Shedding the Corporate Bitch

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! Has this ever been you? You walk into the meeting with your game face on. Firm voice, crossed arms, and no room for questions, because that’s what you believe a “real leader” looks like. And, while your team nods along, they also have already seen right through your act. It's too bad you haven't noticed it within yourself. Yet. Authentic leadership starts the moment you notice you’re performing, and this episode shows you how to catch the act and lead as yourself. Most leaders never decided to fake anything. They took advice, copied the tough boss who got promoted, and put on the face they thought earned respect. Then, years later they’re exhausted, their people keep a polite distance, and the mask comes home with them at night. Ouch. Bernadette sits down with coach and author Ev Foster, who spent years leading as a hard-nosed person she never was, until her own kids looked at her and asked what had happened to their mum. Together they get honest about the “should” voice that drives many professionals to become performative leaders, why intuition belongs at work, and what to do when people don’t believe you’ve changed. You’ll learn: - Why your team spots a performed leadership style before you do. - How the word “should” pulls you into someone else’s version of leadership. - A two-minute check-in that brings your own judgment back between meetings. - What performing costs your health, your trust and your home life. - How to hold steady when people give you the side-eye after you change. About the guest: Ev Foster is a coach trained in intuitive psychology and the author of Change Starts With Choice. After a career that included state agency work and losing a business, she now helps people, especially women in their fifties, lead their lives from the inside out. Website: https://www.changestartswithchoice.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evfoster/ Find out where you’re performing instead of leading. Take our free Leadership Gap Diagnostic: https://balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in Ready to work on it together? Book a discovery call: https://coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall Powerhouses, if this episode hit home, follow Shedding the Corporate Bitch and leave a review so more leaders can find it. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! Leading through change gets harder every time you wait for a problem to get loud before you act. In this episode, you’ll learn how to spot disruption early, plan for more than one future, and bring your team with you so you move first. AI, the economy, and the political climate are shaking up organizations right now. Most leaders respond the same way: they wait, they react, and they cut the very things they’ll need next, starting with their people. Your competition is for talent as much as it is for revenue. The leaders who win the next few years are the ones doing the homework today, even when they feel uncertain and unprepared. Bernadette Boas, executive coach and author, breaks down the difference between reactive leadership and anticipatory leadership, and walks you through the four components that let you lead through any disruption, change, or transformation. She shares a client story about the quiet signal that saved high-potential employees from walking out the door, and explains why your team wants the hard truth from you. You’ll learn: - The real cost of reactive, crisis-driven leadership.H - How to spot the quiet signals before they become loud problems. - How to build three or four plausible futures and stress-test your strategy against them. - How to make decisions without perfect data and why transparency builds trust. - The five leadership skills that will matter most as AI speeds up change. Find your own blind spots with our free Leadership Gap Diagnostic: https://balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in Powerhouses, if this episode helped you, follow Shedding the Corporate Bitch and leave a review so other Powerhouses can find the show. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! Feeling unfulfilled at work, even after the promotion, the raise, and the seat at the table? This episode shows you why the feeling you were promised never shows up, and how to get it back without quitting your job or blowing up your life. Most high achievers have been climbing since their first internship. Each rung promises that this is where you’ll finally feel accomplished. You get there, you wait, and nothing comes. So you aim for the next rung and quietly wonder if something is wrong with you. Bernadette Boas sits down with leadership and executive coach Michelle Pollack, who was laid off at eight months pregnant in the 2008 recession and spent the years after learning what the ladder never told her. The ladder tells you what to do to get ahead. It never tells you who to be while you’re doing it. On the way up, many of us drop pieces of ourselves one rung at a time, until we sound like the boss we swore we’d never become. We're discussing: Why the next promotion won’t fix the empty feeling on its own. How high achievers abandon themselves rung by rung, and how to spot where you’ve done it. The one question Michelle asks every new client that most of them have never considered. How to move from golden handcuffs to living in choice, in your career and at home. The “then what?” exercise that shrinks your biggest fear about asking hard questions. About the guest: Michelle Pollack is a leadership and executive coach who spent years climbing the ladder in the entertainment industry before a 2008 layoff pushed her off it. She now works with high achievers who look successful on paper and feel hollow underneath, helping them do the inner work to lead from choice instead of autopilot. Website: https://michellepollack.com. LinkedIn , Instagram , or @MichellePollack What to find your leadership gaps: take the free Leadership Gap Diagnostic at https://balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in Ready to talk? Book a discovery call with Bernadette at https://coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall Powerhouses, if this episode hit home, follow Shedding the Corporate Bitch and leave a review so more people can find it. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! Don't thrust yourself into a new leadership role before you listen to this episode or you'll risk setting yourself up for failure. Bernadette Boas breaks down why traditional “first 90 days” leadership playbooks miss the messy human realities of stepping into a new people manager role. They overlook the fear, politics, being watched, and the shift from tactical execution to strategic leadership that often trips up new leaders or even experienced ones moving into a new team, function, or company. Bernadette shares a three-phase 90-Day framework used with executive clients: days She also outlines how HR partners should support with patience, advocacy, and progress tracking, and reframes imposter syndrome as a sign of attention and seriousness. 