How can someone who is successful, capable, trusted—and still getting the work done—end up burned out?

We've seen capable people become dependable, dependable people get trusted with more, and extra responsibility slowly become normal. People compensate for unclear ownership, unfinished work, missing decisions, and work that continually finds its way back to them. Because they keep getting it done, the organization adapts.

That's the Trust Tax.

This week, we're asking the question that matters next: What do we do about it?

My guest, Sandra Bargman, spent 35 years as a professional performer. But one of her biggest realizations came when she discovered that performing in front of an audience was easier than standing in front of people and speaking completely in her own voice.

That led us to a fascinating question: How much of what we call leadership is actually performance?

Maybe you're the strong one. The composed one. The agreeable one. The person who never disappoints anyone. The person everyone can count on.

Those roles may have contributed to your success. They may also be costing you more than you realize.

Breaking the Trust Tax Can Take Ten Seconds

Sandra takes us into the tiny moments when these patterns can begin to change.

Someone asks you to take on one more thing. Someone says something you disagree with. You feel yourself wanting to stay quiet, smooth things over, please, perform, or simply take care of it yourself.

Sandra calls our attention to that choice point.

Notice what's happening. Breathe. Give yourself time to respond instead of automatically reacting. Sometimes the first step is nothing more dramatic than saying, "Let me think about that."

We talk about self-betrayal, people-pleasing, disagreement without confrontation, leadership presence, authenticity, and Sandra's concept of ferocious compassion: being compassionate toward others without abandoning yourself.

And Sandra gives us a line worth remembering:

"I don't need to quiet down to make you comfortable."

Contact Sandra Here: https://www.sandrabargman.com/

The Trust Tax Investigation Just Got Personal

For weeks, you've been listening to other people's stories. Now you can start investigating your own patterns.

I'm opening the Trust Tax™ Assessment, a responsibility and leadership assessment designed to identify the patterns most likely to contribute to burnout before burnout becomes the whole story.

The assessment takes about seven minutes, gives you personalized results immediately, and does not require your name or email to see your results.

It also does something I'm particularly excited about: it gives you stories to watch for based on the patterns showing up in your results.

It doesn't tell you what story you're telling yourself. Instead, it gives you clues to listen for. Maybe it's "I can handle one more thing," "It's easier if I just handle it," or "I'm responsible for making this work, even if I don't control the decision."

Those may not be your stories at all. They're things to watch for, not conclusions about you.

The goal is simple: See the pattern. Listen for the story. Decide whether it still serves you.

Take the Trust Tax™ Assessment

From the Trust Tax to Rewrite Your Story

The assessment helps you see the pattern. Sandra helps us recognize the moment when we can choose differently.

Then comes the deeper question:

Where did the story come from—and is it still the story you want to live?

That's where Rewrite Your Story begins.

On October 15 at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan, Merit Kahn and I are bringing this work into the room for Rewrite Your Story: Leadership Workshop + Live Comedy Show.

We'll work on recognizing the stories and leadership identities shaping how we work, lead, and carry responsibility—and deciding what we're ready to change. Then Merit takes the stage with her hilarious one-woman show, Optimistic Personality Disorder™.

The assessment helps you see the pattern. The workshop helps you rewrite the story. The comedy helps you see it differently and let some of it go.

Join us October 15 for Rewrite Your Story

Before your next meeting, notice the moment you're about to say yes, stay silent, smooth something over, or solve something simply because you know you can.

Then ask yourself:

What story am I about to act out?

Maybe breaking the Trust Tax begins right there.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Week 4 of The Trust Tax Investigation: How We Break the Cycle

What happens when being needed becomes part of who you are?

• You become the dependable one.
• The calm one.
• The person who figures it out.
• At work, people know they can count on you.

At home, people depend on you.

And eventually, carrying responsibility doesn't even feel unusual anymore.

It just feels like you.

My guest today, Oksana Lukash, knows that experience firsthand.

She became a mother at 19 while attending college and working full-time. She navigated layoffs, single parenthood, economic uncertainty, and a career in fast-moving biotech and life-sciences organizations.

Survival mode became normal.

Then something unexpected happened.

Life became calm.

And Oksana realized she didn't know how to operate without a fire to put out. 

That realization eventually led her to a much bigger question:

Who am I when I'm not defined by what I do for everyone else?

And that question takes us directly into Week 4 of The Trust Tax Investigation.

Because we're no longer simply asking how the pattern develops.

We're asking:

How do we break it?

When Your Worth Becomes What You Do for Others

Oksana describes spending much of her life defining her value through her roles:

• Being a mother.
• Being a wife.
• Being a great employee.
• Being a leader.
• Being the person other people could count on.

What she hadn't spent much time asking was:

What do I want?

That question initially felt selfish.

But learning to answer it changed the way she approached her relationships, her career, her leadership, and the environments she chose to enter.

As Oksana puts it:

You are the main character in your own story.

And you don't have to outsource permission for how you live it. 

In this episode, we explore:

•  What happens when survival mode becomes so normal that calm feels uncomfortable 
•  How being dependable can become part of your identity 
•  Why high performers can unconsciously measure their worth by what they do for others 
•  The power of asking yourself, "What do I want?"
•  Why knowing your values helps you decide which rooms and opportunities actually belong in your life 
•  How leaders can help people explore growth before simply promoting them into another role 
•  Why organizations should stop copying other companies' cultures and build systems around their own people 
•  How invisible work stays invisible when leaders focus only on what gets done instead of how it gets done 
•  Why meaningful one-on-ones should uncover roadblocks rather than simply collect project updates 
•  How leaders create psychological safety by asking employees for feedback about their own leadership 
•  Why developing people requires curiosity, relationships, and shared responsibility—not simply giving capable people more work 

The Trust Tax Investigation

Oksana's story helps us see something important about the Trust Tax.

Sometimes the organization learns:

She can handle it.

And sometimes the individual has learned:

Being the person who handles it is what makes me valuable.

Put those two beliefs together and you can create a powerful cycle.

The dependable person keeps stepping in.

The organization keeps trusting them with more.

The work gets done.

Everyone moves on.

And very few people stop to ask what that person wants, what they're carrying, what is getting in their way, or whether someone else should be developed to carry some of it.

Breaking that cycle requires change on both sides.

For the individual:

Stop defining your value solely by how useful you are to everyone else.

Ask what you want.

Know what matters to you.

Decide where you do your best work.

Stop outsourcing permission for your choices.

And for leaders:

Get curious.

Ask what development means to the person you're leading.

Understand what is getting in their way.

Create opportunities for people to experiment and grow.

Remove roadblocks.

Invite feedback.

And build systems that develop people rather than continually relying on the same dependable people.

That's how we begin replacing the Trust Tax with trust, alignment, and sustainable results.

Rewrite Your Story

There's a line from this conversation that belongs at the center of this entire special series:

You are the main character in your own story. 

But many of us have been living stories written around what everybody else needs from us.

They depend on me.

I can't let them down.

I need to prove my value.

I'll worry about what I want later.

Those stories may have helped us survive.

They may even have helped us succeed.

But they don't have to determine what comes next.

Start Your Own Trust Tax™ Investigation

See the pattern. Listen for the story. Decide what you want to carry forward.

🔎 Take the free Trust Tax™ Assessment
Discover the responsibility and leadership patterns most likely to contribute to burnout before burnout becomes the whole story. About 7 minutes, with immediate personalized results.
https://unceilingzone.com/start-trust-tax-assesssment

🎟️ Join us for Rewrite Your Story — October 15
A leadership workshop + live comedy show at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan with Natalie H. Luke, Ph.D. and Merit Kahn.
https://rewriteyourstoryevent.com

Connect with Oksana Lukash

Oksana is a people and culture leader with extensive experience in biotech, life sciences, startups, and growing organizations. Her approach to leadership centers on understanding people as individuals, removing barriers to their success, and intentionally building workplaces around the people and culture an organization actually has—not simply copying what another company is doing. 

🌐 Website: OksanaLukash.com

💼 LinkedIn: Oksana Lukash on LinkedIn

Follow The Trust Tax Investigation

Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap
Week 2: Why Does This Happen?
Week 3: How Organizations Support Burnout
Week 4: How We Break the Cycle

Subscribe to UnCeiling You on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Week 4 of The Trust Tax Investigation: How We Break the Cycle

• You work hard.
• You're reliable.
• You take responsibility.
• You make sure things get done.

And somewhere along the way, you may have learned a story that sounds something like this:

• If I keep doing great work, eventually I'll be recognized for it.

 So you keep giving.

You absorb another responsibility.

You help someone else succeed.

You make sure the team is okay.

And when the recognition, promotion, compensation, or opportunity doesn't follow?

You may respond by doing even more.

In this episode of The Trust Tax Investigation, I sit down with Catherine Lang-Cline, who built and sold a multimillion-dollar company and then wrote The Rules of the Game for Women in Business.

Catherine learned something while building her company: she had been playing by rules that encouraged her to be polite, humble, grateful—and smaller than she actually was.

Then someone gave her a simple piece of advice:

You're the CEO. Start introducing yourself like one.

That seemingly small shift changed the way Catherine entered rooms, talked about her expertise, built relationships, and eventually grew her business. 

But our conversation goes much further than confidence.

We talk about what happens when being reliable becomes part of your identity.

When being needed feels good.

When responsibility keeps accumulating.

And when you become so focused on helping everyone else succeed that you forget to ask:

What am I getting in return for the value I'm creating?

Catherine's answer is clear:

Stop playing small.

In this episode, we explore:

•  How reliability can help you succeed—and eventually keep you stuck 
•  Why capable people often keep accumulating responsibility instead of advocating for advancement 
•  How to communicate your expertise without minimizing yourself 
•  Why you should be able to explain how your work contributes to the organization's bottom line 
•  The difference between being appreciated and being appropriately recognized and compensated 
•  Why advocating for yourself isn't the same thing as being selfish 
•  How champions and cheerleaders can help you step into opportunities before you think you're ready 
•  Why high performers need to stop waiting for someone else to recognize their value 
•  What Catherine means when she says it's time to stop playing small 

The Trust Tax Investigation

This conversation gives us another answer to our Week 4 question:

How do we break the cycle?

One way is to stop proving our value by continually taking on more.

The story may say:

I'm responsible.

They need me.

I'm good at this.

I should be grateful for the opportunity.

Eventually, they'll recognize everything I'm doing.

But being valuable doesn't require becoming responsible for everything.

Catherine challenges us to do something different:

Know the value you create.

Say it.

Advocate for it.

Ask for the opportunity.

Ask for the compensation.

And if an organization continually benefits from what you contribute without recognizing or rewarding it, give yourself permission to consider whether there's another organization that will. 

That's not caring less.

It's recognizing that you belong in the equation too.

One Question to Take With You

If you're the person everyone describes by saying:

"I don't know what we'd do without her..."

