You’re the Boss, Now What? with Desiree Petrich | Leadership and Team Development for Managers and Team Leaders

This week I'm connecting two ideas: my Breaking the Fourth Wall concept and Brené Brown's research on fitting in versus belonging.
Brené's research found something surprising, fitting in and belonging are not the same thing. Fitting in is actually the greatest barrier to belonging. It's a survival strategy: reading the room and becoming who you need to be to get accepted. Belonging is the opposite. It's internal, it's unconditional, and it doesn't ask you to change who you are.
I dig into why this matters for leaders who want more self-confidence, what Brené's research says about belonging and standing alone, and how this connects directly to why breaking the fourth wall on your team matters.
This week's tip: Notice when you're fitting in. Notice when you're getting smaller. And when you catch it, name the fear, then say the thing anyway.
Mentioned in this episode:
Brené Brown: The Call to Courage (Netflix) 
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown 
Dare to Lead by Brené Brown  
Go back and listen to last week's episode on Breaking the Fourth Wall if you haven't already.
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Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead
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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 don't have to wait for anyone to go first. You get to choose to be the first.
In this episode, Desiree gives you a sneak peek into her brand new keynote, Breaking the Fourth Wall. It's a three-part approach to building trust with your team, and the starting point might surprise you.
If your team has lost some ownership, engagement, or hope, this episode gets at the real reason why. Desiree opens with a personal story that reframes what leadership actually requires, then gets into why self-awareness is rarer than most leaders think and why even smart, capable people avoid difficult conversations at work.
This is workplace communication and team accountability explained in a way you can actually use, whether you're leading two people or two hundred.
What You'll Learn
The real reason 95% of people believe they're self-aware and only 10-15% actually are
What's actually killing trust on your team before you even notice it's gone
Why your team avoids hard conversations at work (it's probably not the reason you think)
The three C's Desiree uses to help leaders rebuild trust, starting with themselves
CTA
If your team is dealing with a lack of ownership, engagement, or hope, send Desiree an email. She'll help you figure out what rebuilding trust could look like for your specific team.

Hit follow or subscribe wherever you listen so you don't miss next week's episode, where Desiree dives deeper into the candor piece of this framework and breaks down how to make hard conversations easier.

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...

Some goals only get built because someone else believed in them first.
This week's tip is simple: share your BHAG. Your Big Hairy Audacious Goal. The one you've been sitting on, half-convinced it's too big to say out loud.
Desiree shares the origin story of the Intentional Leader Summit, a leadership development conference that started as a passing comment to a pastor she was working with. No funding. No real plan. Just an idea spoken out loud, and someone willing to say "let's do it."
That summit is now in its third year, with over 200 attendees and 30 sponsorship companies, proof that big goals rarely grow in isolation. They grow when someone else gets to believe in them before you fully believe in them yourself.
If you've got a goal you've been keeping to yourself, this episode is your nudge to say it out loud.
What You'll Learn
Why speaking your goal out loud creates momentum silence never will
How the Intentional Leader Summit grew from a passing comment into a 200+ person leadership development conference
What it looks like to let someone believe in your goal before you believe in it yourself
Why staying quiet about your ambitions can be the very thing holding them back
Call to Action
Have a BHAG you've been keeping to yourself? Hit reply on this week's newsletter and tell Desiree what it is. Let's cheer you on.

Links
Intentional Leader Summit
Desiree's website
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...

Confidence gets talked about like it's something you're either born with or you're not. Extroverts have it, introverts don't. Some people just have "it" and some people never will.
In this episode of You're the Boss, Now What?, Desiree Petrich pushes back on that idea completely. After coaching and speaking to thousands of leaders, she's found that self-leadership, not team dynamics, is usually the number one thing leaders want to work on. Not better meetings. Not less conflict. Confidence. The ability to speak up, to lead with executive presence, to trust their own decisions.
This episode is about leadership development from the inside out. Five common beliefs about confident leaders get named, challenged, and turned into something usable.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why the belief that confident leaders "don't let criticism get to them" is actually working against your growth, and the blue hair story that makes it click
How to use the question "what if I'm the problem?" as a tool for better decisions, not self-doubt
Why comparison isn't the thief of joy when you use it on purpose, and how a DISC assessment changed the way Desiree leads
The real difference between confidence and arrogance, and how imposter syndrome hides behind both
Why your confidence at work is just your confidence at home wearing different clothes, and what that means for your leadership mindset
Whether you're managing a small team or leading an entire department, this episode reframes what leadership development actually requires. It's not about looking like you have it together. It's about knowing yourself well enough to lead like you mean it.
If this episode helped you rethink what confident leadership looks like:
Follow or subscribe wherever you listen so you don't miss Monday's leadership tip or next week's episode, where Desiree shares her brand new keynote concept, Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Secret to Building High Trust Teams.
Want more leadership coaching and self-leadership tools in your inbox? 
https://desireepetrich.com/#newsletter
Join Desiree live at the Intentional Leader Summit in Marshall, or grab your copy of her book, Taking Intentional Action, to go deeper on the philosophy behind this episode.
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...

In this episode:
Why pressure and high expectations aren't the enemy, they can actually fuel more energy
The trap of hitting a goal and immediately moving to the next one without stopping to notice it
Desiree's three things she chose to be proud of this week, and why she almost skipped the exercise
Why saying "I'm proud of myself" out loud isn't selfish, it's leadership
How your confidence gives other people permission to feel theirs
Try this:
List one to three things you're proud of this week. Say it out loud. Share it with someone.
Connect with Desiree:
Send her a message on LinkedIn or drop a comment on the episode
Sign up for the weekly newsletter (link in show notes)
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...