00:00 Leadership Myths vs Reality 01:24 The Real 90 Days Framework 02:36 Day 1 to 30 Self Audit 05:06 Shut Up and Listen 09:57 Pattern Recognition Phase 12:44 Validate Findings and Pace 18:24 Day 61 to 90 Take Action 21:58 Avoid Two Leadership Traps 23:55 HR Partnering for Success 25:55 Imposter Syndrome Reframe 28:28 Summary and Next Steps 29:50 Closing and Subscribe KEY TAKEAWAYS The playbook doesn't account for the fear, politics, and human reality of stepping into leadership. Phase 1 (Days 1–30): Start with self-assessment, then listen. Spend 70% of your time in conversations. Don't solve problems yet—map the landscape. Phase 2 (Days 31–60): Recognize patterns. Validate findings. Understand the informal power structure. Move smarter, not faster. Phase 3 (Days 61–90): Make one small, evidence-based move. Show you listened. Build credibility through alignment. The four biggest mistakes: bad-mouthing predecessors, confusing new ideas with leadership, trying to be everyone's friend, assuming competence speaks for itself. Imposter syndrome isn't weakness—it's a sign you're paying attention and taking the role seriously. Your job is not to be perfect. It's to be present, intentional, and willing to learn. RESOURCES & MENTIONS Michael Watkins' "The First 90 Days" — The classic playbook on transitions HBR IdeaCast — Leadership content and research Leadership Gap Diagnostic — Free assessment to understand your gaps before stepping into a new role: balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in Ball of Fire Coaching — Executive coaching for leaders stepping into new roles: balloffirecoaching.com CALL TO ACTION Want to talk about how to navigate your 90-day plan with a Powerhouse coach? Schedule a discovery call: coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall Want to know where your leadership gaps are before you step into a new role? Take the free Leadership Gap Diagnostic: balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in ABOUT BERNADETTE Bernadette Boas is an executive leadership coach with 25+ years of corporate leadership experience and 18+ years of coaching 400+ executives across Fortune 500 and high-growth organizations. After being fired and labeled a "difficult boss," she built Ball of Fire Coaching to help leaders shed the corporate BS and lead with authenticity. She's the host of Shedding the Corporate Bitch, a podcast and YouTube show for Powerhouses ready to lead differently. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! Do you experience Sunday-night dread, sleepless nights, or simply unmotivated to go the extra mile? How is it impacting your effectiveness on the job? Driven leaders push through all of it, and that's exactly how drift takes the wheel and controls how you show up each day, and more importantly how your team experiences you. I sat down with Dr. Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer who shows you how to spot drift early and take back your direction in seven minutes a day. About the Guest Dr. Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer is Founder & CEO of Bentzen Performance Partners [confirm], a Board Certified Coach and SPHR with a PhD in social psychology and an MBA. After 30 years in corporate HR, she co-authored the USA Today bestseller Now, Near, Next and wrote Human Capital Investment Strategy. Find her free drift diagnostics at dr-cynthia.com Key Takeaways • Your body tells on you first. Sunday-night dread, chronic headaches, and sleeping too much or too little are signals that something is out of alignment. • Drift hides in five areas: your physical and mental health, your relationships, your finances, your potential, and your purpose. • Drift shows up most in type-A achievers, because we're not quitters. We muddle through until we slam into something. • There are three patterns: complacency (not paying attention), avoidance (knowing and not dealing), and incremental drift (one-off moments that are actually a pattern). • Nobody is truly stuck. Time keeps moving, and the drifting years don't come back. • Organizations drift too. Strong financials can hide lagging people indicators, and AI makes betting on uniquely human strengths more important than ever. Be sure to tune in to hear Cynthia's 7-minute practice that can change everything for you. Subscribe to the show so you don't miss a single guest or powerhouse discussion: https://pod.link/shedthecorporatebitch Link in with Bernadette - https://linkedin.com/in/bernadetteboas Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! ABOUT THIS EPISODE: After more than 400 executives coached, I have found one common attribute of those executives who successfully transforms: they were truly coachable. Most executives aren't. They think they're open-minded, they say they take feedback, they insist they want to grow, but the moment feedback is given to them that makes them uncomfortable, they start defending, explaining it away, making excuses. That's not coachability. That's theater, it's performing. In this episode, Bernadette Boas, executive leadership coach and founder of Ball of Fire Coaching, cuts through the BS and shows you exactly what real coachability looks like, how to assess it in yourself and your teams, and what to do if you're not there yet. She breaks down the three pillars of coachability that separate executives who transform from those who stay stuck and reveals the costly mistakes hiring managers and HR leaders make when they invest in coaching too early. If you're coaching your team, hiring a coach for yourself, or wondering why your coaching investments aren't delivering ROI, this episode is for you. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN: • How to spot theater coachability vs. real coachability and why most leaders are performing • The 3 Pillars of Coachability: Ownership, Curiosity, and Commitment (and why you need all three) • How to assess your own readiness for coaching and know if you're truly ready to change • What HR leaders and hiring managers must evaluate before investing in coaching programs • The 5-step roadmap to develop coachability if you're not there yet • Why coaching fails when someone is ready for coaching and how to identify real transformation potential KEY QUOTE: "Coachability isn't about who you are, it's about where you are right now. It's a skill that can be learned, meaning you can develop it if you decide you want to." — Bernadette Boas EPISODE CHAPTERS & TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 – Opening: The One Thing Transformed Executives Have in Common 1:50 – Theater vs. Real Coachability: What Performing Looks Like 4:24 – The 3 Pillars of Coachability: Ownership, Curiosity, and Commitment 8:45 – What Happens When You're Missing One or Two Pillars 14:00 – Why HR Leaders Must Assess Readiness Before Hiring a Coach 22:00 – My Most Difficult Client Story: The Cost of Missed