Catherine gives us an important follow-up question:

Are you being recognized, developed, and compensated accordingly? 

Because being indispensable isn't the same thing as advancing.

And being appreciated isn't always the same thing as being rewarded.

Rewrite Your Story

That's why this final week of The Trust Tax Investigation leads directly into Rewrite Your Story.

For four weeks, we've been identifying the patterns.

Now we have to look at the stories underneath them.

Maybe yours says:

• I have to prove myself.
• Good work will eventually speak for itself.
• I shouldn't ask for too much.
• Being a good leader means taking care of everyone else.

Those stories may have helped create your success.

Start Your Own Trust Tax™ Investigation

See the pattern. Listen for the story. Decide what you want to carry forward.

🔎 Take the free Trust Tax™ Assessment
Discover the responsibility and leadership patterns most likely to contribute to burnout before burnout becomes the whole story. About 7 minutes, with immediate personalized results.
https://unceilingzone.com/start-trust-tax-assesssment

🎟️ Join us for Rewrite Your Story — October 15
A leadership workshop + live comedy show at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan with Natalie H. Luke, Ph.D. and Merit Kahn.
https://rewriteyourstoryevent.com

Connect with Catherine Lang-Cline

Catherine Lang-Cline is an entrepreneur, mentor, and author of The Rules of the Game for Women in Business. After building and selling a multimillion-dollar company, she now shares the lessons she learned about relationships, visibility, advocacy, and navigating the unwritten rules of business. 

🌐 Website: CatherineLangCline.com

📖 Book: The Rules of the Game for Women in Business

💼 LinkedIn: Catherine Lang-Cline on LinkedIn

Follow The Trust Tax Investigation

Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap
Week 2: Why Does This Happen?
Week 3: How Organizations Support Burnout
Week 4: How We Break the Cycle

Subscribe to UnCeiling You on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Week 4 of The Trust Tax Investigation: How We Break the Cycle

For the past three weeks, The Trust Tax Investigation has been asking why capable, successful people burn out.

This week, we stop simply diagnosing the problem.

We ask what we can do differently.

And my conversation with Emmy-winning comedy writer Beth Sherman took us somewhere I didn't entirely expect.

Beth spent decades writing for some of television's biggest shows and personalities. Today, she brings what comedy taught her about connecting with skeptical audiences into leadership and business.

We started with a question about trust:

How do you get people to trust you?

But our conversation eventually led to a different question:

What happens when being trusted becomes part of the problem?

Because being dependable can be a tremendous strength.

Being known as the person who can solve a particular problem can create opportunities.

But there can also be a hidden cost when:

"You're really good at this" becomes...

"So you should always be the one who does it."

That's where Beth and I had to work through the idea together.

And I think the conversation became better because we did.

The problem isn't being trusted.

The problem isn't being dependable.

And the solution certainly isn't to stop being excellent at what you do.

The problem begins when the role everyone trusts you to play starts limiting your ability to choose, grow, communicate what you want, or become something different. 

In this episode, we explore:

•  Why being trusted and dependable isn't inherently a problem 
•  When being the "go-to" person can begin limiting your growth 
•  Why people-pleasing can quietly keep successful people stuck 
•  How to communicate when you want something different 
•  Why leaders need to understand the audience in front of them 
•  How authenticity and vulnerability create connection 
•  Why perfection can actually get in the way of trust 
•  What Beth means by "connection over perfection"
•  How staying connected to yourself can help you recognize when it's time to make a different choice 

The Trust Tax Investigation

One of the things this conversation clarified for me is that trust itself isn't the tax.

The Trust Tax begins to grow when trust continually routes responsibility back to the same dependable people, and those people stop having meaningful choices about what they carry.

There's often a story underneath it:

They need me.

I'm good at this.

It's easier if I just do it.

I don't want to disappoint anyone.

This is what people expect from me.

Those stories can help us become successful.

But eventually, we have to ask whether they're still helping us become the leader—or person—we want to become.

Beth gives us one way to start breaking that cycle:

Connection over perfection.

Connect with the people you're leading.

Communicate what you need.

And don't forget to stay connected with yourself.

Because breaking the Trust Tax doesn't require becoming less dependable.

It requires becoming more intentional about where, why, and how you choose to be depended upon.

Start Your Own Trust Tax™ Investigation

See the pattern. Listen for the story. Decide what you want to carry forward.

🔎 Take the free Trust Tax™ Assessment
Discover the responsibility and leadership patterns most likely to contribute to burnout before burnout becomes the whole story. About 7 minutes, with immediate personalized results.
https://unceilingzone.com/start-trust-tax-assesssment

🎟️ Join us for Rewrite Your Story — October 15
A leadership workshop + live comedy show at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan with Natalie H. Luke, Ph.D. and Merit Kahn.
https://rewriteyourstoryevent.com

Connect with Beth Sherman

Beth Sherman is an Emmy-winning comedy writer, speaker, and communications expert who helps leaders use humor and humanity to create stronger connections with their audiences.

🌐 Website: https://www.bethsherman.com/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-sherman/

Follow The Trust Tax Investigation

Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap
Week 2: Why Does This Happen?
Week 3: Why Organizations Create It
Week 4: How We Break the Cycle

Subscribe to UnCeiling You on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Week 3 of The Trust Tax Investigation

What happens when the people who see the problem stop saying anything about it?

They're still in the meeting.

They're still doing their jobs.

They may still be delivering.

But somewhere along the way, they learned that their perspective wasn't wanted, wasn't heard, or wasn't worth the effort it took to keep offering it.

As Kylee Ingram says in this episode:

"Once you stop speaking up, that's kind of when it's all over. You've checked out." 

And that should matter to every leader.

This week on The Trust Tax Investigation, we're asking what role organizations play in creating the conditions where burnout grows.

Kylee brings us directly into one place where that can happen:

The decision room.

Who gets invited?

Who gets heard?

Whose information counts?

Who speaks first?

And whose perspective disappears before the decision ever gets made?

Kylee's work in decision science shows why the loudest or most senior person in the room isn't necessarily the person with the perspective the organization needs.

When organizations repeatedly rely on familiar voices and familiar ways of thinking, they don't just risk leaving people out.

They risk groupthink, blind spots, poorer decisions, reduced innovation, and disengagement. 

And there's another cost.

When people are overloaded, Kylee explains, they tend to fall back on what's familiar and simple. That can further limit creativity and decision quality. 

That's where this conversation becomes part of The Trust Tax Investigation.

Because burnout isn't simply about how much work someone has.

It's also about what happens when people repeatedly spend energy navigating systems that make it harder to do good work.

In this episode, you'll discover:

•  Why the loudest or most senior person can unintentionally dominate a decision. 
•  How social, information, and capacity biases affect organizational decisions. 
•  Why cognitive diversity matters—not just demographic diversity. 
•  What happens to creativity and decision-making when people become overloaded. 
•  Why leaders should consider speaking last, rather than first. 
•  How better-designed decision rooms can increase buy-in across an organization. 
•  Why someone can physically remain in the room while psychologically checking out. 
•  The simple question every leader can ask before the next important decision: Who's missing? 

The Trust Tax Investigation

Week 3 has widened our lens.

Burnout isn't simply an individual problem.

It's created through an interaction between people and the environments in which they're trying to succeed.

Sometimes the Trust Tax looks like doing more than your share.

Sometimes it looks like responsibility continually finding the same capable person.

And sometimes it looks like sitting in a room with something valuable to contribute—and eventually deciding it isn't worth speaking.

That costs the individual.

And it costs the organization.

Because when people stop contributing what they see, know, question, or understand, organizations aren't getting the full value of the people they've hired.

Kylee's message offers another possibility:

Don't just ask people to speak up. Design better rooms for them to speak into.

Rewrite Your Story

There's also a personal story underneath this conversation.

Maybe yours sounds like:

"I'm not senior enough to say anything."

"They've already made up their minds."

"It's easier if I just keep quiet."

"Speaking up isn't worth it anymore."

Those stories don't appear out of nowhere. Sometimes they're learned from the environments we've been working in.

But they don't have to define how we lead next.

That's why The Trust Tax Investigation and Rewrite Your Story belong together.

The investigation helps us recognize the patterns shaping how we work and lead.

Start Your Own Trust Tax™ Investigation

See the pattern. Listen for the story. Decide what you want to carry forward.

🔎 Take the free Trust Tax™ Assessment
Discover the responsibility and leadership patterns most likely to contribute to burnout before burnout becomes the whole story. About 7 minutes, with immediate personalized results.
https://unceilingzone.com/start-trust-tax-assesssment

🎟️ Join us for Rewrite Your Story — October 15
A leadership workshop + live comedy show at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan with Natalie H. Luke, Ph.D. and Merit Kahn.
https://rewriteyourstoryevent.com

Connect with Kylee Ingram

Kylee is the founder of Wizer, where she applies decision science to help organizations intentionally design better decision-making environments.

Kylee also mentions a free decision profile during our conversation that can help you understand the perspective you naturally bring into a decision room. 

🌐 Wizer / Decision Profile: https://www.wizer.business/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleeingram/

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

For many high achievers, success doesn't disappear overnight.

It slowly drifts out of alignment.

The responsibilities grow.

The calendar fills.

You become the person everyone depends on.

From the outside, it looks like success.

On the inside, it feels like you're achieving more—but enjoying it less.

In this episode of The Trust Tax Investigation, I sit down with leadership expert, executive coach, and former Vice President of Talent and Leadership Carol Enneking to explore how organizations—and the people inside them—can unintentionally create the conditions where burnout grows.

Carol shares what she learned after years leading talent inside large organizations and interviewing high-achieving professionals for her book, The Rebalancing Act. One theme kept emerging:

The very strengths that make people successful—being dependable, ambitious, intelligent, and willing to help—can also become the habits that quietly lead to overload. 

Together, we explore why burnout isn't just about working harder.

It's about losing alignment between what matters most and how we actually spend our time.

In this episode you'll discover:

•  Why "balance" is the wrong goal—and why rebalancing is a healthier way to lead. 
•  How organizations unintentionally reward the people who always say "yes." 
•  Why many high achievers become overloaded simply because they're capable. 
•  How responsibility quietly accumulates until it becomes unsustainable. 
•  Why great leaders develop others instead of becoming indispensable. 
•  A practical way to negotiate priorities with your manager before overload turns into burnout. 
•  How reconnecting your daily work with your values creates hope, energy, and healthier leadership. 

The Trust Tax Investigation

One of the stories many high achievers quietly live by is this:

"If I can do it, I should do it."

That story often earns praise.

More opportunities.

More responsibility.

More trust.

Until one day it also earns something else.

Exhaustion.

The Trust Tax grows whenever responsibility keeps accumulating without enough opportunity to release it, share it, or question whether it still belongs to us.

