dr. Alison has spent over two decades helping people move from feeling disconnected to feeling secure, grounded, and loved. Her books, including Boundaries for Your Soul and The Best of You, have sold over 150,000 copies. She and her husband, Joe, are the parents of two adult children and call the mountains of Wyoming home.

Listen to the full episode to hear: 

• How Alison navigated the personal and professional anxieties raised as she brought her own story into her new book
• Why revisiting her adolescence was a deeply vulnerable but necessary piece of learning to notice her inner bids for connection
• How minimizing our everyday wounds impacts us individually and as a culture
• Why doing the inner work of witnessing yourself is part of getting your needs met in the outside world
• Why self-awareness and conscious choice matter when it comes to engaging our controllers and escape hatches
• How developing trust in her fundamental belovedness gives Alison the security to be accountable to the people in her life

Learn more about Dr. Alison Cook:

• Website
• The Best of You Podcast
• Instagram: @dralisoncook
• Facebook: @dralisoncook
• The Secure Soul: Finding Inner Strength and Connection When Trust Doesn't Come Easy

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• The Unburdened Leader on Substack
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• Footloose
• Irvin D. Yalom
• Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Anna Lembke MD
• Into the Quiet: Following Jesus in a World of Noise, John Mark Comer
• Taylor Swift - The Fate of Ophelia
• Pretty in Pink

Chapters:

• (00:43) - Introduction

What does connection mean to you? How do you know when you're feeling connected?

Connection is foundational to building trust, and trust is an essential quality that any team or relationship needs to grow.

Yet in many relationships, both personally and professionally, we tolerate disconnection. We miss the early signals of missed deadlines, the subtle cues of quiet resentment, and the team that’s compliant and even productive, but not engaged. 

Until disconnection creates the distrust, the dis-ease, and the erosion of psychological safety that, left unchecked, hijacks even the strongest relationships, teams, and organizations.

Leaders and their teams need to not only learn to identify markers of disconnection early, but to also develop the skills to repair it. The goal isn’t a team that never ruptures. It’s a team that knows how to reconnect.

That’s why I’m so excited to talk with my guest today about her work that integrates well-being science, positive psychology, and systems-level leadership to help organizations uncover what it takes to build connected, thriving teams where well-being and high performance can truly coexist.

Jamie Shapiro, PhD, is a Keynote Speaker, Master Certified Executive Coach, organizational psychologist, researcher and the CEO of Connected EC. Jamie’s approach blends science, strategy, and lived leadership experience to her work with CEOs and executive teams navigating growth, complexity, and cultural transformation.

Jamie is the author of Brilliant: Be the Leader Who Shines Brightly Without Burning Out and Connected Culture: The New Science for Thriving Teams and Cultures. She is also the founder of the Leader and Organization Vitality (LOV) Center, a research institute that advances the science of leadership vitality, culture, and performance and bridges the gap between research and real-world practice.

Listen to the full episode to hear: 

• How Jamie’s personal experience with cycles of burnout in the corporate world informs her research and coaching practice
• The physical, mental, and emotional impacts of trust and connection on teams
• Why Jamie’s model for thriving teams has trust, care, and connection at its core
• What corporate culture consistently gets wrong about candid communication and the number one way to improve it
• What we can learn from chickens about building high-performing teams
• How psychological safety and connection positively drive performance

Learn more about Jamie Shapiro:

• Connected EC
• Connect on LinkedIn
• Brilliant: Be The Leader Who Shines Brightly Without Burning Out
• Connected Culture: The New Science for Thriving Teams and Cultures

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• The Unburdened Leader on Substack
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• Links 
• The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown
• Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, John T Cacioppo and William Patrick
• The Neuroscience of Trust, Paul J. Zak | Harvard Business Review
• The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, Amy C. Edmondson
• Right Use of Power Institute
• Shaping Power for Good: Wayfinding to Right Relationship, Amanda Aguilera
• Super-Chicken Model
• Just One Word: The Surprisingly Simple Method to Discover Your Purpose and Unleash Your Power, Erin Weed
• ILLENIUM
• Off Campus
• Voicemails for Isabelle
• Sixteen Candles

Chapters:

• (00:22) - Introduction

When the stakes rise and more is on the line, everything about visibility shifts –– what it means, what it costs, and what it asks of you.

