Kind leadership isn’t about being nice all the time. It’s about leading with respect and care, without falling into the trap of people-pleasing. In this episode, I unpack some of the common misconceptions about kind leadership. Thoughtful leaders often gravitate towards kindness, but it can backfire if we confuse kindness with always saying yes or avoiding difficult conversations. You’ll hear: Why kindness doesn’t mean weakness The difference between being nice and being kind How to set boundari...
Jul 06, 2025•14 min•Ep. 285
Ambitious team members can be exciting to lead, but they can also be tricky to manage. So how do you support them without burning out yourself? In this episode, I explore what to do when you’re leading someone with big goals, a strong drive, and a desire to move quickly. These employees often have great potential but without the right leadership, they can become frustrated, disengaged or even disruptive to your team. If you’ve got a team member who’s eager for more, this episode will help you na...
Jun 29, 2025•14 min•Ep. 284
Are you staying in a job that no longer supports you, just because you feel loyal to your team or unsure of your next step? It’s a common challenge for thoughtful leaders. In this episode, I explore why we sometimes stay too long in roles that aren’t working, and how to start thinking clearly about whether it’s time to move on. What You’ll Learn: Why staying to “protect” your team might actually hold everyone back How toxic leadership can damage your self-esteem and confidence Why trying to “fix...
Jun 22, 2025•12 min•Ep. 283
Can you be a confident leader without being the loudest in the room? Absolutely. This is a common challenge for thoughtful, introspective leaders. We often feel pressure to be more outgoing or “on show” to be seen as confident. In this episode, I explore how to build genuine leadership confidence without changing who you are. What You’ll Learn: Why the “shoulds” are holding you back How to reframe what effective leadership really looks like Why it’s OK to be quieter – and how it can actually be ...
Jun 15, 2025•12 min•Ep. 282
Feeling stuck in silence during meetings, even when you have something valuable to say? You’re not alone. In this episode, I respond to a listener question about how to speak up more in meetings – a common challenge for many thoughtful, quieter leaders. If you're someone who finds it hard to contribute when others are dominating the conversation, or you feel like everything worth saying has already been said, this one is for you. What You’ll Learn Why this is only a problem if someone sees it as...
Jun 08, 2025•13 min•Ep. 281
Episode Summary Collaboration is often seen as the default approach in leadership, but it's not always the most effective choice. In this episode, Ben Brearley explores a practical model to help leaders decide when to collaborate and when another strategy might be more appropriate. By understanding the dynamics of goals and relationships, leaders can make more intentional decisions that benefit both their objectives and their teams. In This Episode, You'll Learn The importance of assessing both ...
May 27, 2025•14 min•Ep. 280
Episode Summary In this episode, Ben Brearley shares three straightforward strategies to help leaders feel more in control, reduce stress, and make better use of their time each week. These practical steps are designed to enhance your effectiveness without adding complexity to your schedule. In This Episode, You'll Learn The distinction between being effective and feeling effective How to create a simple weekly plan using time blocks Techniques for breaking down tasks to fit into your schedule T...
May 13, 2025•13 min•Ep. 279
Episode Summary Feeling overwhelmed is a common challenge in today's workplaces. In this episode, Ben Brearley delves into practical strategies to support team members grappling with stress and burnout. Ben offers actionable advice to help leaders navigate this pervasive issue. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Identifying Overwhelm: Recognize signs of stress and burnout in your team. Clarifying Workload: Assist team members in assessing the feasibility of their tasks. Categorizing Tasks: Help prio...
Apr 29, 2025•13 min•Ep. 278
Episode Summary Sometimes, despite our best intentions, we can accidentally enable bad behaviour within our teams. In this episode, Ben explores three subtle but powerful ways leaders might unintentionally allow bad behaviour to grow and how to address it before it causes bigger issues. In This Episode, You'll Learn: How being unavailable to your team can create opportunities for bad behaviour to go unnoticed. Why addressing only the symptoms (not the real issue) can allow bad behaviour to persi...