Readiness 31:30 – How to Develop Coachability: Your 5-Step Roadmap 37:00 – Outro: Your Next Step + Discovery Call Invitation DOWNLOAD A FREE COACHABILITY SELF-ASSESSMENT: Not sure where you stand as a leader? Take the free Coachability Self-Assessment and identify which pillar: Ownership, Curiosity, or Commitment is missing, and therefore may need some work prior to investing in coaching. You can use it for yourself or team members. Download at: https://balloffirecoaching.kit.com/coachability READY TO DISCUSS COACHING: If you're coachable and ready to go deeper, let's talk. Book your free 30-minute discovery call with Bernadette to explore whether coaching is right for you: coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! Breathwork isn't wellness. Learn the 60-second nervous system reset executives use to reclaim clarity, presence, and leadership influence. About This Episode: Most executives don't realize they're holding their breath through back-to-back meetings. Your nervous system stays in overdrive, your thinking fogs, decisions that should take five minutes take thirty, and your presence—the thing that makes people trust you starts eroding. Breathwork isn't wellness fluff. It's the executive tool for clarity, presence, and influence. In this episode, Brett Aldrich, founder of Seed the Spirit, reveals the exact breathing practices executives are using to reset instantly, step from reaction to solution, and prove their credibility without saying a word. From 4-4-4 breathing at your desk to dual nostril breathing for neutrality, Brett walks through three practices you can start today, plus why rest, not hustle, is how leaders deliver more value. If you're managing your nervous system like a performance problem instead of a body problem, this conversation will change how you think about leadership presence. What You Will Learn: • How to reclaim mental clarity in 60 seconds—the practice that works between meetings • Why your credibility depends on your nervous system and how to prove it • The 4-4-4 breathing technique: when to use it and why it resets faster than coffee • Dual nostril breathing: the practice that brings your body to center • Circular breathing: how to process a nonstop day without burning out • Why rest isn't lazy, it's the fastest path to executive performance • The exact mistake most leaders make that keeps them trapped in reaction mode About the Guest: Brett Aldrich is founder of Seed the Spirit , a breathwork and nervous system coaching practice. After years in high-stress corporate and victim advocacy roles, she recognized that burnout is a body problem, not a mindset fix. Now she teaches leaders and entrepreneurs how small breathing practices compound into big health and career wins. Visit seedthespirit.com or connect on Facebook: Seed the Spirit. About Bernadette: Bernadette Boas is an executive leadership coach and founder of Ball of Fire Coaching . After 25+ years in corporate leadership (VP, Chief Knowledge Officer) and 18+ years coaching 400+ executives across Fortune 500 and high-growth organizations, she was fired for being "too difficult"—the best thing that happened to her. Now she helps leaders navigate burnout, reclaim their presence, and lead from their power. Website: balloffirecoaching.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bernardetteboas Resources & Related Episodes: → Take the Leadership Gap Diagnostic: https://balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in → Schedule Your Discovery Call: coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall → The Burnout Trap No One Talks About: https://balloffirecoaching.com/truth-about-burnout/ → Your Team Isn’t Underperforming, They’re Under-Directed: https://balloffirecoaching.com/clear-expectations/ ->The Non-Negotiable Leaders Miss and Why They End Up Micromanaging: https://balloffirecoaching.com/why-leaders-micromanage/ Subscribe & Follow: New episodes every Tuesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Buzzsprout. Subscribe to stay connected and never miss an episode. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bernardetteboas | Instagram: @shedthecorpbitch | Facebook: @shifttorich Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! Your high-potential just hit a ceiling she can't see. Your strong contributor is running a toxic sub-team and you're not sure how to course-correct without losing him. Your new promotion deserves better than a "good luck" and a handbook. Executive coaching is the $20 billion industry you're underusing. Most HR leaders and hiring managers know coaching works; the ROI is proven, engagement lifts, retention improves. But most don't hire coaches, or when they do, they hire badly. They lack effective vetting questions, and a framework that doesn't just rely on a certificate that doesn't carry any weight if someone can't actually create change. This week on Shedding the Corporate Bitch , Bernadette walks through the exact framework she uses to evaluate coaches for her 400+ executive clients. It includes 15 total questions; 10 universal ones every leader should ask, plus 5 critical ones if you're an HR or business leaders investing in coaching for your organization. What You Will Learn • How to accelerate high potentials and fix struggling teams through the right coach match • The 15-question vetting framework that separates great coaches from poor hires • Red flags in coach selection and how to spot them in your first conversation • Why chemistry alone is not enough and not all certficates and credentials are a quarantee Key Quote: "The best leaders in the world have coaches. It's not because they're broken. It's because they want to show up as the best leader they can be." Episode Chapters 0:00 — Introduction 0:32 — Why Leaders Don't Hire Coaches (Even When Coaching Works) 1:30 — Who This Episode Is For 3:35 — Why Coaching Matters and the ROI 5:59 — Common Hiring Mistakes Leaders Make 8:00 — The 10 Universal Vetting Questions 32:55 — The 5 HR-Specific Vetting Questions 35:48 — How to Make Your Final Decision 37:35 — Your Challenge This Week 38:00 — Closing Invitation and Next Steps Want to determine if there are leadership gaps that need attention? Take our free Leadership Gap Diagnostic that takes 10 minutes and pinpoints exactly where you need support. Get started: https://balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in About Bernadette Boas Bernadette Boas is an executive leadership coach, founder of Ball of Fire Coaching, and author of Shedding the Corporate Bitch. With 25+ years in corporate leadership roles (VP and Chief Knowledge Officer) and 16+ years coaching 400+ executives across Fortune 500 and high-growth companies, she transforms leaders and teams. About Shedding the Corporate Bitch Every episode transforms today's managers into tomorrow's powerhouse leaders. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! About This Episode Most leaders treat employee turnover like a compensation problem or a market problem. Kevin Patrick of Trinity One Consulting spent 15 years inside ERP systems implementations before realizing it's neither; it's a trust problem, and it's fixable. In this episode, Kevin walks through the Dream Manager methodology: a model built on the idea that people give a company their best work when the company genuinely invests in their life outside of it. Kevin shares how a Florida home builder used it to attack a 58% turnover rate in its sales division, and why the math on turnover; lost salaries, ramp time, and tribal knowledge gets into the tens of millions faster than most leaders expect. Stop wondering why your best people leave even when the paycheck is right, and understand the first step you can take to prevent it. What You Will Learn • Trust: why treating people as “a paycheck for eight hours” quietly erodes your influence as a leader • Visibility: how to spot disengagement before it costs you a resignation letter • Results: the real financial math behind employee turnover, department by department • Trust: the one question that gets even guarded employees to open up • Influence: why bringing frontline employees, not just managers, into major decisions changes outcomes Key Quote “Numbers don't lie. Math is math when you do it right.” — Kevin Patrick Episode Chapters 0:00 Why 78% of your team has already checked out 1:54 The catalyst: why business isn't just systems 4:25 The real reason employees disengage at work 6:02 Why the wrong people are in the room during big rollouts 8:57 What the Dream Manager method actually is 10:00 Case study: 58% turnover in a 400-person sales team 14:25 How to pitch this internally: the numbers-first approach 20:00 Inside a real Dream Manager conversation 26:04 Can managers become Dream Managers themselves? 30:21 Your first step: what to bring to the conversation 33:28 The Bozeman, Montana downsell story 35:06 Where to find Kevin Patrick About the Guest Kevin "KP" Patrick is Founder and CEO of Trinity One Consulting and Director of Operations at Anton Systems. A Certified Dream Manager and EOS Integrator with 30+ years in business, he helps businesses optimize operations through AI and people-first leadership. He also hosts The Dream Dividend podcast and coaches youth football in St. Augustine, FL. Related Episodes Leadership Blind Spots: Why Your Best People Keep Quitting with DEBBIE LONGO Why Top Performers Keep Getting Passed Over for Promotion with TIM SHARP Career Path Strategy: How To Drive Your Own Career Direction DOWNLOAD OUR FREE Leadership Gap Diagnostic: HERE Subscribe HERE Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! You've done the work. You've discovered who you are, confronted the fears running your leadership, shed the old story, and started creating something new. So why does one bad day, one hard conversation, one piece of sharp feedback still have the power to send you right back to where you started? In the final 5th episode of the From Stuck to Leading series, Bernadette Boas breaks down why a new identity doesn't happen overnight, a habit takes roughly 66 days to embed, and decades of old stories don't dissolve in a single breakthrough. She walks through the exact 4-part loop that turns fragile progress into permanent, compounding change: building your evidence file, elevating your standards on purpose, restructuring your circle, and treating the whole process as iterative instead of one-and-done. Plus a real client story of a leader who used this loop to recover from a major organizational shakeup without losing the ground he'd gained. This is the fifth and final episode of the From Stuck to Leading series, following Discover, Confront, Shed, and Create — start with Episode 1 if you're joining new, since today's episode builds directly on all four. Go to https://balloffirecoaching.com/podcast to find those episodes. What We Cover ● [00:00] Why you can't accelerate on an empty tank ● [00:53] Series recap: Discover, Confront, Shed, Create ● [03:44] The five steps, redefined for daily use ● [06:00] Why new identities don't happen overnight — the 66-day reality ● [11:28] The four-part acceleration loop: evidence, standards, circle, iteration ● [19:44] Client story: rebuilding momentum after a major reorg ● [25:46] Putting the loop into action — the 4 moves ● [30:56] Bernadette's own story, the closing coaching question, and what's next Key Quote "You can't accelerate on an empty tank." — Bernadette Boas Links Mentioned ● Free Leadership Gap Diagnostic: ● 60-Minute Diagnostic Deep Dive (results walkthrough + 60-day action plan): tiny.cc/diagnosticdeepdive ● Website: balloffirecoaching.com About the Show Shedding the Corporate B!tch is a weekly leadership podcast for executives ready to stop performing and start leading from who they really are. About the Host Bernadette Boas is an executive leadership coach, speaker, and author, and the founder of Ball of Fire Coaching, with 25+ years of corporate leadership experience and 16+ years coaching 400+ executives across Fortune 500 and high-growth organizations. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! About This Episode Most leaders assume their team's friction is a personality clash. Executive and business coach Debbie Longo says it's almost always behavior, and the leadership blind spot she runs into most is control and manipulation. In this episode, Debbie walks through how a single thought becomes a behavior, why some leaders need to hit a “bottom” before they'll change, and why real, lasting change starts with seeing the pattern in yourself before anyone else has to point it out. Bernadette and Debbie also get into the tension every HR leader and manager feels: real behavior change can happen fast, but it doesn't happen on command, and pushing for speed without patience is often what derails it. What You Will Learn • Rebuild trust with your team by recognizing the one behavior pattern most executives never catch in themselves • Stop the control-and-manipulation cycle before it tanks sales and drives out your best people • Use a 2-minute nightly inventory to catch blind spots before they cost you your job • Turn pressure from your board or boss into a fast, focused action plan instead of denial • Understand why real behavior change can show up in weeks, and what determines the pace • Protect your influence and credibility by leading from awareness instead of ego • Give HR and managers a clear, patient way to talk about the pace of real change Key Quote “I changed my thinking, and everyone around me changed.” — Debbie Longo Episode Chapters 00:01 – Why behavior, not personality, drives leadership effectiveness 00:04 – The mindset-shift example: catching a bad outcome before it happens 00:07 – What hitting bottom actually looks like (divorce, job loss, losing a house) 00:08 – Why HR and managers underestimate how long real change takes 00:10 – The message to HR leaders and hiring managers: patience over pace 00:14 – How control and manipulation actually develops 00:16 – Why controlling leaders can't see it in themselves 00:20 – "I change myself... everybody around me changes" — the ripple effect 00:20 – Where accountability fits in (board/boss pressure forcing change) 00:22 – How Debbie tells a client they're not actually changing 00:24 – The #1 tip: the nightly self-inventory exercise 00:26 – Wrap-up and where to find Debbie About the Guest Debbie Longo is an Executive Behavioral Coach, speaker, and podcast host with more than 24 years of experience helping leaders improve communication, accountability, and performance by changing behaviors that drive results. She equips executives and business owners with practical strategies that strengthen leadership, culture, and long-term business success. About the Host Bernadette Boas is a corporate executive leadership coach, speaker, and founder of Ball of Fire Coaching. Related Episodes The Accidental Leader: Manager vs. Leader Your Team is Being Under-Directed!! 