And if you ever experienced bullying, relational trauma, betrayal, or abuse, visibility can be more than just awkward or uncomfortable. Unprocessed echoes of those burdens can make the past feel like it is happening in the present.

We have to do the work of building more trust within, getting clear on who and what really matters, and learning to follow our values even when we do not know the results.

As my guest today reminded me, when we go silent, we may feel safe, but our voices are not out there, and others will step in to define the direction of conversations and the topics that matter most to us.

Showing up and letting people see and hear you isn’t always easy, but with practice and courage, we can reshape the narratives we carry about ourselves and our visibility.

Mike Ganino works with professional speakers, keynote speakers, and executives to help them create transformative speaking experiences worthy of standing ovations. As a keynote director with a background as an actor, writer, director, producer, hospitality executive, and corporate trainer, Mike learned to view storytelling and performance from the audience’s perspective and uses these insights and experiences to help his clients develop talks and performances that go beyond just wowing the audience to truly transform their thinking.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How a fourth-grade substitute teacher showed Mike the power of making people feel seen
• Why getting comfortable with visibility requires us to address the relational wounds that have kept us quiet
• What we can learn from actors about the choices we make as we show up and interact with others
• Why developing as a speaker is a physical practice before it’s an intellectual practice
• Two essential elements for telling an effective story
• How fears of losing status and being misunderstood keeps us from showing up for ourselves and others

Learn more about Mike Ganino:

• https://mikeganino.com/
• Instagram: @mikeganino
• Facebook: @mikeganino
• Connect on LinkedIn
• Make a Scene: Storytelling, Stage Presence, and the Art of Being Unforgettable in Every Spotlight

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• The Unburdened Leader on Substack
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• The Face: A Natural History, Daniel McNeill
• Ariana Grande
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Chapters:

• (00:43) - Introduction

A lot of people feel like they know who they're supposed to be, how they're supposed to show up, and what they're supposed to value, and they assume those things come from themselves instead of external influences. 

But we all have internalized beliefs and expectations from others, our culture, and the systems we live in. It takes a beat, sometimes a long one, to get clear on who you actually are and what is actually important to you. It requires building the kind of deep self-trust that allows you to act from your values even when the world is suggesting otherwise.

And if you carry relational wounds or other interpersonal or socio-cultural burdens, those experiences can slow down or block your capacity to deepen self-trust, trust in others, grow in courage, and fully inhabit your whole story. That is not a character flaw. It is a developmental reality.

My guest today models what becomes possible when you stop performing the version of yourself the world approved of and start trusting yourself and leading from that space. She is building a career and a creative practice rooted in self-trust and values alignment, and she is far from done.

MILCK, born Connie K. Lim, is a self-proclaimed gentle rebel whose artistry and advocacy is fueled by her music. Her breakout anthem “Quiet” became a global sensation, championing women’s rights and resonating with movements around the globe. MILCK has collaborated with notable artists such as John Legend, Natasha Bedingfield, Phillipa Soo, Ani DiFranco, Aloe Blacc, and LeAnn Rimes, blending soulful melodies with poignant, socially conscious lyrics. 

Beyond the recording industry, MILCK is expanding her creative reach into musical theater, advocacy, and mentorship; MILCK and artists Sam Chanse, Jess Mcleod, and AG have partnered with La Jolla Playhouse to develop The Family Album, an award-winning seriocomedy musical. Inspired by MILCK's life journey, the musical explores themes of healing and family.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How “Quiet” began as a means to process her own story and turned into an anthem
• How personal, creative, and therapeutic supports came together to help Connie find her truth and her voice and connect with audiences
• The discouragement of her dreams Connie received as a kid and why her younger self is delighted with her now
• How working on The Family Album has been healing for Connie and her family
• Developing the confidence and self-trust to push boundaries and be an emotional bridge
• How the all-female creative team behind The Family Album musical came together

Learn more about MILCK:

• Website
• Instagram: @milckmusic
• MILCK on Bandcamp
• Get tickets to The Family Album

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• The Unburdened Leader on Substack
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• Childhood and Society, Erik H Erikson
• In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life, Robert Kegan
• Roxy Music - Avalon
• Couples Therapy
• Tears For Fears

Chapters:

• (00:37) - Introduction

How many times have you talked yourself out of pursuing an opportunity, telling yourself it wasn't for you, that you weren’t ready, or you weren’t qualified?