Sometimes organizations unintentionally reinforce that pattern.

Sometimes we reinforce it ourselves.

Either way, the cost is the same.

The good news?

Once you recognize the pattern, you can begin changing it.

Connect with Carol Enneking

🌐 Website: https://carolenneking.com/

📖 The Rebalancing Act is available wherever books are sold, including Audible, where Carol narrates the audiobook.

Carol also offers a free Legacy Planning Workbook to help you identify what matters most and begin aligning your life and leadership with those priorities. 

Rewrite Your Story

October 15, 2026 • Walsh College • Troy, Michigan

If The Trust Tax Investigation has helped you recognize yourself in these conversations, I'd love to invite you to the next step.

Join comedian, keynote speaker, and playwright Merit Kahn and me for Rewrite Your Story—a full-day leadership workshop followed by Merit's inspiring and hilarious one-woman show, Optimistic Personality Disorder™.

Together we'll explore the stories that shape how we lead, define success, carry responsibility, and experience burnout.

You'll leave with a clearer understanding of the story you've been living—and the opportunity to intentionally choose one that creates healthier leadership, stronger relationships, and sustainable success.

Because the story that helped create your success...

doesn't have to define how you lead next.

🎟️ Reserve your seat:
https://RewriteYourStoryEvent.com

Follow the Investigation

This episode is part of our special five-week series exploring why capable, caring, high-performing people burn out—and what leaders and organizations can do differently.

Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap

Week 2: Why Does This Happen?

Week 3: Why Organizations Create It

Week 4: How We Break the Cycle

Connect with Natalie Luke, PhD

🌐 https://www.unceilingzone.com

💼https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalielukephdbcmas/

🎙️ Subscribe to UnCeiling You on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Most high performers believe one thing:

If I do great work, people will notice.

It sounds reasonable.

It feels fair.

For many of us, it became part of our identity.

Work hard. Deliver results. Keep saying yes. Be the person everyone can count on. Eventually, someone will recognize your contribution.

But what if that story isn't true?

In this episode of The Trust Tax Investigation, I sit down with executive coach and former Chief Talent Officer Courtney Intersimone, who has been in the room where executive succession decisions are actually made.

Not the meeting after the meeting.

The meeting where leaders decide who gets promoted—and who doesn't.

What Courtney reveals challenges one of the biggest beliefs many high performers carry.

Your work doesn't speak for itself.

Organizations don't simply promote the people who produce the best results. They promote the people leaders believe can create value in the future. That means visibility, relationships, positioning, and demonstrating your potential all matter alongside performance. 

For many high achievers, this creates an invisible cycle.

They respond to a lack of recognition by working even harder.

They take on more responsibility.

Become increasingly indispensable.

Wait for someone to notice.

When the recognition doesn't come, they work even harder.

Over time, that story becomes expensive.

Not only because promotions may never come.

But because constantly proving your value quietly becomes the path to burnout.

In this episode you'll discover:

•  Why "your work speaks for itself" is one of the most expensive career myths. 
•  The difference between being valuable and being positioned. 
•  Why being indispensable can sometimes delay advancement. 
•  How relationships and visibility influence promotion decisions. 
•  How identity can become the invisible ceiling above your career. 
•  Why lack of recognition often leads high performers to overwork instead of reposition. 
•  A practical exercise to identify the people who influence your next opportunity. 

The Trust Tax Investigation

This episode reveals another way the Trust Tax quietly grows.

Not because organizations intentionally overlook talented people.

But because many high performers keep living by a story that no longer serves them:

"If I just work harder, eventually someone will notice."

Sometimes they do.

Sometimes they don't.

Either way, continuing to prove your worth by carrying more responsibility comes at a cost.

The Trust Tax isn't simply about working too much.

It's the invisible price we pay when the stories that helped create our success continue driving our decisions long after they've stopped serving us.

Connect with Courtney Intersimone

Learn more about Courtney's work:

🌐 Website: https://courtneyintersimone.com/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneyintersimone/

Rewrite Your Story

October 15, 2026 • Walsh College • Troy, Michigan

If The Trust Tax Investigation has helped you recognize yourself in these conversations, I'd love to invite you to the next step.

Rewrite Your Story is a full-day interactive leadership workshop followed by Merit Kahn's inspiring and hilarious one-woman comedy show, Optimistic Personality Disorder™.

Together we'll explore the stories that shape how we lead, define success, carry responsibility, and experience burnout.

You'll leave with a new understanding of what has been driving your leadership—and the opportunity to intentionally choose a story that creates healthier leadership, stronger relationships, and sustainable success.

Because the story that helped create your success...

doesn't have to define how you lead next.

🎟️ Reserve your seat:
 https://RewriteYourStoryEvent.com

Continue the Investigation

This episode is part of our special five-week series:

Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap

Week 2: Why Does This Happen?

Week 3: Why Organizations Create It

Week 4: How We Break the Cycle

Connect with Natalie Luke, PhD

🌐 Website:
 https://www.unceilingzone.com

💼 LinkedIn:
 https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalieluke/

🎙️ Subscribe to UnCeiling You on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Why Does This Happen?

Last week, we discovered that burnout rarely begins with collapse.

It begins with a quiet moment when success no longer feels sustainable.

This week, we ask a different question:

How did we get here?

Through three remarkable conversations, you'll discover that burnout isn't usually caused by one overwhelming event. It develops through small adaptations that quietly shape the way we think, lead, achieve, and relate to ourselves.

Together, these conversations reveal why the most dangerous version of burnout can still look like success.

This Week's Episodes

• Monday — Hanna Curman: https://hannacurman.se/

Why expectations slowly disconnect us from ourselves and how awareness helps us reconnect with what matters most.

• Wednesday — Melanie Gray: https://drmelaniegray.com/

How the nervous system adapts to chronic demand until constant pressure begins to feel normal.

• Friday — Angela Kerek: https://angelakerek.com/

Why high achievers often tie their identity to achievement, responsibility, and being the person everyone depends on.

The Question We're Investigating
Burnout doesn't usually happen because one day becomes too much. It happens because we slowly adapt.

We meet expectations before our own needs. We normalize constant pressure. We begin believing our value comes from how much we can carry. These adaptations eventually become the stories we live—and those stories shape the way we lead.

Continue the Journey

If this week's conversations are helping you recognize your own story, I'd love to invite you to take the next step.

On October 15, 2026, join comedian Merit Kahn and me at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan for Rewrite Your Story.

The podcast helps you understand the story you've been living. Rewrite Your Story helps you choose the one you'll live next. During the day, you'll participate in an interactive workshop designed to help you recognize the stories driving the way you work, lead, and carry responsibility.

That evening, Merit Kahn's inspiring and hilarious one-woman show, Optimistic Personality Disorder™, helps you see those stories from a different perspective—and maybe even laugh at the ones you're finally ready to leave behind.

Because you don't have to abandon your success.

You simply need a story that lets you enjoy it.

Learn more at RewriteYourStoryEvent.com

Coming Next Week
Week 3 asks a bigger question. If these patterns begin inside people... What role do organizations play in reinforcing them? We'll explore how well-intentioned workplaces can unintentionally reward the very behaviors that eventually become the Trust Tax.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Why Does This Happen?

Last week, we discovered that burnout rarely begins with collapse.

It begins with a quiet moment when success no longer feels sustainable.

This week, we ask a different question:

How did we get here?

Through three remarkable conversations, you'll discover that burnout isn't usually caused by one overwhelming event. It develops through small adaptations that quietly shape the way we think, lead, achieve, and relate to ourselves.

Together, these conversations reveal why the most dangerous version of burnout can still look like success.

This Week's Episodes

• Monday — Hanna Curman: https://hannacurman.se/

Why expectations slowly disconnect us from ourselves and how awareness helps us reconnect with what matters most.

• Wednesday — Melanie Gray: https://drmelaniegray.com/

How the nervous system adapts to chronic demand until constant pressure begins to feel normal.

• Friday — Angela Kerek: https://angelakerek.com/

Why high achievers often tie their identity to achievement, responsibility, and being the person everyone depends on.

The Question We're Investigating
Burnout doesn't usually happen because one day becomes too much. It happens because we slowly adapt.

We meet expectations before our own needs. We normalize constant pressure. We begin believing our value comes from how much we can carry. These adaptations eventually become the stories we live—and those stories shape the way we lead.

Continue the Journey

If this week's conversations are helping you recognize your own story, I'd love to invite you to take the next step.

On October 15, 2026, join comedian Merit Kahn and me at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan for Rewrite Your Story.

The podcast helps you understand the story you've been living. Rewrite Your Story helps you choose the one you'll live next. During the day, you'll participate in an interactive workshop designed to help you recognize the stories driving the way you work, lead, and carry responsibility.

That evening, Merit Kahn's inspiring and hilarious one-woman show, Optimistic Personality Disorder™, helps you see those stories from a different perspective—and maybe even laugh at the ones you're finally ready to leave behind.

Because you don't have to abandon your success.

You simply need a story that lets you enjoy it.

Learn more at RewriteYourStoryEvent.com

Coming Next Week
Week 3 asks a bigger question. If these patterns begin inside people... What role do organizations play in reinforcing them? We'll explore how well-intentioned workplaces can unintentionally reward the very behaviors that eventually become the Trust Tax.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Why Does This Happen?

Last week, we discovered that burnout rarely begins with collapse.

It begins with a quiet moment when success no longer feels sustainable.

This week, we ask a different question:

How did we get here?

Through three remarkable conversations, you'll discover that burnout isn't usually caused by one overwhelming event. It develops through small adaptations that quietly shape the way we think, lead, achieve, and relate to ourselves.

Together, these conversations reveal why the most dangerous version of burnout can still look like success.

This Week's Episodes

• Monday — Hanna Curman: https://hannacurman.se/

Why expectations slowly disconnect us from ourselves and how awareness helps us reconnect with what matters most.

• Wednesday — Melanie Gray: https://drmelaniegray.com/

How the nervous system adapts to chronic demand until constant pressure begins to feel normal.

• Friday — Angela Kerek: https://angelakerek.com/

Why high achievers often tie their identity to achievement, responsibility, and being the person everyone depends on.

The Question We're Investigating
Burnout doesn't usually happen because one day becomes too much. It happens because we slowly adapt.

We meet expectations before our own needs. We normalize constant pressure. We begin believing our value comes from how much we can carry. These adaptations eventually become the stories we live—and those stories shape the way we lead.

Continue the Journey

If this week's conversations are helping you recognize your own story, I'd love to invite you to take the next step.

On October 15, 2026, join comedian Merit Kahn and me at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan for Rewrite Your Story.

The podcast helps you understand the story you've been living. Rewrite Your Story helps you choose the one you'll live next. During the day, you'll participate in an interactive workshop designed to help you recognize the stories driving the way you work, lead, and carry responsibility.