5 Steps to Move From Top Performer to True Leade r Leadership Gap Diagnostic CTA Take the free Leadership Gap Diagnostic → balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in Subscribe CTA Subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast app so you never miss a Powerhouse conversation. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! You did the work and you let go of the old story, the fear, the pattern that kept you stuck. So why does it still feel like nothing's actually changed? In this episode, Bernadette Boas breaks down the mistake nearly every leader makes right after a real breakthrough: mistaking the relief of letting go for the finish line. She walks through the five-part foundation — trust, integrity, motivation, empowerment, and results that turns genuine growth into an actual new career, plus the 4 specific moves to build a new identity on purpose instead of by accident. This is Episode 4 of the five-part From Stuck to Leading series, following Discover, Confront, and Shed. What We Cover ● 0:00 — Why relief isn't the finish line, and the exact point most people quietly stop building ● 8:00 — The foundation that makes growth actually stick: trust, integrity, motivation, empowerment, results ● 14:40 — "You'd be surprised how little others think of you" — the sentence that changed how she leads ● 21:30 — The 4 moves to build a new identity on purpose ● 30:00 — The networking party story: 40 friends down to 5 ● 35:00 — The coaching question, the dare, and what's next in Episode 5 Key Quote "You'd be surprised how little others think of you." — Bernadette Boas Links Mentioned ● Listen to Episode 1-3: balloffirecoaching.com/podcast ● Free Leadership Gap Diagnostic: balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in ● Book a 30-min Discovery Call: coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall ● Website: balloffirecoaching.com About the Show Shedding the Corporate B!tch is a weekly leadership podcast for executives ready to stop performing and start leading from who they really are. About the Host Bernadette Boas is an executive leadership coach, speaker, and author, and the founder of Ball of Fire Coaching, with 25+ years of corporate leadership experience and 16+ years coaching 400+ executives across Fortune 500 and high-growth organizations. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! You're the most reliable person on your team, and that reliability might be exactly what's keeping you from the next promotion. In this episode, executive and career transition coach Laura Berman Fortgang joins Bernadette to unpack the entrepreneurial mindset every corporate leader needs, and why the people who do everything right often stay stuck as the "understudy" instead of becoming the star. Laura has spent decades coaching executives and entrepreneurs through career change including work with guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She and Bernadette dig into why asking questions builds more real influence than giving answers, how to handle a manager who feels threatened by your visibility, and the delegation habits (especially common among women) that quietly cap a career. Laura also shares the four pillars — messaging, methodology, marketing, and managing yourself and your business that determine whether a corporate-to-entrepreneur transition actually works. What You Will Learn ● Build the entrepreneurial mindset that gets you noticed for promotion, without overstepping ● Grow your influence by asking better questions instead of giving answers ● Handle a manager who feels threatened by your initiative ● Recognize the delegation trap that keeps capable people invisible for the roles they want ● Know when you're actually ready to leave corporate and build your own business ● How to apply the four pillars — messaging, methodology, marketing, managing ● Hear the client story of a stuck senior executive who took the reins and landed a C-suite role Key Quote: “It's easier to find a new star than to replace the understudy.” — Laura Berman Fortgang About the Guest Laura Berman Fortgang is an executive and career transition coach and the author of Now What? Ninety Days to a New Life Direction. Her coaching career includes work with guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and she has spent decades helping corporate leaders and entrepreneurs navigate promotion, career change, and business transitions. Learn more at LauraBermanFortgang.com. About Bernadette Bernadette Boas is an executive leadership coach and founder of Ball of Fire Coaching, with 25+ years of corporate leadership experience — including VP and Chief Knowledge Officer roles — and 400+ executives coached across Fortune 500 and high-growth organizations. Related Episodes from our From Stuck to Leading Series: ● Episode 3 - Shed - https://balloffirecoaching.com/whats-holding-you-back/ ● Episode 2 — Confront https://balloffirecoaching.com/5-inner-fears-destroying-your-leadership/ ● Episode 1— Discover https://balloffirecoaching.com/from-stuck-to-leading/ Leadership Gap Diagnostic: Take the free Leadership Gap Diagnostic to find out what's really holding your career back: balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in Subscribe to Shedding the Corporate B!tch on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify for a new episode every week. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! Most leaders don't stay stuck because they lack skill, they stay stuck because of an authentic leadership identity they haven't claimed yet. In Episode 3 of From Stuck to Leading self-coaching series, Bernadette Boas breaks down the difference between a Borrowed, Performed, and Owned leadership identity, and walks through exactly what happens the moment you stop performing for the people around you. This episode delivers the five concrete moves Bernadette's private clients use to shed a self-limiting story: finding the story behind a diagnostic gap, gathering the evidence that contradicts it, naming who you've been performing for, rewriting the story, and making one deliberate choice from it. It builds directly on Episode 1 (Discover) and Episode 2 (Confront). If you haven't caught those yet, start there before diving into this one. https://balloffirecoaching.com/podcast What You Will Learn ● The exact story quietly keeping you out of the room for your next promotion ● Why the people closest to you may resist your growth and why it isn't your problem to manage ● The difference between a Borrowed, Performed, and Owned leadership identity ● The 5-move method for shedding your limiting beliefs ● How to find the evidence that proves your limiting story was never true ● One deliberate choice you can make this week to start living your new story Episode Chapters0:00 — Cold Open + Series Recap (matches — "the most dangerous moment..." opens the episode) 3:00 — What Shedding Actually Means 12:00 — The Three Leadership Identities 22:00 — Moves 1 & 2: Story and Evidence 38:00 — Move 3: Who You're Performing For 42:00 — Moves 4 & 5: Rewrite and Choose 47:00 — Bernadette's Story: The Milkman's Daughter ( 52:00 — Close + Episode 4 Preview About This Self-Coaching Series From Stuck to Leading: Episode 1 — Discover, Episode 2 — Confront, Episode 3 — Shed (this episode), Episode 4 — Create and Episode 5 — Accelerate (every other Tuesday). Related Episodes ● Episode 2 — Confront https://balloffirecoaching.com/5-inner-fears-destroying-your-leadership/ ● Episode 1— Discover https://balloffirecoaching.com/from-stuck-to-leading/ DOWNLOAD FREE Leadership Gap Diagnostic Take the free Leadership Gap Diagnostic: balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in Subscribe Subscribe on YouTube (@ShedtheCorpBitchTV), Apple Podcasts , or Buzzsprout. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! You're outperforming everyone, and still getting passed over. A 30-year HR insider explains why companies reward compliance over contribution, and how to speak up without killing your career. Tim Sharp sat inside the HR rooms of the world's largest tech and pharma companies for three decades. What he saw drove him to write a book so honest his lawyer warned it could get him fired — so he published it under a pen name. In this episode, you'll learn: — Why the "good soldier" path stalls at middle management, and what the people who rise do differently — The "don't outshine the master" trap — How to manage your visibility without dimming it — What "soft corruption" in senior ranks means for who actually gets ahead — Who HR really represents (Tim's in HR — he said it, not me) — How Tim built real courage: 12 years sober, a values rebuild at 40, and the practice of speaking up GET TIM'S BOOK — important: it's published under his pen name. Search Amazon for: PHILIP ARMSTRONG FEYNG: "Busting Business Bullshit: From Corporate Nonsense to The Rise of The 20% Company" - HERE Connect with Tim: LinkedIn — @TSharp1 | Facebook & Instagram — @TimSharp ------------------------ From Bernadette, FIND YOUR LEADERSHIP GAP (free, 10 minutes): balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! Your leadership gaps aren’t measuring what you haven’t learned. They’re measuring what you’ve been afraid to confront. In this episode, executive coach Bernadette Boas names the five inner fears, including leadership self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and fear of failure that quietly run even the most accomplished leaders from the inside out. This is Episode 2 of From Stuck to Leading, a 5-part self-coaching series built around the exact steps Bernadette uses with private clients. In this episode, you’ll finally see the direct line between what you’re carrying internally and the leadership gaps showing up in your diagnostic scores. Be sure to DOWNLOAD your free leadership gap diagnostic and refer to it while listening thoughout the series - balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in ABOUT THIS SERIES • Episode 1 — DISCOVER: Who are you as a leader when no one’s watching? HERE • Episode 2 — CONFRONT: Meet the 5 inner fears destroying your leadership ← this episode • Episode 3 — SHED: What do you release, change, or expand? (coming soon) • Episode 4 — CREATE: What does the leader you’re meant to be look like? (coming soon) • Episode 5 — ACCELERATE: What’s the one move that changes everything? (coming soon) WHAT YOU’LL LEARN • Why leadership self-doubt and imposter syndrome are creating your diagnostic gaps • How to identify which of the 5 inner fears is running your leadership • The direct link between your internal fears and your team’s trust, performance, and engagement • A 3-step Confront framework for facing what’s been running your leadership from the inside • How to read your Leadership Gap Diagnostic scores as fear gaps, not skill gaps KEY QUOTE “Your diagnostic isn’t measuring what you haven’t learned. It’s measuring what you’ve been afraid to confront.” — Bernadette Boas EPISODE CHAPTERS 0:00 — Cold Open / Series Intro 5:00 — Meet Your Five Inner Bitches 7:00 — Inner Bitch #1: The Imposter 9:30 — Inner Bitch #2: The Failure Avoider 13:00 — Inner Bitch #3: The Control Freak 15:00 — Inner Bitch #4: The People Pleaser 17:30 — Inner Bitch #5: The Approval Seeker 21:00 — Leadership Gap Diagnostic Spotlight Introduction 22:30 — Spotlight Question 1: Self-Awareness 25:30 — Spotlight Question 2: Executive Presence & Influence 27:00 — The 3-Step Confront Framework 33:30 — Coaching Question + I Dare You 34:30 — Outro + Episode 3 Tease RESOURCES • FREE Leadership Gap Diagnostic: balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in RELATED EPISODES • Episode 1 — DISCOVER: Who Are You as a Leader? HERE • Why Your Team Ignores You and What to Fix First • Confident as F*ck: How to Stop Leading Through Fear with RACHEL LAWRENCE ABOUT BERNADETTE BOAS Bernadette Boas is an executive coach, speaker, author, and founder of Ball of Fire Coaching. 25+ years in corporate America. 18+ years coaching 400+ executives across Fortune 500 organizations. Host of Shedding the Corporate Bitch podcast. SUBSCRIBE • YouTube: youtube.com/@ShedtheCorpBitchTV • Apple Podcasts: HERE Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! If you've been powering through your workday instead of actually leading it, this episode will change how you think about your next move. Bernadette Boas sits down with career strategy and executive coach Randi Roberts to talk about what it really takes to take control of your career path starting with the moment Randi turned down a company-recommended assignment to protect what mattered most to her family. Randi shares how she rebuilt her own career like a strategic plan, why suggestions from leadership are not commands, and the small trusted circle she calls her "Holy Smokes List" when she genuinely doesn't know what to do next. What You Will Learn How to tell the difference between a leader's suggestion and a required decision Why rehearsing a hard career conversation before you have it changes the outcome How to build a personal board of directors for your career What a Holy Smokes List is and why every leader needs one The first question to ask when a role stops fitting How to think like "future you" when evaluating an opportunity Episode Chapters 00:00 – Cold Open: Are You Just Powering Through? 