What if that hesitation wasn't self-awareness but a script you internalized?

Many women have a complicated relationship with their ambitions for greater leadership and greater wealth. And it isn’t because women are somehow inherently less suited for leadership or financial independence. The systems of power, patriarchy, sexism, and misogyny that we live in every day shape the voice in women’s heads that tells them they’re not meant to be a leader.

We are in a political and cultural moment where women’s rights and autonomy are facing incredible pushback at all levels. It’s vital that we examine our internalized biases towards ourselves and others, where we limit our ambitions for roles we have the skills and abilities for, and where we’re giving up our power because of the stories we’ve been told by our society.

My guest today is a beautiful example of a woman who hadn’t considered herself for a CEO role, but who stepped into the position and has grown into the kind of leader we just might need most right now. In our conversation, we talk a lot about women and finances and also about what we believe about our abilities and the opportunities we deserve to pursue.

Sylvia Kwan is a Chartered Financial Analyst with more than 30 years of industry experience. Prior to Ellevest, she founded SimplySmart Asset Management and held senior portfolio management positions at Financial Engines and Charles Schwab. Sylvia serves on the Board of Exit 182, the investment committee that oversees the endowment of Grinnell College.
 

Listen to the full episode to hear: 

• How Sylvia’s commitment to Ellevest’s mission bolstered her through the abrupt and sometimes isolating shift into being CEO
• How she navigated the tension between wanting to be transparent with her team and needing to project calm
• The scripts about who she is and the work she excels at that Sylvia had to rewrite, and why it’s a continuing process
• How the financial industry subconsciously reinforces sexist ideas about women and money
• Why taking the stigma out of women talking about money is a key piece of closing the gender wealth gap
• How women accruing wealth actually supports communities and creates more equity
• How convoluted jargon and perfectionism keep women from getting started with investing

Learn more about Sylvia Kwan, PhD, CFA, CAIA: 

• Ellevest
• Instagram: @ellevest
• Connect on LinkedIn

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• The Unburdened Leader on Substack
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources: 

• EP 88: Right-Use-of-Power: Navigating Leadership Dynamics with Dr. Cedar Barstow
• Right Use of Power: The Heart of Ethics: A Guide and Resource for Professional Relationships, Dr. Cedar Barstow
• The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love, bell hooks
• Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny, Kate Manne 
• Women leaders make work better. Here’s the science behind how to promote them
• Power with purpose: How women's leadership boosts the economy and society | Devex
• Whidbey, T Kira Madden
• CeCe Winans - Goodness of God
• Ted Lasso

Chapters:

• (00:42) - Introduction

Say the word ambition, especially around women, and it brings up a complicated mix of emotions and beliefs.

If you're not succeeding, you're not ambitious enough. If you are succeeding, wanting a lot, and going for it, you're too ambitious, and you get penalized or punished. It happens at work, at home, and in the communities we move through every day.

There are so many mixed messages about ambition and success coming at us from every direction. And it's not just imposed from the outside.
For many women, those messages get internalized and shape the way we present ourselves and communicate about our work and personal lives. We start to police our own ambition, and we police each other's ambition.

My guest today names the invisible norms around women’s ambitions, and calls out the ways that organizations perpetuate bias, even as they think they’re playing fair. Her work is extensively researched, tracing the roots of the tension around ambition, and also offers language and an opportunity for us to reclaim our ambitions together.
 
