You're the Boss, Now What? | Team Emotional Intelligence for Managers and Leaders

You can have the perfect strategy and still have a team that’s disengaged, drained, or stuck. These seven commitments are what actually change culture.

In Part 3 of this series, Desiree and Tessa walk through the seven commitments that shape your mindset, energy, and team culture—often more than any strategy ever will.

You’ll learn:

• Zone of Genius vs. “I’m ok at this” and why competence keeps you stuck.
• How to spot contentment vs. complacency so you stop settling for work that drains you.
• Why rest and play fuel better leadership (and why “busy” is not a badge of honor).
• How to flip unhelpful stories like “I’m not a good leader” into something true and useful.
• What you’re really seeking—approval, control, or security
• The shift from scarcity to abundance, especially around time and resources.
• How to see your team as allies, not obstacles, and why going first is the only way to change culture.

Pick one commitment and practice it in a single real situation this week—a meeting, a conflict, or a decision. Tiny, consistent shifts are how you move from surviving leadership to actually enjoying it.

Other Episodes mentioned in this podcast: 

Using Working Genius to Boost Team Performance

Hiring for Task (The Straegy That Stops New Hires From Checking Out Early)

Links Mentioned in Episode

• The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
• The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
• Soundtracks by Jon Acuff
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

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Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect:  Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
 • Navigate team management with confidence
 • Learn how to handle conflict at work
 • Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...

You can feel it in your team: everyone’s nice… but no one’s honest. Real opinions happen in side chats, gossip is normal, and you’re overcommitting and burning out trying to “keep the peace.” If you’ve ever thought, “Why won’t my team just say what they really think?” or “Why am I the only one holding everything together?” — this episode is for you.

In Part 2 of this series on The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, Desiree and Tessa focus on three to help you stay calm and grounded.

• Speaking candidly (without blowing things up)
   How to pair candor + care so you can say the hard thing while still protecting trust. 
• Eliminating gossip
   Why “venting” keeps you stuck and how leaders accidentally encourage it. 
• Practicing integrity so you stop overpromising
  Getting real about people-pleasing, overcommitting, and dropping balls.

You’ll also hear:

• The difference between appreciation & validation
• Easy ways to show meaningful appreciation
• How these commitments work together to help your team be honest & direct

After listening, choose one conversation you’ve been avoiding and ask: “How can I bring candor, integrity, and appreciation into this so I feel more in control?” 

  Links Mentioned:
 ● The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
● Radical Candor by Kim Scott
● The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

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Take the DISC or Working Genius Assessment and get a FREE 20 minutes debrief with Desiree 

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect:  Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
 • Navigate team management with confidence
 • Learn how to handle conflict at work
 • Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...

Most leaders want to lead with clarity,but in real life, it’s easy to slip into blame, defensiveness, people-pleasing, or overwhelm. You’re trying your best, yet you’re drained and stuck in the same patterns with your team.

In this episode, Desiree and leadership consultant Tessa break down the first three commitments of Conscious Leadership—taking 100% responsibility, choosing curiosity, and feeling your feelings—and how these shift you from reactive to grounded.

You’ll learn:

• What “above the line vs. below the line” looks like in real conversations
• How to take responsibility without becoming the hero or victim
• How curiosity instantly lowers defensiveness
• Why naming emotions boosts trust and presence

If you want to be a calmer, more intentional leader, these three commitments are the foundation.

Try this:
Pick one current issue and ask:

1. How did I contribute?
2. What am I curious about?
3. What am I feeling right now?

Key Takeaways:

• Responsibility = ownership, not blame
• Curiosity opens the door to real dialogue
• Your emotions don’t disqualify you—avoiding them does

 Links Mentioned:
 ● The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership

 ● The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

 ● Radical Candor by Kim Scott

 ● Soundtracks by Jon Acuff

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Take the DISC or Working Genius Assessment and get a FREE 20 minutes debrief with Desiree 

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect:  Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
 • Navigate team management with confidence
 • Learn how to handle conflict at work
 • Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...

Most people hear the word “gratitude” and think of journaling or writing lists. But for leaders, gratitude is something much deeper, it’s a shift in how you show up at work, how you navigate pressure, and how you lead your team through tough moments.