That evening, Merit Kahn's inspiring and hilarious one-woman show, Optimistic Personality Disorder™, helps you see those stories from a different perspective—and maybe even laugh at the ones you're finally ready to leave behind.

Because you don't have to abandon your success.

You simply need a story that lets you enjoy it.

Learn more at RewriteYourStoryEvent.com

Coming Next Week
Week 3 asks a bigger question. If these patterns begin inside people... What role do organizations play in reinforcing them? We'll explore how well-intentioned workplaces can unintentionally reward the very behaviors that eventually become the Trust Tax.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

What if burnout isn't where the story begins?

Welcome to The Trust Tax Investigation, a four-week special series on UnCeiling You.

Over the next four weeks, we're exploring a question I couldn't stop thinking about after interviewing leaders, physicians, psychologists, researchers, and executives:

Why do capable, caring people quietly become the place unfinished work lands?

This isn't a series about burnout.

It's an investigation into what happens long before burnout appears.

Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap

Today we conclude Week One of the Trust Tax Investigation.

Sandra Wood shares a powerful story about identity, resilience, and rebuilding after life changes in unexpected ways.

• Three conversations.
• Three different lives.
• One remarkably similar pattern.

In this episode you'll discover:

1. How identity becomes connected to achievement
2. What happens when life forces us to slow down
3. Why letting go is often the hardest step
4. The final lesson from Week One

Learn more about Sandra Wood

🌐 Website: https://sandrawood.coach/

🎟️ SPECIAL EVENT: Rewrite Your Story

Corporate Burnout Doesn't Have to Be Your Story

If today's conversation resonated with you, join me and bestselling author Merit Kahn for Rewrite Your Story, a transformational one-day experience for high achievers who are ready to release stress, reconnect with themselves, and create what's next.

📍 October 15, 2026
 Troy, Michigan

Learn more and reserve your seat:
 https://RewriteYourStoryEvent.com

Continue the Investigation

⬜ Week 1 – When Success Becomes a Trap (Current Week)
⬜ Week 2 – Why Does This Happen?
⬜ Week 3 – Why Do Organizations Create It?
⬜ Week 4 – How Do We Break the Cycle?

Follow the podcast so you don't miss the next chapter of The Trust Tax Investigation.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

What if burnout isn't where the story begins?

Welcome to The Trust Tax Investigation, a four-week special series on UnCeiling You.

Over the next four weeks, we're exploring a question I couldn't stop thinking about after interviewing leaders, physicians, psychologists, researchers, and executives:

Why do capable, caring people quietly become the place unfinished work lands?

This isn't a series about burnout.

It's an investigation into what happens long before burnout appears.

Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap

Today, Zoe Thompson explores another piece of the puzzle.

What happens when you're still succeeding on the outside…

…but it no longer feels that way on the inside?

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why external success can hide internal exhaustion
• The emotional cost of always performing
• How identity becomes tied to achievement
• Another clue in the Trust Tax Investigation

Learn more about Zoe Thompson

🌐 Website: https://www.zoethompson.uk/

🎟️ SPECIAL EVENT: Rewrite Your Story

Corporate Burnout Doesn't Have to Be Your Story

If today's conversation resonated with you, join me and bestselling author Merit Kahn for Rewrite Your Story, a transformational one-day experience for high achievers who are ready to release stress, reconnect with themselves, and create what's next.

📍 October 15, 2026
 Troy, Michigan

Learn more and reserve your seat:
 https://RewriteYourStoryEvent.com

Continue the Investigation

⬜ Week 1 – When Success Becomes a Trap (Current Week)
⬜ Week 2 – Why Does This Happen?
⬜ Week 3 – Why Do Organizations Create It?
⬜ Week 4 – How Do We Break the Cycle?

Follow the podcast so you don't miss the next chapter of The Trust Tax Investigation.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

What if burnout isn't where the story begins?

Welcome to The Trust Tax Investigation, a four-week special series on UnCeiling You.

Over the next four weeks, we're exploring a question I couldn't stop thinking about after interviewing leaders, physicians, psychologists, researchers, and executives:

Why do capable, caring people quietly become the place unfinished work lands?

This isn't a series about burnout.

It's an investigation into what happens long before burnout appears.

Week 1: When Corporate Success Becomes a Trap

In this episode, Danielle Griffin shares how success can slowly disconnect us from ourselves—and why our bodies often recognize the cost before our minds do.

In this episode you'll discover:

• Why high achievers often miss the earliest warning signs
 • The connection between success and nervous system overload
 • Why burnout is often the last symptom—not the first
 • The first clue in the Trust Tax Investigation

Learn more about Danielle Griffin

🌐 Website: https://www.drdaniellegriff.com/

🎟️ SPECIAL EVENT: Rewrite Your Story

Corporate Burnout Doesn't Have to Be Your Story

If today's conversation resonated with you, join me and bestselling author Merit Kahn for Rewrite Your Story, a transformational one-day experience for high achievers who are ready to release stress, reconnect with themselves, and create what's next.

📍 October 15, 2026
 Troy, Michigan

Learn more and reserve your seat:
 https://RewriteYourStoryEvent.com

Continue the Investigation

⬜ Week 1 – When Success Becomes a Trap (Current Week)
⬜ Week 2 – Why Does This Happen?
⬜ Week 3 – Why Do Organizations Create It?
⬜ Week 4 – How Do We Break the Cycle?

Follow the podcast so you don't miss the next chapter of The Trust Tax Investigation.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Dr. Natalie Luke sits down with comedian, speaker, and certified emotional intelligence expert Merit Kahn — creator of the one-woman show Optimistic Personality Disorder — for a conversation that started as a talk about rewriting your personal story and turned into something bigger: a look at how the beliefs we inherit and the systems we work in quietly conspire to overload the same people, over and over.

Merit calls them hand-me-down beliefs. Natalie calls it the Trust Tax. Same weight, different language — and once you can see both at once, corporate burnout starts to look less like a personal failing and more like a routing problem with a belief system attached.

In this episode:

• Why "if I can fix it, I should" is doing more damage than any single overloaded week
• The difference between a belief you inherited and a belief that's actually true
• How role responsibility, outcome responsibility, and emotional/systemic responsibility get tangled — and why untangling them is the first step out of corporate burnout
• A simple five-minute reset you can do today to sort what's actually yours to carry
• The backstory behind Natalie and Merit's new live event, Rewrite Your Story, coming to Detroit this October

About Merit Kahn:
Merit Kahn is a comedian, speaker, and certified emotional intelligence expert whose one-woman show, Optimistic Personality Disorder, turns divorce, cancer, narcissists, and empty nesting into a lens for rewriting your own story. Find her at merit.com and opdshow.com.

Resources mentioned:

• Take the Trust Tax Diagnostic (free, 5 minutes): Click Here!
• Rewrite Your Story — live event with Natalie & Merit, Detroit, October 2026: Get Tickets
• Merit Kahn: merit.com | opdshow.com

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this episode, executive leadership coach Rachael Edmondson-Clarke takes us back to the moment she collapsed on her office floor — not because she had stopped caring, but because she had cared too much, for too long, inside a system that had quietly made her the place where everything landed.

This is not a burnout recovery story. It is a story about what happens before the collapse. About the years of reframing. The responsibility that was never formally assigned. The moment her CEO looked at her across a table and said: it wasn't you. The system let you down.

Rachael is the founder of ellevar and an executive coach working with CEOs and senior leaders across global organizations. She brings neuroscience, biology, and hard-won personal experience to the conversation about what sustainable high performance actually means — and what it is not.

In this episode you will hear:

• Why the traits that make a leader valuable are the same traits that make them a target for invisible responsibility 
• What the Trust Tax cascade looks like from the inside — and why the most dangerous stage looks exactly like hard work
• How the biology of leadership determines whether you can actually show up at your best — not as a wellness concept, but as a structural one
• What a CEO said to Rachael that reframed everything — and why more leaders need to hear it
• The one thing high performers are doing this week that makes it worse

If you are still delivering, still the one everyone calls, and something is quietly wrong that you cannot name — this episode is for you.

ABOUT RACHAEL EDMONDSON-CLARKE

Rachael Edmondson-Clarke is the founder of ellevar and an executive leadership coach working with CEOs, senior leaders, and high-performing teams across global organizations. Her work sits at the intersection of neuroscience, biology, and leadership — helping people think clearly, handle pressure well, and lead in a way that works for their performance, their health, and the people around them.

Rachael's philosophy is simple: leadership shouldn't cost you your energy, your confidence, or your peace of mind. There is a better way to perform — and still feel like yourself.

• Website: https://www.ellevar.co.uk
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachaeledmondsonclarke/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachaeledmondsonclarke/

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

If tonight you cannot turn your brain off — this is for you:

Reset Tonight™ — Free 7-Minute Containment Tool for Leaders

Your brain is not anxious. It is running an ownership audit. This tool interrupts that loop in under 90 seconds so you can sleep tonight without pretending the work is finished.

https://unceilingzone.com/gettosleep

Ready to name what you are actually carrying?

The Trust Tax Diagnostic — Free, 5 Minutes, Immediate Result

Find out your load score, your cascade stage, and the exact language to introduce the structural question in your organization.

https://unceilingzone.com/trust_tax_diagnostic-page

Ready to go deeper?

The Responsibility Reset Notebook — $17

The structured tool for sorting what is genuinely yours, what is shared, and what was never yours to carry in the first place.

https://unceilingzone.com/rrnotebook

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Renee's framework is built around a simple, four-word permission slip: watch me. It's a call to stop waiting to be picked, stop shrinking your visibility, and start claiming your work out loud. Natalie agrees — and then draws a hard line through it: not every "yes" is the same yes. Some stretch work has your name on it. Some of it is just corporate burnout in disguise, dressed up as opportunity.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why corporate burnout is rarely about individual resilience — and what Christina Maslach's research actually says causes it
• Renee's "Watch Me" framework for building visibility and ownership at work
• The difference between claimed stretch work (it has your name on it, it has an endpoint) and unclaimed load — what Natalie calls the Trust Tax — that quietly drives corporate burnout even in high performers
• A real story of a leader who beat corporate burnout not by doing less, but by building something that gave her energy back
• A two-question test you can run on any "yes" before you say it

Featured guest: Renee Carbone Fleming

Resources mentioned:

• Free Trust Tax Diagnostic — get your load score and find out which stage of corporate burnout you're actually in: [Click Here]
• Related episode: Natalie and Nicole Johnston break down how corporate burnout that doesn't always look like burnout: [Click Here]
• Related episode: Natalie and Jennifer talks about doing the thing that fuels you: [Click Here]

Connect:

• Follow UnCeiling You for more on corporate burnout, career ownership, and building work that's actually yours
• Building Your System with Renee
• Natalie's LinkedIn

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

This conversation covers the corporate burnout that doesn't look like burnout — the kind that hides behind strong performance reviews, a packed calendar, and a reputation for getting it done. Nicole and Natalie unpack the emotional labor tax, the mental load gap, why self-promotion feels impossible (and why it's necessary anyway), the real difference between a coach, a mentor, and a sponsor, and the one calendar shift that changes everything.