Stefanie O’Connell is an award-winning journalist and author of The Ambition Penalty: How Corporate Culture Tells Women to Step Up– and Then Pushes Them Down. Her work dismantles the myths keeping women from equitable pay, leadership and power — one data point at a time.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• The material costs of what happens when women speak up, lean in, and get ambitious
• How implicit and gendered double standards around power keep women out of leadership
• Why encouraging ambition in girls doesn’t translate into celebrating ambition in women
• How people and organizations that believe they are meritocratic end up reinforcing the most bias
• Why we can’t self-optimize our way out of systemic inequality, and why we need collective action
• Six key elements for reframing burnout as an environmental problem, not a personal one
• Why we need to push back against framing women being pushed out of the work force as “empowerment” and challenge sexism in our everyday lives 

Learn more about Stefanie O'Connell:

• Website
• Too Ambitious on Substack
• Instagram: @stefanieoconnell
• Threads: @stefanieoconnell
• TikTok: @stefaniemoconnell
• The Ambition Penalty

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• The Unburdened Leader on Substack
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• EP 155: Hidden Cost of Caretaking at Work: Nilofer Merchant on Invisible Norms Limiting Your Leadership
• Stop Punishing Women for Being Ambitious | Bloomberg
• Maslach, Christina. (1998). A Multidimensional Theory of Burnout. 10.1093/oso/9780198522799.003.0004. 
• My Mother's Daughter: Finding Myself in My Family's Fractured Past, Tracy Clark-Flory 
• Ragtime (2025 Broadway Cast Recording)
• Mad Men

Chapters:

• (00:07) - Introduction

Some words and experiences come with a lot of baggage, conjuring up fear, stigma, and shame.

But being afraid or ashamed doesn’t protect us from those experiences or those words. It just keeps us from really understanding them or being able to talk about them. And what we can’t process for ourselves, we can’t help those we love and lead with either.

In the clinical space, dissociation is one of those words and experiences that is met with a lot of discomfort. How people were taught and trained to address dissociation often perpetuates shame and stigma, and its pop culture depictions and usage haven’t helped either.

But my guest today has spent her career making the case that dissociation isn’t rare, or even necessarily pathological; it’s actually a common and deeply human experience that ranges from everyday zoning out to more complex presentations that do need support.

And as you’ll hear, Dr. Jamie Marich believes understanding this spectrum isn’t just a matter of clinical education, but is vital for our own self-knowledge and how we lead others.

Dr. Jamie Marich, PhD, LPCC-S, REAT (she/they) began her career as a humanitarian aid worker in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 2000-2003, primarily teaching English and music. Jamie travels internationally teaching on topics related to trauma, EMDR therapy, expressive arts, mindfulness, and yoga, while maintaining a private practice and online education operations in her home base of Akron, OH. Marich is the founder of the Institute for Creative Mindfulness and the developer of the Dancing Mindfulness approach to expressive arts therapy, and the author of several books on EMDR, dissociation, mindfulness, recovery, and more.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• The stakes of identifying as having a dissociative disorder, and why Jamie felt it was vital for them speak up anyway
• How no longer being “zipped in” has given Jamie access to true authenticity and flow in her personal and professional lives
• Defining dissociation at its most basic, and how and why it shows up in everyday situations
• Why having parts is not necessarily pathological and why for some people those entities become so distinct
• The most persistent and harmful myths about dissociative disorders, for both patients and providers
• Why Jamie starts trainings with having people learn to recognize their own dissociative tendencies
• Why DID is not a TikTok fad, and why more recognition and discussion is better than ignorance

Learn more about Dr. Jamie Marich:

• Website
• Redefine Therapy
• The Institute for Creative Mindfulness
• Instagram: @drjamiem, @traumatherapistrants 
• TikTok: @traumatherapistrants
• YouTube: @DrJamieMM
• Dissociation Made Simple: A Stigma-Free Guide to Embracing Your Dissociative Mind and Navigating Daily Life