01:00 – Randi's Own Career Demotivation Story Begins 03:00 – Turning Down The Expat Assignment For Family 04:00 – The Real Risks Of Pushing Back On Leadership 06:00 – Rehearse The Hard Conversation Before You Have It 08:00 – Suggestions, Not Commands: Getting In The Driver's Seat 10:00 – Building Your Career Like A 25-Year Strategic Plan 13:00 – Think Like Future-You, Future-CEO-You 14:00 – The Pivotal Moment Randi Left Corporate 16:00 – Step One: Figure Out What's Itching 17:00 – Building Your Career Board Of Directors 20:00 – The Holy Smokes List, Explained 21:00 – Asking For Help Without Overthinking It 25:00 – Randi's Free Right Time Guide 26:00 – Close & Recap With Bernadette About the Guest Randi Roberts is a career strategy and executive coach who spent 30 years leading in corporate before launching her own coaching business nearly a decade ago. She helps professionals build intentional, strategic career paths instead of drifting through them. Learn more: https://www.corlinroberts.net/ Related Episodes How to Handle Workplace Disputes Before They Become Lawsuits — with Felicia Harris Hoss Employee Engagement Strategies That Actually Move the Needle with IAN WATTS Define What Winning Looks Like and Watch Performance Shift with JACKSON LYNCH Subscribe CTA Enjoyed this conversation? Subscribe to Shedding the Corporate Bitch on any podcast streaming platform or YouTube @ShedtheCorpBitchTV and never miss an episode. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! In this 5-part series premiere of From Stuck to Leading , a five-part self-coaching experience on Shedding the Corporate B!tch, executive coach Bernadette Boas opens with the question at the foundation of every coaching engagement she runs: Who are you as a leader when no one is watching? Not your title, not your results, not your LinkedIn profile, but the leader who shows up when the pressure is on, the recognition is absent, and the next five minutes are going to reveal everything about who you actually are. Drawing on 18 years of coaching over 400 executives, Bernadette walks Powerhouses through two diagnostic spotlight questions from her Leadership Gap Diagnostic — a free 25-statement assessment that places leaders in one of four performance tiers. The gap between how you intend to lead and how your leadership actually lands, and the gap between knowing you need to develop and actively closing that gap, are the two fault lines most leaders have never honestly examined. This is the coaching experience designed to change that — without the price tag of private coaching. Download the free Leadership Gap Diagnostic and start the series with your full baseline in hand. What You Will Learn Throughout The Series: • How to close the gap between the leader you perform and the leader you actually are • Why self-awareness in leadership is about accuracy, not self-indulgence — and how most executives are overestimating theirs • The difference between intending to close your leadership gaps and actively doing it • How one executive went from being passed over for VP to landing the role, at a different company, on her own terms, in 18 months • How to use the free Leadership Gap Diagnostic to establish your baseline for all five episodes in this series Key Quote: "The leaders who sustain their impact, the ones who lead well under pressure, who earn genuine trust, who grow over decades instead of burning out, they are not the smartest or most talented. They are the ones who know who they are, clearly, honestly, and without the title doing the work for them." — Bernadette Boas Episode Chapters: 00:00:00 — Series Hook: Who Are You When No One Is Watching? 00:01:00 — Welcome + Series Introduction: From Stuck to Leading 00:02:00 — Bernadette's Story: From Fired to Foundation 00:03:00 — How to Use the Leadership Gap Diagnostic 00:05:00 — Branded Intro / How the Episode Works 00:06:00 — Spotlight Question 1: Do You Know How Your Leadership Actually Lands? 00:08:00 — Spotlight Question 2: Are You Actively Closing the Gap? 00:10:00 — The Four Leadership Tiers + Diagnostic Reminder 00:11:00 — The Identity Question: Returning to Who Are You When No One Is Watching? 00:13:00 — What Shaky Leadership Identity Looks Like 00:14:00 — Bernadette's Firing Story: The Identity Problem 00:16:00 — Client Story: Dana's Path to VP 00:18:00 — The I Dare You Challenge 00:19:00 — Wrap Up: What to Take Away Today 00:20:00 — Series Commitment + Subscribe CTA 00:21:00 — Preview of Episode 2: What Are You Avoiding? ABOUT THIS SERIES — From Stuck to Leading: The Five-Part Self-Coaching Conversation Every other Tuesday, Bernadette Boas asks one coaching question — the same question she asks every private client. Five episodes. Five questions. One complete leadership transformation arc. • Episode 1 — Who Are You as a Leader When No One Is Watching? [YOU ARE HERE] • Episode 2 — What Are You Avoiding That's Quietly Costing You Everything? [LINK WHEN LIVE] • Episode 3 — [Coming every other Tuesday] • Episode 4 — [Coming every other Tuesday] • Episode 5 — [Coming every other Tuesday] Subscribe to Shedding the Corporate B!tch on YouTube (@ShedtheCorpBitchTV) or your podcast platform so you never miss an episode in the series. About Bernadette Boas: Bernadette Boas is an executive coach, speaker, author, and founder of Ball of Fire Coaching. With 25+ years in corporate America — including VP and Chief Knowledge Officer roles — and 18 years coaching 400+ executives across Fortune 500 and high-growth organizations, she is the host of Shedding the Corporate B!tch. balloffirecoaching.com | coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall Related Episodes: • I Got Fired So You Could Lead — The story behind the framework: HERE • The TIMER Framework Solo Episode: HERE • Why Your Team Ignores You: HERE Subscribe & Follow: New episodes of the From Stuck to Leading series release every other Tuesday at @ShedtheCorpBitchTV on YouTube. Subscribe and hit the bell so you're notified when Episode 2 drops — it goes deeper on the question every executive has been avoiding. All episodes are also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms. Download the free Leadership Gap Diagnostic : tiny.cc/leadershipgapdiagnostic Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! Workplace dispute resolution is one of the least discussed and most costly blindspots in executive leadership. In this episode of Shedding the Corporate B!tch , executive coach Bernadette Boas sits down with Felicia Harris Hoss , of Harris Hoss Mediations & Arbitration , a nationally recognized mediator with 30 years of trial law experience, to break down early dispute resolution and why it is one of the most powerful, underutilized tools available to corporate executives and HR leaders. Felicia explains why less than five percent