If you've ever wondered why doing excellent work hasn't translated into the next role — this episode names exactly what's been missing.

What You'll Learn

• Why strong performance and being seen as "ready for more" are two completely different things inside a corporation
• The behind-the-scenes labor that keeps teams running — and why none of it gets you promoted
• The "high performer tax": how being capable leads to more being added to your plate until burnout becomes the cycle
• The real difference between a coach, a mentor, and a sponsor — and why most women have never built the third one
• How to protect your calendar like Nicole did as a corporate sales leader — "be the barbarian at the gate"
• The mental load gap: why women carry roughly 520 additional unpaid hours a year on top of full-time work
• What Nicole's new book Taboo Topics covers — including the compensation chapter most women have never been taught

Memorable Quotes

"Promotions are not based on your ability to complete tasks. Promotions are based on the perception of your leadership potential." — Nicole Johnston

"It's the emotional labor tax, and it's not something that gets you recognized as a leader — it just gets you recognized as a doer." — Nicole Johnston

"A coach is someone who talks with you. A mentor is someone who talks to you. A sponsor is someone who talks for you." — Nicole Johnston

"You have to be incredibly selfish on your calendar and decide what works for you." — Nicole Johnston

Resources Mentioned

📚 Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About, But Don't — Nicole Johnston 

🔗 Nicole Johnston / innatePOWER — https://www.innate-power.com/

📊 Free Trust Tax Diagnostic — unceilingzone.com/trust_tax_diagnostic-page

📓 Responsibility Reset Notebook ($17) — unceilingzone.com/rrnotebook

🎙️ Connect with Nicole on LinkedIn

About UnCeiling You

UnCeiling You is a podcast for high-performing corporate women navigating leadership without burnout. Hosted by Natalie Luke, PhD, BCMAS — founder of UnCeiling You and creator of the Trust Tax framework. New episodes explore the invisible patterns that hold capable people back, and what it actually takes to redesign them.

🔗 unceilingzone.com

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Toni Will is the General Manager and Governor of the Kalamazoo Wings (ECHL), a TEDx speaker, Ironman triathlete, founder of the Empower Her conference, host of the Women In podcast, and author of the forthcoming book Rebellious Success (August 11, 2026). She is also 2,000+ days alcohol-free — and she'll tell you exactly what that gave back.

In this episode, Natalie and Toni pull apart the architecture of corporate burnout from the inside out — not as a personal failure story, but as a structural one. Because Toni didn't burn out because she was weak. She burned out because systems quietly learn who will catch things. And Toni always caught things.

What they cover:

• The three traits that cause things to land on your desk — no memo required
• Why the most dangerous corporate burnout looks like success (the four-stage cascade you need to know)
• The identity dimension of the Trust Tax — and why it costs more than hours
• What 800 reclaimed hours a year actually builds
• The difference between being indispensable and being promotable — and why they actively conflict
• How removing alcohol didn't just change Toni's health — it changed her operating system
• The Responsibility Reset: how the same traits that routed everything to your desk can redirect it

If you have ever looked up and realized everything is running through you — not because you were assigned it, but because the system learned you would handle it — this episode was made for you.

"You are not burning out because you are weak. You are being routed to — because you are trusted. Those are not the same thing."

Take the free Trust Tax Diagnostic — 5 minutes, no fluff, just clarity on where you are: unceilingzone.com/trust_tax_diagnostic-page

More from Toni Will

Website:  https://www.toniwill.com/resources

Book Pre-Order:  Rebellious Success — available now on Amazon and major retailers

Podcast:  Women In

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

• Why capable women experience corporate burnout after becoming someone everyone depends on — not on the way up
• The three early warning signals high achievers are trained to explain away
• What psychoneuroimmunology reveals about chronic stress and the immune system
• The Vigilance Pattern: why your nervous system won't believe the quiet is safe
• Why rest, vacation, and willpower don't heal corporate burnout — and what the deeper work requires
• How to hold the line when the people who benefited from your sacrifice push back

Key quote:
"A vacation will not fix burnout. You come back to the same inbox, the same system, the same unspoken agreements about who catches what when it falls." — Dr. Natalie Luke

Free resources:
→ Responsibility Audit™ (free, 15 min) — find out exactly where you're over-carrying: https://unceilingzone.com/
→ Reset Tonight™ (free, 7 min) — a containment tool for leaders whose brain won't shut down: https://unceilingzone.com/

About your host — Dr. Natalie Luke, PhD:
Dr. Natalie Luke went from high school teacher to Senior Vice President in a STEM company, building and leading high-performance teams across complex organizations. She holds a multidisciplinary PhD and is the creator of the Precision Responsibility System™.
Website: https://unceilingzone.com/

About the guest — Laurel Van Der Toorn:
Laurel is a trauma therapist licensed in multiple states, EMDR-trained, former Pepperdine professor, and founder of Laurel Therapy Collective. Over a decade of experience with executives, lawyers, healthcare workers, and entrepreneurs.
Website: https://www.laureltherapy.net/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurel-van-der-toorn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laureltherapycollective/

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this episode, Dr. Natalie Luke sits down with Pav Lertjitbanjong — decision scientist, executive coach, and survivor of 27,000 high-stakes corporate meetings and 15+ restructurings — to unpack two forces that are quietly eroding your judgment at work: AI used as an answer machine, and the Trust Tax. They work the same way. They move invisibly. And the antidote to both is identical: you have to name what's happening before you can redesign around it.

This is not a conversation about working harder or thinking more positively. It's about reclaiming the version of you that actually thinks — before the room, the machine, or the system decides for you.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

• The difference between using AI as a thinking partner vs. an answer machine — and why it matters when your boss pushes back in the boardroom
• The wedding speech story that perfectly captures what happens when we let AI think for us
• Why Yale University research shows your IQ drops 10–15 points under high-stakes pressure — and what that means for high performers
• The 4 pressure glitches that show up in corporate settings (freeze, ramble, snap, shrink) — and how to identify your signature one
• Pav's 5-step THINK Protocol for reclaiming your judgment with or without AI
• The 4-4-4-4 box breathing technique used by military and first responders — and how to use a version of it in your next meeting
• Why being irreplaceable is a trap — and what to aim for instead
• The connection between borrowed thinking and the Trust Tax: two invisible systems taking the same thing from you

Pav's 5-Step THINK Protocol

T — Tune In Regulate before you decide. Takes less than 60 seconds — breathing, movement, grounding. Get your brain and body in the room before you open AI or walk into the meeting.

H — Hypothesize First Form your own view before you write the prompt. Your hypothesis makes AI smarter and keeps you in the driver's seat. Without it, you're just accepting whatever the machine surfaces.

I — Interrogate Everything Trust, but verify. Ask AI what assumptions it made that you never stated. You — not AI — are the one who will be in the boardroom owning that output.

N — Narrow to the Call AI gives you options. Your job is to make the decision. The human judgment call is what no AI can replace — and what every leader in the room is actually watching for.

K — Know How to Land It Conclusion first, reasoning second. Be clear on what you're recommending and why. That's ownership — and it's what makes you impossible to ignore.

The 4 Pressure Glitches

Under high-stakes pressure, high performers experience one of four glitches. Every person has a signature one.

• Freeze — mind goes blank
• Ramble — can't stop talking, fill the silence with noise
• Snap — emotional reaction takes over
• Shrink — give your seat at the table to the loudest voice and call it being a team player

The goal isn't to eliminate pressure. It's to train your nervous system so your floor rises — the same way a tennis player works on their lowest level of play, not their highest.

Key Moments From the Conversation

On AI and borrowed thinking: When you use AI as an answer machine, you don't own the thinking. The moment your boss challenges you, you go back to ask AI — because you never formed the view yourself. Ownership means two things: you know it's right because you already had a hypothesis, and you know what new information would change your view.

On the wedding speech: A best man at a 140-person wedding started his speech beautifully — then switched mid-sentence into what ChatGPT would say. Word for word. That's not an edge case. That's the direction we're heading without intentional thinking habits.

On what's actually happening in your body under pressure: Yale research shows IQ drops 10–15 points under high-stakes conditions. It shows up as fast breathing, shaking hands, temperature changes — and then the glitch. Leadership is one of the only high-stakes fields with no pressure training. We're expected to take a cup of coffee and be ready for a fire drill every day.

On surviving 15+ corporate restructurings: The people who kept their seats weren't always the smartest in the room. They were the most regulated. Under pressure, when everything was falling apart, they were the ones who stayed clear. Leadership notices that — even when nothing is ever said.

On irreplaceable vs. impossible to ignore: Being irreplaceable is how your listeners got here — being the one who catches everything, can't be cut, always says yes. But that's a trap. It's how you get more work and less life. The goal is to be impossible to ignore — so that when you show up, people listen. That travels with you across companies. Irreplaceable keeps you stuck.

What Connects It All

Both the Trust Tax and borrowed thinking work the same way:

• The organization doesn't announce it's routing more work your way.
• AI doesn't announce it's replacing your judgment.
• They both do it quietly — until one day the load is different than what you agreed to, and your thinking is different than what you built.

The antidote is the same in both cases: name what's happening before you can redesign around it. Language is the lever. You cannot redesign what was never described.

Your Action Item Before the Next Episode

Before you open the report — what do you already know? Before you generate the email — what do you actually want to say? Before you agree to carry the thing that just landed on your desk — was it ever actually yours to carry?

Small questions. Real ownership. That's where it starts.

Resources

What is your glitch?  https://quiz.pavness.com

The Free Assessment (90 secs). Find out what's been costing your career and how to fix it. Get your personalized glitch report with your first override tool.

Need permission to say no? https://unceilingzone.com/

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this episode of Unsealing You, Natalie Luke sits down with Joanna Sadowska, PhD, EMBA— a bench scientist turned scientific communicator and entrepreneur — who made one of the hardest pivots a high achiever can make: walking away from a ten-year identity to build something entirely new. While still holding a full-time job.

What Joanna's story reveals is something Natalie calls the Trust Tax — the compounding cost of being trusted by others and by yourself in ways that serve the system without building the person. Corporate burnout rarely looks like collapse. It looks like someone who is still delivering, still promoted, still showing up — and quietly disappearing from the inside.

In this conversation, you will hear:

• Why corporate burnout is a design problem — not a discipline problem
• What it actually feels like to not know what to call yourself anymore — and what gets you through
• The sentence that separates a personal failure story from a structural diagnosis
• Why the standard you hold yourself to may be the weight nobody asked you to carry
• Why asking for help is not a personal concession — it is a structural decision

If you are in a transition, carrying more than you agreed to, or quietly wondering whether the weight is supposed to feel this heavy — this episode is for you.