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• The Unburdened Leader on Substack
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• Coming Out As Plural - Psychotherapy Networker
• Fighting Dissociation Phobia and Coming Out as a Professional with a Dissociative Disorder
• Am I In A Therapy Cult?
• Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice, Jennifer Mullan, PsyD
• Jasmine Adams, LCSW, PMH-C - The Institute for Creative Mindfulness
• Plural Pride Meets LGBTQ+ Pride: Webinar Replay
• Plural Pride Meets LGBTQ+ Pride: Katie Keech and Dr. Jamie Marich
• Healing Dissociative Identity Disorder - Psychotherapy Networker
• Truth Demands: A Memoir of Murder, Oil Wars, and the Rise of Climate Justice, Abby Reyes
• "Your Heart Knows the Way Home," Te Martin
• The Testaments
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
• John R. Mabry

Chapters:

• (03:57) - Welcome Dr. Jamie Marich

Every system we move through runs on norms: rules and agreements that are both explicit and implicit. And nowhere are they more powerful–or more invisible–than in how we lead and how we build our businesses. 

In fact, sociologists have consistently found that norms don’t announce themselves. 

They travel through families, schools, workplaces, and entire cultures through repetition and imitation, often persisting long after the conditions that created them have changed. We absorb them before we can name them. And once they are inside us, they feel like “just the way things are.”

In leadership development the norms run so deep we have mistaken them for truth. As a result, the model leader–despite decades of language to the contrary–still looks and sounds like a very particular kind of person.

My guest today offers that leadership development has been trying to make better leaders for a broken system, rather than questioning whether the system itself needs to change. 

Nilofer Merchant has spent her career making the invisible visible–naming the norms, the systems, the daily routines that keep us collectively stuck. In this conversation, we go deep on the difference between caring and caretaking, what it means to trust yourself when the ground keeps disappearing, and what it actually takes to stop trying to fix what is not working and become someone who builds what is needed, right where you are.

Nilofer Merchant is the co-founder of Intangible Labs. She spent over 25 years leading technology companies (Apple, Autodesk, GoLive/Adobe) and personally launched over 100 products and services, netting $18 billion in revenues. She is ranked among the top 50 influential management thinkers in the world (one of her TED Talks has been referenced 300 million times). Our Best Work is her 4th book.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why accepting our current norms won’t get leaders where they want to go
• How what we call personal agency is in reality socially constructed and driven
• Why we need more real care and less caretaking in our relationships at work and in life
• How teams can shift towards situational leadership and recentering how we think about the unique value and capabilities individuals bring
• How ownership, shared purpose, and co-creation help us build new systems, unstuck from the status quo
• Nilofer’s lessons about self-trust, taking risks, and approaching the future of work with hope

Learn more about Nilofer Merchant:

• Website
• The Intangible Labs
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nilofer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nilofer.merchant
• Connect on LinkedIn
• Our Best Work: Break Free from the 24 Invisible Norms That Limit Us

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• The Unburdened Leader on Substack
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• The Power of Onlyness: Make Your Wild Ideas Mighty Enough to Dent the World
• Mary Parker Follett
• Mother Mary Comes to Me, Arundhati Roy
• The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
• Prizefighter - Mumford & Sons
• Law & Order
• Dire Straits - Money For Nothing
• Duran Duran - Hungry like the Wolf
• The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant

Chapters:

• (00:07) - Introduction

It is hard to be human. And right now, it is even harder to be humane, to ourselves and to others.

And so many high-achieving, deeply caring leaders are under pressure to stay regulated, calm, and adaptable, no matter what they’re facing. They look serene on the outside, but internally? They feel like a hot mess. 

They mask what they’re feeling and push through so they can try to be the person, friend, leader they want to be. They fake regulation at the expense of their actual wellbeing.

As the language of modalities like IFS and polyvagal theory has spread into the culture, the concepts have been distorted and even weaponized to police others and encourage self-editing, silencing, and hypervigilance. The exact opposite of cultivating the safety, connection, and practices that support a resilient nervous system.

Today, polyvagal-theory expert Deb Dana is back to talk with me about what the culture so often gets wrong about nervous system regulation, why we need to plan for how to approach repair and reconnection when we inevitably make mistakes, and how to protect our compassion and curiosity about all the other kinds of nervous systems we encounter out in the world.