Apr 15, 2025•14 min•Ep. 277
Welcome to Episode 276 of the Thoughtful Leader Podcast ! In this episode, we explore why thoughtful leaders tend to take things personally and how to break free from this habit. If you find yourself internalising feedback, criticism, or workplace challenges, this episode is for you. In This Episode, You’ll Learn: Why thoughtful leaders are prone to taking things personally. The impact of personalizing feedback and criticism on leadership effectiveness. Practical strategies to create separation ...
Apr 01, 2025•13 min•Ep. 276
Welcome to Episode 275 of the Thoughtful Leader Podcast ! In this episode, we explore why an employee might appear “bad” and uncover some hidden reasons behind poor performance and behaviour. Before jumping to conclusions, it’s essential to dig deeper and find out what’s really going on. In This Episode, You’ll Learn: Why an employee might be struggling – skill gaps, motivation issues, or personal challenges. How leadership style and team dynamics play a role in shaping employee behavior. Action...
Mar 18, 2025•12 min•Ep. 275
Welcome to Episode 274 of the Thoughtful Leader Podcast ! In this episode, we explore the balance between authenticity and adaptability in leadership. Should you stay true to your natural style, or adjust to meet the preferences of those around you? Let’s dive in. In This Episode, You’ll Learn: The Benefits of Being Authentic: How staying true to yourself can build trust and make leadership more effortless. The Drawbacks of Rigidity: Why sticking strictly to your natural style might not always s...
Mar 04, 2025•13 min•Ep. 274
In this Q&A episode, we dive into an important topic: How to Keep Supervisors Motivated in Leadership Roles. Supervisors are the middle layer between senior management and the front line. In many ways, they set the scene and role model the behaviours that you want the front line employees to be following. So what happens when your supervisors aren’t motivated? Well… not good stuff. In This Episode, You’ll Learn: ✅ Why demotivated supervisors can impact team performance ✅ How leaders can crea...
Feb 18, 2025•26 min•Ep. 273
Micromanagement is not a good thing, but I think it’s natural to feel like doing it sometimes. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to reduce the habit! In this episode I take a look at the problems with micromanagement, and how you can reduce the feeling that you need to do it with your team. Interested in working with me? Book your free 30-minute consultation, where we'll discuss your goals and challenges and how my coaching may be able to help. Then we can decide whether we're a good fit to...
Feb 03, 2025•15 min•Ep. 272
If you have a favourite employee at work, you aren’t the only one! Good employees are like gold – they help you out, make your job less stressful and lighten the load. But… there’s always a but… what is happening in the team when you have a favourite employee? Let’s find out in this episode. Interested in working with me? Book your free 30-minute consultation, where we'll discuss your goals and challenges and how my coaching may be able to help. Then we can decide whether we're a good fit to wor...
Jan 20, 2025•13 min•Ep. 271
Blaming others is a common past time in many workplaces. And it’s so easy to slip into the habit of blaming, because we want to protect ourselves and let everyone know it wasn’t our fault! In this episode I look at some of the reasons why we blame, and what to try doing instead. After all, it’s not helping you or your team! Interested in working with me? Book your free 30-minute consultation, where we'll discuss your goals and challenges and how my coaching may be able to help. Then we can decid...
Jan 06, 2025•12 min•Ep. 270
The phrase “feedback is a gift” is pretty common in many workplaces. While feedback can be a great way to know how you’re doing and to improve, it can also be a bad thing. Many people are terrible at giving feedback, so accepting it all would be a mistake. In this episode I take a look at how to decide whether to accept or reject feedback, and how to use feedback to keep improving. >>> Struggling to accept that feedback you received? Reflect on it using The Useful Thinking Journal . It ...
Dec 10, 2024•18 min•Ep. 269
Everyone wants to feel more confident, because we worry less and feel as if we’ve got everything under control. The problem is, we all have those self-doubting thoughts from time to time. And the more you push yourself and improve, you’ll be putting yourself in new situations which will stretch you even more, and potentially make you feel even less confident! But, what if your lack of confidence could actually be a good thing? I reckon it is, and that’s what I’ll talk about in this episode. >...
Nov 27, 2024•11 min•Ep. 268
Our beliefs shape the actions we take, which makes a big difference in how we lead. In this episode, I’m going to look at some key beliefs which can make a positive difference on your team. But what if you don’t have these beliefs? Well, I’ll discuss that too. >>> Stop overthinking, make sense of your emotions and start taking action: The Useful Thinking Journal . Interested in working with me? If you're ready to improve your leadership situation, click the link to apply for your compli...