The truth is, many leaders operate in constant survival mode. You’re reacting, firefighting, carrying the emotional weight of your team, and trying to stay composed even when you’re stretched thin. And when that becomes normal, confidence drops, relationships strain, and work starts feeling heavier than it should.

In this episode, Desiree Petrich breaks down four ways gratitude strengthens your leadership identity, improves team dynamics, and creates a healthier work environment. These perspectives will help you handle difficult employees, build trust faster, reduce conflict, and lead with more steadiness — without needing to pretend everything is fine or write in a gratitude journal every morning.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL LEARN:

• How gratitude shifts you out of survival mode so you stop leading from stress and start leading from clarity
• Why gratitude builds self-awareness and helps you see your patterns, your growth, and the moments you should acknowledge in yourself
• How gratitude strengthens executive presence, helping you show up calmer, more grounded, and more influential in meetings
• Why gratitude protects your leadership energy, giving you more capacity to handle team dynamics, conflict, accountability, and tough conversations

If you want to be a more confident leader, build trust, and strengthen the culture around you — gratitude is one of the simplest, most powerful tools you can practice.

When you finish listening:
Choose one moment today to practice active appreciation. Say out loud something you’re grateful for in yourself, in a teammate, or in the effort it took to get through a hard moment. This is where real leadership transformation begins.

1. Gratitude stabilizes your leadership state so you’re not leading from urgency or overwhelm.
2. Gratitude sharpens self-awareness, which improves communication, delegation, and accountability.
3. Gratitude strengthens executive presence and helps you show up calmer and more confident.
4. Gratitude protects your leadership energy so you can handle difficult employees, conflict, and pressure without burning out.

Practice one moment of active appreciation today, and say it out loud.
Share it with someone, or send Desiree a message and tell her your moment of gratitude for the day.

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Take the DISC or Working Genius Assessment and get a FREE 20 minutes debrief with Desiree 

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect:  Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
 • Navigate team management with confidence
 • Learn how to handle conflict at work
 • Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...

Communication at work is starting to feel artificial. In this episode, we break down how leaders can use human fluency to build trust, create psychological safety, and communicate with clarity without losing professionalism.

Have you ever left a meeting wondering if anyone actually said what they meant?

If so, you're not alone. Remote work, AI tools, and the pressure to “sound professional” are creating communication that looks polished on the outside but lacks honesty on the inside. And when communication feels more like performance than collaboration, team dynamics break down, trust erodes, and even your best employees start pulling back.

In this episode, I’m joined by Nadine Lavigne to talk about human fluency and why it’s becoming one of the most important skills in modern leadership.
If you want to fix a toxic culture, rebuild trust, communicate with more confidence, and create psychological safety without becoming overly casual or losing authority, this conversation is for you.

Last week, we talked about rebuilding trust when workplace drama takes over a team.
This week, we’re taking the next step and getting to the root of why communication feels strained on so many teams right now.

We unpack what it actually looks like to sound like a human at work again so you can lead more effective meetings, handle conflict with confidence, and build a team that communicates honestly instead of politely.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL LEARN:
 • Why leaders today need human fluency to build trust, connection, and credibility
• How to stay authentic without losing authority or professionalism
• Simple communication shifts that create psychological safety and reduce conflict
• The role AI can play in improving—not replacing—real human leadership
• Why “polite” teams often struggle more with accountability, follow-through, and conflict
• How human fluency helps you handle difficult employees and fix communication breakdowns
• New manager tips you can use immediately to improve team conversations, clarity, and expectations

Connect with Nadine on LinkedIn 

Nadine Lavigne is a partner in the Talent Development space, a leadership coach, speaker, facilitator and founder of BeREAL Partners.With over 20 years in corporate leadership roles at GE, Boeing, and various tech companies like IBM, she now helps individuals and teams lead with more authenticity, trust, and purpose. Nadine is passionate about creating spaces where people can get real, and rediscover their true potential - both at work and in life. Nadine brings energy, honesty, and a little humor to every conversation, always aiming to leave people feeling seen, inspired, and more connected to themselves and each other.

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Take the DISC or Working Genius Assessment and get a FREE 20 minutes debrief with Desiree 

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect:  Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
 • Navigate team management with confidence
 • Learn how to handle conflict at work
 • Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...

