Have you ever felt like you were trying to fit into a role that simply wasn’t shaped for you?

In this episode of Confident Leadership. In Colour., leadership coach Hanna Zaxmy explores why trying to fit in can quietly drain both your confidence and your energy.

Using the simple metaphor of a child’s shape-sorting toy, Hanna reflects on how expectations, roles and unspoken norms can sometimes push us into shapes that were never meant for us.

Real confidence doesn’t begin when we perfect the role others expect.
It often begins when we stop forcing the wrong shape — and start standing in our own colours.

This episode explores how authentic leadership grows from identity rather than expectation, and how self-leadership begins with the courage to stand in your own space.

If you’ve ever wondered why certain environments feel heavy or draining, this conversation may help you see those moments with new clarity.

• Why trying to fit in can quietly drain your confidence
• How expectations and roles can become invisible “armour”
• The difference between adapting and losing yourself
• Why authentic leadership begins with identity
• How standing in your own colours creates freedom to lead and contribute

(00:00) Trying to Fit the Wrong Shape
(01:12) Introduction
(02:02) Leadership, Colours and Identity
(03:03) Wearing Your Own Clothes
(04:16) Expectations and Invisible Armour
(06:02) When Others Try to Define Your Shape
(07:20) The Signal That Something Doesn’t Fit
(08:00) Standing in Your Own Colours
(09:00) A Question About the Armour You Wear
(09:45) Reflection and Closing

🎨 Continue the reflection

If you want to explore this kind of leadership more deeply, you’re warmly welcome to join the membership Confident Leadership. In Colour.

Inside the membership you’ll find practical tools, reflections and exercises designed to help you apply these ideas in your everyday leadership.

https://patreon.com/ConfidentLeadershipInColour

Be confident. Be you.
And keep leading in colours.

In this episode, you’ll discover:Chapters