Nov 13, 2024•11 min•Ep. 267
Leaders have a huge impact on the people they lead in terms of job satisfaction, morale and performance. So do we want leaders who are running around busy, with no time to think? No, you need time and space to think, so you can be more intentional about what you’re doing. You’ll make better decisions, and that will benefit your teams and your organisation (not to mention yourself). In this episode, I discuss some ideas to get more thinking time in your day, so you can lead better. >>> S...
Oct 30, 2024•13 min•Ep. 266
Self-motivation is an important ingredient in the leadership puzzle. After all, we generally know how we should be leading. We’ve read the leadership books and listened to all the leadership podcasts. But it’s hard to show up every day with a great attitude and feeling motivated. That’s why in this episode, I take a look at some self-motivation ideas to help you show up in the best way you can, more often. >>> Stop overthinking, make sense of your emotions and start taking action: The U...
Oct 16, 2024•19 min•Ep. 265
The 4-day work week is becoming more popular these days, following several trials in various countries. There are a few characteristics of the 4-day work week which I find contribute to its success. In this episode, I look at these characteristics and how we can apply them to any workplace, even if you aren’t lucky enough to have a 4-day work week! Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one ...
Oct 02, 2024•12 min•Ep. 264
Regular reflection is generally regarded as a great thing to be doing, but I’ve found that the majority of leaders (that I speak to anyway) don’t do it! That’s why I created The Useful Thinking Journal , which is a journal aiming to help you reflect in a structured way, and turn those reflections into real action so you can improve, or keep achieving success. In this episode I talk about some of the benefits of reflection, the challenges that many leaders face when it comes to reflection, and ho...
Sep 19, 2024•11 min
Many thoughtful leaders find themselves feeling guilty at work. Not because they’ve necessarily done anything wrong – more that they are heaping pressure on themselves and suffering under the weight of expectation. In this episode, I look at the common sources of guilt and introduce a simple process you can follow to unravel these feelings and feel better about taking action. Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to lea...
Sep 18, 2024•12 min•Ep. 263
You might think of unproductive workplaces as ones where people aren’t doing much. I’ve found it’s quite the opposite – often people are running around madly… being busy. In this episode, I take a look at the cost of an unproductive workplace (other than just the money) and some of the common signs that we might hear that make it a bad place to be! Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one ...
Sep 04, 2024•10 min•Ep. 262
Bashing the boss is a favourite pastime for many employees. We don’t want to be a boss that’s worthy of this sort of treatment, so in this episode I take a look at some of the common reasons why people generally complain about their boss. Then we can do things differently and give them fewer things to complain about! Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review ...
Aug 21, 2024•15 min•Ep. 261
Talk to many employees, and they’ll tell you that their boss is one of their biggest time management challenges. So is this the case when it comes to your leadership? In this episode, I take a look at whether you might be time management problem for your team, and what to do about it. Interested in working with me? If you're interested in potentially working with me, I invite you to apply for a complimentary coaching call . This can help you to: Understand more about how I coach Make progress on...
Jul 24, 2024•14 min•Ep. 260
Reflection has significant benefits for leaders, but I find that many leaders don’t engage in reflection very often. In this episode, I’ll take a look at the benefits of reflection and some of the issues that people encounter with it. Then, I’ll outline some practical steps to implement a reflective practice for yourself (and keep it up!) Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the lin...
Jul 10, 2024•14 min•Ep. 259
Having a sense of purpose is critical according to several motivation theories and models. So how do we help our people find it? In this episode, I take a look at some practical ways that you can assist your team to find their sense of purpose. It’s not our responsibility to find it for our team, but we can help to create the right environment. Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of t...
Jun 26, 2024•14 min•Ep. 258
Getting out of your comfort zone is a worthwhile thing to do. But being out of your comfort zone all the time is stressful and draining. So when it comes to leadership, when should we make the effort to get out of our comfort zone? I take a look at this topic in this episode. Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience ...
Jun 12, 2024•12 min•Ep. 257