Take your DISC or Working Genius assessment

Your team finally hits its stride, but how do you keep it that way? Learn the simple mindset that prevents conflict before it starts, builds trust fast, and keeps meetings focused. Practical scripts you can use today. 

Last week we talked about five steps to turn workplace drama into team trust. The week before that, how to handle a negative employee. Today we protect those gains by shifting how you show up, before issues grow.

Teams slip back into artificial harmony, side conversations, and missed expectations. Leaders either jump to conclusions or avoid hard talks, and meetings drag without decisions. 

Pain points
 • Circular, low-energy meetings and quiet disengagement
 • Second-guessing intentions and reacting to incomplete stories
 • Pressure to have all the answers as a new manager 

Solution
 Lead with curiosity. Desiree breaks it into four practical habits you can model and coach:

1. Assume positive intent to create space before you respond.
2. Encourage the right kind of conflict so passion fuels progress, not drama.
3. Test the story you’re telling yourself to get out of assumptions and into facts.
4. Ask better, smaller questions like “What am I missing?”, “What does success look like for you?”, and “What’s getting in your way?”, so people own the outcome.

You’ll also hear how personality wiring (DISC and Working Genius) affects your default reactions, and why curiosity beats certainty when you want a team that’s engaged, accountable, and drama-free. 

Key Takeaways
 • Curiosity before conclusions keeps conflict constructive.
 • Treat conflict as feedback to solve the real issue, not the symptoms.
 • Small, open questions unlock clarity, buy-in, and faster decisions.

Sign up for Desiree's Weekly newsletter

Take the DISC or Working Genius Assessment and get a FREE 20 minutes debrief with Desiree 

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect:  Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
 • Navigate team management with confidence
 • Learn how to handle conflict at work
 • Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...

Workplace conflict doesn’t just disappear, it spreads. Learn five practical steps to rebuild trust, strengthen communication, and fix a toxic culture so your team can perform at its best.

If you’ve ever walked into a meeting and felt the tension before anyone said a word, this episode is for you.

When workplace drama turns into silence, gossip, or passive-aggressive behavior, you’re not just managing conflict, you’re managing culture.

In this episode of You’re the Boss, Now What?, leadership coach Desiree Petrich shares the five steps she uses when she’s brought in to help teams rebuild trust and communication after conflict has taken root.

You’ll learn how to transform team tension into connection and turn uncomfortable conversations into meaningful progress. These are the same frameworks Desiree uses inside her leadership coaching and team development workshops, designed to help leaders protect their team’s energy and build healthy, high-performing workplaces.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• How to identify when workplace tension has turned into toxicity
• The right way to “clear the air” without losing control of the conversation
• How self-awareness and behavioral tools (like DISC or Working Genius) reduce friction
• Why creating a shared team language makes accountability easier
• How vulnerability and consistency build long-term trust
• A simple monthly rhythm to keep conflict healthy and communication strong

Key Takeaways

• Conflict handled early builds trust. Avoiding it just builds resentment.
• Awareness dissolves drama. When people understand each other, tension loses power.
• Trust is a practice, not a project. It’s built through consistent, honest conversations.

Leadership Game Questions

• What are three things our team does well, and what are three things we could do better? 
• What is one challenge we are currentlyl facing as a team? What can we change in ourselves to improve our situation? 
• What group of people do we need to be more intentional about listening to? (Employees / Clients / Customers / Shareholders / Ambassadors / etc.)
• What makes a day successful for you? 

"Keep the Conversation Going" Questions

1. What's working? 

2. Where are we drifting from who we said we'd be? 

3. What do we need to talk about before it turns into tension? 

 And if you’d like help facilitating these conversations, this is exactly the work Desiree does in her coaching for managers and team development workshops you can learn more at intentionalaction.net

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team + the Fieldguide by Patrick Lencioni

Play The Leadership Game with your team!
 

Email Desiree for a loom video on how to play "Gratiphone" with your team!

[email protected]

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Take the DISC or Working Genius Assessment and get a FREE 20 minutes debrief with Desiree 

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect:  Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
 • Navigate team management with confidence
 • Learn how to handle conflict at work
 • Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...