Deb Dana, LCSW, is a clinician, consultant, author, and international lecturer on polyvagal theory-informed work with trauma survivors and is the leading translator of this scientific work to the public and mental health professionals. She's a founding member of the Polyvagal Institute and creator of the signature Rhythm of Regulation® clinical training series.

Deb's work shows us how understanding polyvagal theory applies across the board to relationships, mental health, and trauma. She delves into the intricacies of how we can all use and understand the organizing principles of polyvagal theory to change the ways we navigate our daily lives.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why we can’t ignore our fundamental need for connection and co-regulation
• How leaders can take steps to acknowledge and normalize the diversity of nervous systems and needs on their teams
• How to plan ahead for moments when you feel disconnected or dysregulated
• Why the goal is not to be regulated at all times and shifting states is just data
• Why identifying the worries underlying our patterns of states and behaviors is the first step to shifting them
• Why leaders need to tend to their own systems, both for their wellbeing and to model safety for others

Learn more about Deb Dana:

• Rhythm of Regulation

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• The Unburdened Leader on Substack
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, Amy C. Edmondson
• Stephen Porges
• Polyvagal-Informed Restorative Movement: Psychotherapy Roots, Rhythm, and Reciprocity, Amber Elizabeth Gray
• Project Hail Mary
• Field of Dreams

Chapters:

• (00:07) - Introduction

The way you relate to power is the way you relate to everything around and within you–your work, your people, your sense of what's possible. And most of us have never actually examined that relationship.

And in this season we are in, when everything is changing so quickly, any unexamined beliefs we hold will quietly run the show. They will shape the risks we take, the rooms we walk into, and the moments we either step up or shrink back. 

If we don’t have something to ground us internally to our values, our body, our nervous system, and our beliefs, we run the risk of looking to external validation and trying to control everyone and everything around us. We do damage control and play nice at the expense of real connection and progress.

Which is why I am thrilled to welcome back Dr. Amanda Aguilera to talk more about the Right Use of Power framework for personal power and her new book, Shaping Power for Good: Wayfinding to Right Relationship. She reminds us that staying rooted and using our personal power for good isn’t a box to be checked, but a continuous practice and commitment to ourselves and our relationships. 

Dr. Amanda Aguilera currently serves as the Executive Director of the Right Use of Power Institute and co-leader of Sacred Wayfinding. She has dedicated most of her career to helping people and organizations understand systems, conflict, and social power dynamics to create right relationships and a sense of belonging. She has a knack for making difficult conversations easier, complex ideas more accessible, and resistance more workable. Integrating power, contemplative practices, neurobiology, and restorative practices, she works by finding a balance of head and heart and facilitating the co-creation of strategic maps that lead us forward in a more equitable way.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Defining the six core types of power through the lens of relationships to others, ourselves, and the collective
• How four essential aspects of being in right relationship show up in us and others
• Why checking in on power and relationships starts with connecting to our bodies 
• How committing to being in right relationship helps us overcome how we’ve been socialized to access power and belonging
• Why right relationship fundamentally starts with ourselves, our boundaries, and our values
• How each of us can use our power for good, conscientiously and in alignment with our values

Learn more about Dr. Amanda Aguilera:

• Right Use of Power Institute
• Instagram: @rightuseofpowerinstitute
• Shaping Power for Good: Wayfinding to Right Relationship

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• The Unburdened Leader on Substack
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• Parenthood
• EP 88: Right-Use-of-Power: Navigating Leadership Dynamics with Dr. Cedar Barstow
• EP 125: Power, Regulation, and Leadership: Connecting to Your Personal Power with Dr. Amanda Aguilera
• Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, Geoffrey L. Cohen
• EP 149: Interrupting the Fawning Trauma Response: Leadership, Safety, and Self-Trust with Dr. Ingrid Clayton
• Maya Angelou's 1992 Commencement Address at Spelman College
• In the Absence of the Ordinary Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty, Francis Weller
• Chico Gospel - ma muse
• Hannah Gadsby

Chapters:

• (00:00) - Introduction