If this episode resonated — if you recognized yourself in Joanna's story — I have two free and low-cost tools built exactly for what you just heard about.

FREE — The Responsibility Audit™

In 15 minutes, find out exactly where you are over-carrying — and where the load is actually coming from. This is not a mindset quiz. It is a structural self-assessment that identifies whether your over-responsibility is emerging, chronic, or identity-level. Free. No fluff. Just clarity.

Take the free audit: https://unceilingzone.com/responsibilityaudit

Guest Bio

Joanna Sadowska, PhD, EMBA is a scientific communicator and entrepreneur who spent over a decade as a bench scientist before building a business that helps companies and researchers communicate complex ideas clearly. She holds an executive MBA and has navigated one of the hardest pivots a high achiever can make — from being the expert to becoming the person who builds and communicates the work of other experts.

Connect with Joanna on LinkedIn. Click Here!

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That's exactly where today's guest, Nandita Mahadevan, found herself. After nearly 20 years of climbing the corporate ladder, hitting C-suite, and checking every box of external success, she realized she had been performing success rather than living it. Then perimenopause hit — and her body made sure she couldn't ignore the truth any longer.

In this episode of UnCeiling You, Dr. Natalie Luke and Nandita explore what it really takes for high-performing corporate women to stop carrying what was never theirs to carry — and what becomes possible when they finally let go.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why so many corporate women reach the top and still feel hollow — and what's actually behind that emptiness
• How absorbed responsibility silently builds over years of high performance and why your body eventually says stop
• The difference between role responsibility, outcome responsibility, and emotional responsibility — and which one is quietly exhausting you
• Why perimenopause hits corporate women especially hard, and what the medical system gets wrong about it
• The three pillars Nandita built SolWomen around: functional medicine, mindset and nervous system regulation, and community
• What phantom delegation really looks like — and why handing off the task without handing off the authority keeps you stuck
• The mindset reset: deliver what's yours, influence what you can, release what isn't

About Nandita Mahadevan

Nandita Mahadevan is the founder of SolWomen, a functional wellness and coaching community built specifically for women in midlife and perimenopause. After a successful corporate career and her own deeply personal experience navigating burnout, hormonal shifts, and identity change, she created the support system she wished she'd had. SolWomen combines functional medicine, nervous system regulation, mindset coaching, and sisterhood to help women not just survive perimenopause — but use it as the most empowering chapter of their lives.

Key Quotes from This Episode

"I had everything I thought I wanted on the outside. And I just felt so empty on the inside." — Nandita Mahadevan

"Your body isn't malfunctioning. It's the most honest voice in the room." — Dr. Natalie Luke

"When you let go of this tightly wound C-suite person you think you should be and are just a human being — life is so much easier." — Nandita Mahadevan

"Delegation isn't just assigning the task. It's transferring the authority." — Dr. Natalie Luke

Resources & Links

• Learn more about SolWomen: https://www.solwomen.com/
• Connect with Nandita on Instagram: @nandita_mahadevan
• Connect with Dr. Natalie Luke: LinkedIn
• Gain Corporate Resources from Dr. Natalie Luke: UnCeilingZone

If This Episode Resonated

Share it with the corporate woman in your life who is holding everything together right now — because she's probably the last person who would ask for help.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It takes two minutes, and it helps more women find this show.

UnCeiling You — High Performance Leadership Without Burnout. Hosted by Dr. Natalie Luke.

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Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Burnout starts with a broken promise.

In this conversation, Natalie Holder and Natalie Luke go deep on the earliest signals that a workplace is breaking down, what happens legally and culturally when high performers absorb responsibility that was never assigned to them, and why the most capable people in any organization are often the last ones anyone thinks to protect.

This one is for the person who has given everything — and started to wonder why it was never enough.

Key Ideas From This Episode

Burnout is not about how much you're doing. It's about how much you're doing for an organization that stopped reciprocating.

When ownership is unclear and promises go unmet, high performers don't reject the gap — they absorb it. And they absorb the signal that something is wrong as personal failure, not systemic failure.

Organizations that rely on over-responsible employees to compensate for structural gaps pay for it. Harvard Business Review research found that employers with poor reputations pay an average of 10% more in compensation just to get people in the door.

Retaliation is where most legal claims actually stick. The initial complaint often doesn't survive. The behavior that follows it usually does.

My side bias isn't malicious. It's neurological. But its impact on who gets trusted, promoted, and overloaded is measurable — and the people on the wrong side of it are always watching.

A pivot doesn't always mean leaving. Sometimes it means changing your perspective of the organization and investing in your own external visibility while you're still inside it.

Workplace trauma is not stress. Stress is situational. Trauma changes how you see yourself in the environment. And if you don't name it correctly, you repeat it.

: natalieholderspeaks.com

Resources

Natalie Holder's free Pivot Assessment — a two-minute tool to assess where you are on the pivot continuum, with a personalized playbook: natalieholderspeaks.com

Exclusion: Strategies for Improving Diversity in Recruitment, Retention and Promotion by Natalie Holder

The Responsibility Reset Notebook — Natalie Luke's decision and boundary framework for high performers who can't turn their brain off: unceilingyou.com/RRNotebook

If This Episode Hit You

If you recognized yourself in this conversation — in the absorption, the over-functioning, the carrying of what was never yours — the Responsibility Reset Notebook was built for exactly that moment. It helps you sort what's actually yours, place what isn't back where it belongs, and give your brain the structure it needs to finally stand down. Grab it at unceilingyou.com/RRNotebook.

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Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Corporate leadership burnout is at an all-time high. But most conversations stop at the symptoms: overwork, stress, exhaustion. This episode goes deeper. Host Natalie Luke breaks down why the most capable leaders burn out not because of how much they are doing — but because of how much they are doing that was never clearly theirs to own.

Natalie is joined by Christine Hummel, a senior leader who has built her career across CVS, McKesson, and Sanofi, and host of the Root to Rising podcast. Christine shares the pivotal moments that shifted her from being the person holding everything together — to building a system where ownership is clear, her team actually holds the work, and she can lead at the level she was built for.

This is not a productivity episode. This is an ownership episode.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

•  Why diffusion of responsibility means the most conscientious person in the room always picks up what everyone else leaves behind
•  The critical difference between accountability and control — and why confusing the two is costing you your team's performance and your own capacity
•  How Christine redefined accountability across complex organizations with multiple stakeholders and moving parts
• The exact moment Christine stopped being the one holding everything together — and what changed when she did
• Why unclear corporate leadership communication is one of the top five causes of employee burnout according to Gallup
• How to step in when execution breaks down without taking the work back
• Why the leaders who say "I wish I had taken more risks" were often too buried under over-carry to afford the margin risk requires
• The one diagnostic question that reveals whether your organization has an ownership problem right now

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED

Responsibility Reset Notebook — free download to help you map what is yours, what is not, and what is floating: unceilingzone.com/rrnotebook

Christine Hummel's podcast, Root to Rising: Click Here!

Work with Natalie — keynotes, leadership workshops, and organizational diagnostics for HR and L&D leaders: unceilingzone.com

RESEARCH REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE

• Culture Partners accountability study: 40,000+ participants, 85% of employees could not identify what their organization was trying to achieve
• Gallup: five causes of employee burnout including unclear communication from managers and unmanageable workload
• Harvard Business Review: mid-level managers burn out from responsibility without authority
• 2026 data: middle managers see performance drop by up to 70% when accountability becomes ambiguous
• Gallup: employees who feel solely responsible for driving outcomes are twice as likely to experience burnout

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But what if the real exhaustion comes from carrying something that was never clearly yours anymore?

In this episode of UnCeiling You, I sit down with former concert cellist turned coach, Kate Kayaian, to unpack what happens when a high-performing career no longer fits—even when it looks successful from the outside.

We go beyond surface-level burnout and into something deeper:
 👉 identity misalignment
 👉 over-responsibility
 👉 and the hidden cost of staying in roles that no longer align

If you’ve ever felt like you “should” love your career… but something feels off—this episode will help you understand why.

💡 What You’ll Learn

•  Why career burnout is often not about workload—but misalignment
•  The moment high performers miss when things start to feel “off” 
•  How to recognize when you’re carrying responsibility that isn’t yours 
•  Why being good at something doesn’t mean you’re meant to keep doing it 
•  How to pivot without burning everything down 
•  The difference between a breaking point—and catching it early

📘 Ready to Go Deeper?

If this episode resonated, it’s time to get clear on what’s actually yours—and what’s not.

👉 Get the Responsibility Reset Notebook:
https://unceilingzone.com/rrnotebook

This is the exact framework to:

•  stop over-carrying 
•  reduce burnout 
•  and reclaim your energy and focus

🌿 From Kate Kayaian

Want a structured way to reset and plan your next 90 days?

👉 Download Kate’s Quarterly Retreat Planning Guide:
https://mailchi.mp/585d0fbc5a61/quarterly-retreat-planning-guide

You’ll learn her 4-part method to:

•  Plan 
•  Create 
•  Organize 
•  Optimize 

so your next quarter actually works.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this episode of UnCeiling You, Natalie sits down with Nicolette Nierras, a former corporate high achiever turned transformational coach, to explore the real connection between the inner critic, burnout, and career growth.

If you’re navigating a demanding corporate environment, this conversation will challenge how you think about performance, self-worth, and responsibility.

Nicolette shares her journey through divorce, identity loss, and rebuilding her confidence from the inside out—revealing how overworking and perfectionism can actually be signs of deeper emotional patterns.

And Natalie connects the dots to what she sees inside corporate teams every day:

•  high-performers carrying too much 
•  blurred responsibility leading to burnout 
•  and professionals stuck in cycles that limit career growth 

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything right—but still feel exhausted, stuck, or unable to switch off—this episode will show you why. 

Resources Mentioned:

🧠 Responsibility Reset Notebook (for career clarity & burnout reduction)
A practical tool to help you define what’s yours, what’s not, and regain control of your time and energy.
👉 https://unceilingzone.com/rrnotebook

About Nicolette Nierras:

Nicolette Nierras is a transformational coach and former corporate professional who helps individuals navigate burnout, self-doubt, and career transitions.

Through her work, she supports professionals in breaking limiting beliefs, improving mental well-being, and aligning their career path with their true values.

 https://thenicnierraswholisticlifestyle.com/

This is a link to download free mindfulness hypnosis audio for top 4 issues that we face today - it's a sneak peek into an element of Nicolette's coaching.

Send us Fan Mail

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In this episode, Natalie sits down with Dr. Christiane Schroeter — health economist, professor, wellness coach, bestselling author, and TEDx speaker — to explore her signature framework: Petite Practice. It's the idea that small, strategic actions done consistently can completely change the trajectory of your life and career.