of filed lawsuits ever reach trial, what that means for how executives should be approaching conflict, and why the decision to mediate early is not a sign of weakness, it is a strategic move that preserves relationships, resources, and reputation. She walks through the four Cs of mediation, the questions every executive should be asking their attorney, and how to shift from a reacting posture to a responding one in any dispute. If you lead people, manage HR concerns, or sit in any seat where workplace conflict can escalate into legal action, this conversation will change how you think about resolution. What You Will Learn • What early dispute resolution (EDR) is and why it is ABA official policy • When to engage a mediator before a lawsuit is filed • Why litigation means surrendering control — and what executives can do instead • The four Cs of mediation: confidentiality, control, creativity, certainty • What questions to ask your attorney about workplace disputes and resolution options • How the respond vs. react mindset shifts negotiation outcomes • What 'winning' actually looks like in a corporate dispute Key Quote "If you go to the courthouse, you pass that baton called control to strangers. — Felicia Harris Hoss" Episode Chapters 00:00:00 — The Legal Dispute Already Living in Your Organization 00:02:00 — Why Staying in the Room Changes Everything 00:03:00 — Meet Felicia Harris-Hoss: From Trial Partner to Neutral 00:06:00 — What Mediation Actually Is (And Isn't) 00:09:00 — Workplace Scenarios That Call for a Mediator 00:12:00 — Why Early Mediation — Before Positions Harden 00:13:00 — The Human Cost Behind Every Corporate Lawsuit 00:15:00 — Why Early Mediation Wasn't Working — And What Changed 00:17:00 — Ego, Fear, and the Real Reason Leaders Avoid Resolution 00:18:00 — The Courtroom Hands Control to Strangers 00:21:00 — The Four C's of Mediation: Confidentiality, Control, Creativity, Certainty 00:26:00 — Key Questions Every Leader Should Ask Their Attorney 00:27:00 — What to Know Before You Bring a Dispute to HR 00:31:00 — Why Even Lawyers Get Confirmation Bias 00:32:00 — Respond, Don't React: The Mindset That Changes Outcomes 00:34:00 — Bernadette's Takeaways for Every Leader and HR Professional About the Guest Felicia Harris Hoss, of Harris Hoss Mediations & Arbitration, is a 30-year trial attorney and nationally credentialed mediator who specializes in early dispute resolution for executives, corporations, and complex business conflicts. She co-authored Resolution 500 for the American Bar Association, which was unanimously adopted in 2024, making early dispute resolution official ABA policy. She also helped establish the American Arbitration Association's EDR Mediation Panel. Learn more at HarrisHossPLLC | Connect on LinkedIn HERE Related Episodes Employee Engagement Strategies That Actually Move the Needle with Ian Watts— HERE Your Calendar is Lying - The Timer Leadership Framework— HERE Slow Down To Go Fast with Loretta Stagnitto — HERE Subscribe CTA If this conversation gave you a new way to think about conflict, leadership, and control, subscribe to Shedding the Corporate Bitch on YouTube at @ShedtheCorpBitchTV for new episodes every week. You can also DOWNLOAD our free Leadership Gap Diagnostic and identify where your leadership needs the most attention right now. Support the show

We'd love to hear from you. Send us fan mail! The 5-Step Transformation Framework That Turns Your Biggest Leadership Gap Into Your Greatest Strength About This Episode: After 25 years in corporate America as VP, Chief Knowledge Officer, global team leader, Bernadette Boas was fired and labeled a tyrant. What she built out of that experience is a proven, five-step leadership transformation framework she has since used with 400+ executives across SMB - Fortune 500 companies and high-growth organizations. This episode is for the manager who is still in the seat, not facing termination, but feeling the gap between the leader they are today and the leader they know they are capable of being. That gap is showing up in your team, your results, and the exhaustion of performing a version of leadership that doesn't actually feel like you. Bernadette walks you through every step of her Shift to Riches Formula — Discover, Confront, Shed, Create, and Accelerate, and gives you three specific actions to begin your own transformation today. What You'll Learn • Why the gap between the manager you are and the leader you want to be starts on the inside, not in your title or your org chart • How to identify the fears, insecurities, and ego-driven behaviors quietly costing you trust and results • The 5-Step Shift to Riches Formula — Discover, Confront, Shed, Create, Accelerateand how to apply each step immediately • Why building new goals without confronting old patterns is performance, not transformation • The three requirements for sustaining leadership change when organizational chaos pulls you back • Three actions to take today, not next week, to begin your own leadership shift Key Quote "The leader you are today was shaped by the fear you chose not to confront. The leader you're meant to be is waiting on the other side of that work." — Bernadette Boas The 5-Step Shift to Riches Formula • Step 1 — Discover: Who you are, who you want to be, and what internal fears and insecurities are getting in the way • Step 2 — Confront: Looking directly and honestly at what you discovered — without rationalization, blame, or shame • Step 3 — Shed: Releasing the behaviors, beliefs, and patterns that are no longer serving your leadership • Step 4 — Create: Building new behaviors, a new leadership identity, and new goals grounded in who you are choosing to become • Step 5 — Accelerate: Sustaining the transformation through iteration, accountability, and continued investment in your growth Your Three Actions From This Episode 1. Name your dominant internal fear or insecurity — fear, ego, self-doubt, imposter syndrome. Write it down. That is your Discover work. 2. Identify one behavior to shed — just one — that is showing up in your leadership and costing you trust, impact, or peace. Name it. 3. Write one sentence about the leader you are choosing to create. Not the leader your organization needs. The one you want to be. That sentence is your north star. Resources & Links Free Leadership Gap Diagnostic: balloffirecoaching.com/opt-in Book a Discovery Call with Bernadette: coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@ShedtheCorpBitchTV Bernadette's Website: balloffirecoaching.com Podcast Page: balloffirecoaching.com/podcast About Bernadette Boas Bernadette Boas is an Executive Coach, keynote speaker, and founder of Ball of Fire Coaching. A former Global VP and Chief Knowledge Officer, she has coached 400+ executives across Fortune 500 companies and high-growth organizations over 16 years. She is the author of Shedding the Corporate Bitch, published in 2011, and is currently authoring its sequel — Shift to Riches: The Guide to Your Success. Support the show