One negative employee can tank performance by 30 to 40 percent. Learn how to tell the difference between realism and pessimism, protect team dynamics, and know when it’s time to let someone go with confidence.

 Last week we talked about imposter syndrome, storytelling, and executive presence with a communication Matt Mosich. This week we shift from the stories in your head to the stories on your team.

If you’ve inherited a high performer who drags down morale, you’re not alone. Many first-time managers avoid action because conflict feels risky and backfilling is hard. Meanwhile, your best people consider leaving.

In this episode, we unpack the root causes behind “negativity” and why not all pushback is toxic. You’ll learn how to spot the difference between a realist who’s trying to protect the team and a pessimist who drains it, how to coach for better behavior, and how to document impact so HR conversations are clear and actionable. You’ll also get three reflection questions to help you decide if it’s time to let someone go.

Key Takeaways
 • Realism vs pessimism: identify intent, not just tone, so you don’t label constructive risk checks as negativity.

 • Coachable or contagious: use behavior impact and willingness to change to decide your next step.

 • Protect the team’s energy: leaders keep culture by addressing harmful behavior early and documenting impact, not just attitude.

 Want help understanding your team’s default styles so meetings stop derailing and decisions stick? Take a quick self-awareness assessment and explore DISC or Working Genius for your team at intentionalaction.net/self-awareness.

Sign up for Desiree's Weekly newsletter

Take the DISC or Working Genius Assessment and get a FREE 20 minutes debrief with Desiree 

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect:  Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
 • Navigate team management with confidence
 • Learn how to handle conflict at work
 • Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...

If you’ve ever felt like you don’t belong in your leadership role — or that you’re just “faking it” — you’re not alone.
 This episode will show you how to stop letting imposter syndrome run the show and start leading with presence and authority.

Matt, an executive communication and storytelling coach, shares how he went from hiding behind self-doubt to helping CEOs and founders find their voice — and how you can do the same.

By the time you finish listening, you’ll discover:

• How to identify the stories holding you back and rewrite them
• What confidence actually is and how to access it before any meeting
• A simple storytelling framework to build trust fast with your team

Key Takeaways

• Confidence isn’t a feeling — it’s a choice you practice daily.
• Your story shapes how you lead. Rewrite it to reflect the leader you’re becoming.
• Storytelling builds trust faster than authority alone ever could.

Connect with Matt on Linkedin 

Sign up for Desiree's Weekly newsletter

Take the DISC or Working Genius Assessment and get a FREE 20 minutes debrief with Desiree 

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect:  Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
 • Navigate team management with confidence
 • Learn how to handle conflict at work
 • Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...

Part two of our energy mini-series! Learn five glucose hacks to help first-time managers stay focused, avoid the afternoon crash, and lead their teams with steady energy all day long.

Listen to Part 1: New Manager Tips for Better Sleep to Make You a More Confident and In-Control Manager

Last week we talked about how sleep impacts your energy as a leader.
This week, we’re tackling the other half of the equation—what’s actually happening in your body all day that makes you tired, irritable, and unfocused.

If you’ve ever hit that 2 p.m. crash, snapped at a teammate, or reached for another cup of coffee to power through, this episode is for you.

We will talk about five practical glucose-stabilizing hacks that help you sustain your energy, sharpen your focus, and lead your team with more patience and presence. You’ll learn how blood sugar impacts your mood, motivation, and ability to manage effectively, and what you can do about it starting today.

By the end, you’ll see how managing your energy isn’t just a wellness trend, it’s leadership development in action. Because when your energy dips, so does your influence.

Key Takeaways

• How glucose spikes drain your patience, focus, and confidence at work
• Five sustainable habits to prevent the afternoon crash: savory breakfast, food order, post-meal movement, pairing carbs with protein, and the apple cider vinegar trick
• Why steady energy makes you a calmer, more consistent leader who builds trust and holds employees accountable

Links As Promised!

Glucose Goddess on Instagram

Glucose Revolution Book 

Glucose Goddess on Youtube

Sign up for Desiree's Weekly newsletter

Take the DISC or Working Genius Assessment and get a FREE 20 minutes debrief with Desiree 

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect:  Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
 • Navigate team management with confidence
 • Learn how to handle conflict at work
 • Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...