But here's the part most people miss: you don't build momentum alone. Your environment and the people around you are either quietly accelerating your growth — or quietly holding it back.

In this episode, you'll learn:

— Why small steps work when big plans fail, and how to stay motivated when progress feels invisible

— The FAN approach: a simple method for intentionally building a circle that supports your career and corporate goals (family, acquaintances, network)

— Three petite practices to nurture close relationships without spending a lot of money or time

— How to blend multiple roles and responsibilities without burning out

— Why the metrics you're tracking might be working against you — and what to focus on instead

Grab the free Responsibility Audit — a tool to help you see where you might be over-carrying, and why. Click Here!

Connect with Dr. Christiane Schroeter: drchristiane.com

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Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Spoiler: it’s not a wellness program. It’s role clarity. And Dr. Natalie Luke walks you through both the individual tool and the organizational intervention that the evidence says produces lasting change.

THIS EPISODE COVERS:

•  How researchers calculated the real cost of burnout — stage by stage
• What the peer-reviewed evidence says actually works to solve it (not what you think)
• The four-stage Trust Tax cascade with cost data at each stage
• A live three-sign diagnostic for your organization
• The individual tool and organizational intervention grounded in what the evidence recommends

RESEARCH CITED:

1. Lee BY et al. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2025. CUNY Graduate School of Public Health.
2.  Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2024–2025
3.  Wellhub State of Work-Life Wellness 2025
4. KMAN Counseling & Psychology Nexus, 2025. Role clarity mediates workload-burnout relationship.
5. PMC Systematic Review, 2025. Effectiveness of Workplace Mental Health Programs.

LINKS:

→  The Responsibility Reset™ Notebook — $17: NOTEBOOK LINK

→  Free Responsibility Audit™: AUDIT LINK

→  Aspire Higher newsletter: NEWSLETTER LINK

→  Reach out to Natalie: via LinkedIn

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Not necessarily the boss.

But the person who is calm, capable, and able to make sense of uncertainty.

For high-performing professionals, competence often attracts responsibility.

At first, being known as competent feels like trust.

But over time, something subtle begins to happen.

Responsibility starts to accumulate.

Not just operational responsibility — emotional responsibility too.

You become the person who stabilizes rooms, anticipates problems, and quietly carries the complexity that keeps the system functioning.

And eventually, many capable leaders discover something surprising:

They’re carrying far more of the system than they ever intended to.

In this episode of UnCeiling You, we explore why competence can unintentionally lead to leadership overload and why so many highly capable professionals quietly begin to feel isolated in leadership roles.

🎁 FREE DOWNLOAD: The Responsibility Audit: Click Here!

Takes about 5 minutes. Reveals more than you'd expect.

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• Designing with conviction instead of approval· Navigating egos without losing yourself
• Karma equity — giving without expecting return
• The hard hat problem most people don't know exists
• What it means to build something when the blueprint doesn't exist yet

This conversation is for anyone who's ever seen a need no one else is addressing — and decided they're the one to solve it.

Resources mentioned:

🎧 ResetTonight™ — Free guide for leaders whose minds won't shut off→ https://unceilingzone.com/gettosleep📋 

Smita's PPE survey results: One Size Fails All - āśaya iNNOVATE Report  

Watch her LinkedIn for updates→ linkedin.com/in/smitasahoo 

Subscribe to UnCeiling You for more conversations with leaders who are building without a blueprint.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Resources & Links:

Connect with Dr. Candace Steele Flippin:

• Website: globalcai.com (Global Career Advancement Institute)
• LinkedIn: Dr. Candace Steele Flippin
• Book: Get Your Career in Shape: A 5-Step Guide to Achieve the Success You Need, Want, and Deserve (Available on Amazon)

Free Resource from Natalie:

• Download the Reset and Recharge Framework 

Connect with Natalie Luke:

• LinkedIn
• https://unceilingyou.com/

Join the Conversation:

What resonated most with you in this episode? Are you doing "two jobs" right now? Share your biggest takeaway on LinkedIn and tag me (@NatalieLuke) and Dr. Candace (@DrCandaceSteeleFlippin) — I read every comment.

If this episode helped you see what's yours to carry and what you can put down, please:

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts
• Share this episode with another woman leader who needs to hear it
• Subscribe so you never miss an episode

Remember: Reset, refresh, move forward.

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Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this episode of UnCeiling You, Natalie sits down with Jennifer Gligoric, ethical entrepreneur, business strategist, and Asgardian Minister, to explore how early survival strategies can quietly shape leadership long after the original threat is gone.

Jennifer shares her journey from teenage homelessness to global leadership spaces, and the moment she realized that invisibility, once necessary for survival, had become a hidden limiter to her impact.

This is not a conversation about confidence or mindset.

It’s about nervous system patterns that outlive their usefulness—and how resetting your internal pace is what allows presence, visibility, and sustainable leadership to emerge.

Resources: 

https://superclinicproject.com/

Free Reset Tool

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

Nursing, teaching, social work, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and physician assistant programs will lose access to Graduate PLUS loans beginning July 1, 2026.

This change affects workforce pipelines, access to care, financial risk, and the emotional landscape for the women who lead in these fields.

In this episode, we break down:

• What the new rule actually changes
• Why the impacted professions are overwhelmingly women-led
• The real-world consequences for care, education, and community services
• Why your nervous system may have reacted to this news
• How to stay grounded, clear, and steady when external ceilings rise
• How to take action without urgency or burnout

This is not a political episode — it is a leadership episode.
It’s about staying steady when the world undervalues the work women carry, and leading with clarity under fire.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity.

👉 Download here!

🦃 Wishing You a Beautiful Thanksgiving

As you move through this week — a week filled with expectations, planning, hosting, details, and emotional holding — I want to honor the truth:

Your leadership is not optional.
 Your clarity is not small.
 Your presence is not “non-professional.”

May your Thanksgiving include moments of peace, grounding, and gratitude for all that you bring to your family, your work, and your community.

I’m grateful for you.

⭐ RESOURCES: Raise Your Voice (If You Choose To)

If you feel called to take action, here are the links you can use.
 You don’t need urgency — just steady leadership and clarity.

1. Contact Your Congressional Representative

Find your representative here:
 https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Find your Senators here:
 https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

2. Submit a Public Comment to the Department of Education

New rules are posted here for public comment:
 https://www.regulations.gov

3. Join or Follow Advocacy Groups Working on This Issue

• American Nurses Association
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• American Physical Therapy Association
• American Occupational Therapy Association
• National Association of Social Workers
• American Federation of Teachers
• Physician Assistant Education Association

Each of these organizations is preparing statements, analyses, and advocacy paths.

⭐ RESET & RECHARGE GUIDE — FOR CALM CLARITY UNDER PRESSURE

If this episode stirred something in your system, the Reset & Recharge Guide is designed to help you settle your nervous system, regain your clarity, and lead from steadiness — not urgency.

Send us Fan Mail

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Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this powerful episode of UnCeiling You, Natalie sits down with Stacie Shifflett, a woman who has rewritten what leadership looks like in rooms where she was never “supposed” to hold power.

From turning down multiple offers from Booz Allen…
 to negotiating work on her own terms…
 to helping lead a $50 million acquisition without a college degree…
to walking away from lucrative roles that didn’t align with her values…

Stacie’s career is a masterclass in self-trust, boundaries, and courageous reinvention.

This episode will challenge the myth that success is built through sacrifice and saying yes.

 Instead, you’ll learn how the right boundaries create clarity, authority, and sustainable leadership.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources

https://modernconsciousness.com/

https://unceilingzone.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalielukephdbcmas/

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

This conversation with The Dutch Mentor goes straight to the heart of what overwhelmed high performers face: the invisible pace that drives urgency, overworking, and emotional exhaustion. Together we talk about how women in leadership — and anyone navigating high-pressure environments — can embrace calm leadership as a strategic advantage.

You’ll learn why burnout recovery isn’t just about slowing down; it’s about resetting your internal pace so you can lead with intentional career growth, stronger leadership boundaries, and authentic authority. Walter shares powerful frameworks, including E + R = O (Event + Response = Outcome), and shows how small shifts in awareness can create self-assured leadership rooted in presence rather than pressure.

We discuss the valley of despair that often happens when you transition from doing to leading — and how to navigate that moment with grace. We talk about delegation, trust, team empowerment, and the practical mindset shifts required for sustainable leadership.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

 https://www.thedutchmentor.com/

Come check out Walter's services and book a FREE strategy call to discuss your journey and identify ways you might be able to collaborate!

The UnCeiling Zone: https://unceilingzone.com/

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Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this episode of UnCeiling You, host Dr. Natalie Luke sits down with Sharon Ehrlich — executive coach, public speaker, and former IT executive — to unpack why high-performing women can feel invisible even when excelling. Together, they explore the mindset and strategies behind true visibility, confidence at work, and career advancement that doesn’t come at the cost of your peace.

You’ll learn:

• Why effort ≠ recognition (and what actually gets you noticed)
• The difference between mentorship and sponsorship in leadership development
• How to reframe networking as generosity, not self-promotion
• The subtle habits that build visibility without burnout
• How calm confidence leads to authentic influence and opportunity

If you’ve ever felt like your hard work speaks quietly while others seem to shout their way ahead, this conversation will help you change that — strategically, not loudly.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

 https://livingwhileleading.com/work-with-sharon/

Follow Sharon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonehrlich1/

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this episode of UnCeiling You, Dr. Natalie Luke talks with Betsy Pepine, award-winning entrepreneur and author of Breaking Boxes, about staying aligned with your values under pressure. Together, they explore how authenticity, awareness, and courage fuel leadership development and career advancement for women who refuse to compromise their integrity for success.

You’ll learn how women in leadership can build trust through alignment, recognize when it’s time for necessary endings, and lead with confidence at work even when pressure mounts.

🎧 Listen now to discover why impact—not image—is the real measure of leadership.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

🌱 Other Resources & Links

• Guest: Betsy Pepine – betsypepine.com
• Book: Breaking Boxes: Dismantling the Metaphorical Boxes that Bind Us
• Follow Betsy: @betsypepine
• Host: Dr. Natalie Luke
• Free Guide: Staying Calm During the Storm – How to Stay Centered When Pressure Pushes → Click Here!
  
  

🧭 About UnCeiling You

UnCeiling You helps ambitious professionals break through inner and outer ceilings—one conversation at a time.

 Hosted by Dr. Natalie Luke, each episode explores the power of imagination, ambition, and alignment to create meaningful success and authentic leadership.

Season 3 dives into networking that feels natural—where purpose, clarity, and connection replace hustle, self-doubt, and performance.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this empowering episode of UnCeiling You, Dr. Natalie Luke talks with Khiara Cureton, Executive, Career, and Wealth Coach, about redefining negotiation as a tool for leadership development and career advancement — especially for ambitious women balancing work and motherhood.

You’ll learn how to ask for more without guilt, lead from alignment instead of exhaustion, and cultivate confidence at work rooted in self-trust, not people-pleasing.

Together, they explore how women in leadership can transform negotiation into connection — creating opportunities for impact, not conflict.

🎧 Listen now to discover why your worth isn’t up for debate — it’s waiting to be claimed.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Other Resources

 http://www.ancherco.com

Ready to break through the middle-management ceiling and build wealth without burnout? Let’s talk! Connect with me at www.ancherco.com or DM me "EXECUTIVE" on Instagram @theancherco!

🌱 Take It Deeper

What if you could turn moments of self-doubt into clarity?
The Leadership Reset™ program helps professionals rebuild calm confidence and self-trust to lead from alignment, not exhaustion.
Join the waitlist at Click Here!

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this episode of UnCeiling You, Dr. Natalie Luke talks with Dr. Albert Bramante, talent agent, psychologist, and author of Rise Above the Script, about the hidden psychology of self-sabotage and how to transform fear into clarity and confidence at work.

You’ll learn how to spot the split-second moment when fear disguises itself as logic—and how to use it to your advantage for authentic leadership development and career advancement.

🎧 Listen now to learn how women in leadership and high achievers can stop self-sabotage, calm the nervous system, and lead with courage, focus, and inner alignment.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

💫 About Today’s Guest

Dr. Albert Bramante is a seasoned talent agent with over two decades in the entertainment industry. He holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Walden University and is a certified Hypnotist and NLP Practitioner. His mission: to help people overcome self-sabotage, align identity with performance, and unlock their highest potential. He’s the author of Rise Above the Script.

Tools: www.albertbramante.com

Book: https://a.co/d/axZ5Rgc

🌱 Take It Deeper

What if you could turn moments of self-doubt into clarity?
The Leadership Reset™ program helps professionals rebuild calm confidence and self-trust to lead from alignment, not exhaustion.
Join the waitlist at Click Here!

🎧 Listen if you are:

• A high-performing professional who feels stuck or stretched thin.
• A leader who’s ready to replace overdrive with aligned drive.
• A creative or an entrepreneur learning to lead themselves before leading others.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this episode of UnCeiling You, Dr. Natalie Luke sits down with Katherine Lazaruk, leadership and presence coach, opera singer turned executive educator, to explore what it really means to lead from the inside out.

Katherine shares how self-leadership becomes the foundation for authentic influence — and how you can stop performing leadership and start embodying it. Together, they unpack what it looks like to lead with full alignment between your inner truth and your outer presence.

Whether you’re navigating boardrooms, managing a team, or simply trying to stay centered in a high-performance world, this conversation will help you step into the kind of leadership that feels effortless, trustworthy, and real. 

🧠 Try This Exercise
Before your next meeting or presentation, take 10 seconds to pause.
Rub your hands together gently, inhale slowly, and exhale longer than you inhale.
Ask yourself:

• “What part of me am I protecting right now?” That question alone can shift you from performing confidence to embodying calm authority.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

🌊 Connect & Go Deeper

Join the UnCeiling Community — a space for leaders ready to lead with calm confidence, inner clarity, and authentic power.
💻 https://unceilingzone.com/

Coming soon → The Leadership Reset
A guided program to move from overdrive to aligned drive. Rebuild self-trust, clarity, and resilience so leadership feels sustainable — not draining. Join the Waitlist Here!

Want to connect with Katherine? Click here!  https://lzrkconsulting.com

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

In this episode of UnCeiling You, Dr. Natalie Luke sits down with Dawn Rasmussen, résumé and career-strategy expert, to reveal why visibility is leadership strategy, not self-promotion. Together, they unpack how to turn your résumé into a narrative of impact, network authentically, and transform setbacks into growth opportunities.

You’ll learn how to reframe self-promotion as service, shift from external validation to confidence at work, and position yourself for real career advancement.

🎧 Listen now to discover how women in leadership can own their stories, elevate their presence, and lead with purpose — not permission.

🔗 Resources Mentioned

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

✨ Join the Movement

If this episode spoke to you, subscribe to UnCeiling You wherever you listen, and share it with someone ready to unseal their next chapter.

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In this episode of UnCeiling You, Dr. Natalie Luke talks with Sasha Eburne, Australian entrepreneur and NLP Master Coach, about how confidence, community, and self-trust drive career advancement and authentic success.

After 25 years in corporate life, Sasha stopped asking for permission and started creating freedom through relationships, not isolation. Together, they explore how women in leadership can let go of guilt, build confidence at work, and redefine ambition on their own terms.

🎧 Listen now to learn how connection fuels growth, courage, and leadership development—and why the most powerful form of freedom comes from trusting yourself and your network.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

🌐 Connect with Sasha Eburne:

• Website: www.sashaeburne.com
• Instagram: @sashaeburne__

💬 Go Deeper:

Join The UnCeiling Zone — your space to take these insights further with reflection prompts, networking tools, and a community of women building freedom through connection.

 👉 Join here → https://unceilingzone.com/

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Host Dr. Natalie Luke sits down with Liz Weber, CMC, CSP — ranked among the Top 30 Global Gurus for Leadership (2025) — to uncover how powerful leaders create networks that drive career advancement and sustainable leadership development.

Together, they challenge the myth that “being nice” or “making friends” leads to success. Instead, Liz reveals how to build confidence at work, cultivate influence with integrity, and focus on the right relationships at the right time.

🎧 Listen now to learn how real women in leadership build power — not just popularity.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Other Resources
Visit Liz’s website → WBSLLC.com

Connect on LinkedIn → @lizwebercmc

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Join The UnCeiling Zone, where we take podcast insights and turn them into real-world transformation.
👉 Join at the UnCeiling Zone

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Brianne shares how she rose from intern to managing editor in one year, the three biggest networking mistakes Gen Z professionals make, and how asking for help can actually accelerate growth.

Together, they unpack why relationships—not résumés—decide who gets noticed, how confidence at work shapes opportunity, and why true leadership development begins with action, not credentials.

🎧 Listen now to learn what really gets you promoted—and how to build a professional network that works for you.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• Connect with Brianne Rush on TikTok: @BrianneIndependenceLab
• Subscribe to her weekly newsletter: theindependencelab.com/subscribe
• Go deeper inside the UnCeiling Zone: Click Here!
• Support the podcast or share it with a friend: Click Here!

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Kelly shares lessons from decades in boardrooms, including how to read power dynamics, build confidence at work, and maintain integrity in high-stakes decisions. Together, they unpack how leadership development requires not just expertise, but awareness, courage, and strategic listening.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

🎧 Tune in to learn how top leaders spot red flags early, protect their credibility, and turn pressure into presence.

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Together, they unpack how relationships fuel leadership growth, why trust is a non-negotiable in high-stakes settings, and how mentorship and inclusion shape modern leadership development.

If you’re ready to lead with courage, credibility, and connection—this conversation is your roadmap.

🎧 Listen now and learn how to rise, speak up, and own your space at the table.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

 👉 Subscribe to unlock exclusive Insider Questions and bonus content — and support the show at the same time!

Download: The Burnout Beacon Cheat Sheet: Click Here

Join the UnCeiling Zone

The Book: UnCeiling Your Career: At Any Age

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Together, they unpack why compassion isn’t soft; it’s strategic. You’ll learn how to recognize burnout early, give and receive feedback with grace, and build communities that celebrate women in leadership.

🎧 Listen now to discover how compassion outperforms authority — and why empathy is the new superpower in modern leadership.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

Connect with Amy: Click Here

 👉 Subscribe to unlock exclusive Insider Questions and bonus content — and support the show at the same time!

Download: The Burnout Beacon Cheat Sheet: Click Here

Join the UnCeiling Zone

The Book: UnCeiling Your Career: At Any Age

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🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

Download: The Burnout Beacon Cheat Sheet: Click Here

Join the UnCeiling Zone

The Book: UnCeiling Your Career: At Any Age

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

Download: The Burnout Beacon Cheat Sheet: Click Here

Join the UnCeiling Zone

The Book: UnCeiling Your Career: At Any Age

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

Connect with Amy: Click Here

Download: The Burnout Beacon Cheat Sheet: Click Here

Join the UnCeiling Zone

The Book: UnCeiling Your Career: At Any Age

Send us Fan Mail

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Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Recognize the signs of misalignment before burnout hits
 ✅ Rebuild confidence and self-trust through awareness and choice
 ✅ Lead authentically without betraying your values
 ✅ Understand that true alignment feels like freedom, not fear

This episode is a must-listen for anyone who’s ever felt pulled between ambition and authenticity.

🎧 Listen now to learn how to lead, live, and succeed without burning out—or betraying yourself.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources

The Burnout Beacon Cheat Sheet: Click Here

Gain Support at the UnCeiling Zone: Click Here

Shift the Focus from What You are Doing to Who You are Being with Abby Haverman: Click Here

 👉 Subscribe to unlock exclusive Insider Questions and bonus content — and support the show at the same time! Click Here!

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You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Network authentically without burnout or small-talk overload
 ✅ Use deep listening to build influence and trust in leadership
 ✅ Overcome childhood conditioning that stifles your voice
 ✅ Reframe visibility as service, not self-promotion

If you’ve ever felt unseen in loud rooms or unsure how to connect authentically, this episode offers tools to help you lead, communicate, and shine—quietly but powerfully.

🎧 Listen now to discover how introverts can lead with confidence and connection.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

Serena Low's Website: Click Here

The UnCeiling Zone: Click Here

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You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Identify and monetize the skills you already use every day
 ✅ Build confidence at work through small, consistent actions
 ✅ Use mentors and community to uncover hidden strengths
 ✅ Turn setbacks into momentum for lasting growth

This episode is more than a conversation about money—it’s a masterclass in seeing your worth, trusting your journey, and taking the next bold step.

🎧 Listen now to discover how everyday experiences can lead to extraordinary success.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources from this episode:

If you’ve ever doubted yourself or thought “I don’t have anything valuable to offer,” these resources are here to help you see the possibilities already around you:

✨ Free Guide: 25 Successful Side Hustles for 2025
— Bart’s “memory jogger” to spark ideas you may be overlooking in your own life.

🌐 Website: BartMerrell.com
— Learn more about Bart’s story, resources, and side hustle process.

▶️ YouTube: Bart Merrell, The Side Hustle Samurai — Practical videos to help you start small and grow your confidence.

🌿 Join the UnCeiling Zone

 👉 Subscribe to unlock exclusive Insider Questions and bonus content — and support the show at the same time! Click Here!

If you’ve ever felt like you’re not enough or that your ideas don’t matter—this is your invitation to step into a safe space where you don’t have to carry those doubts alone.

Inside the UnCeiling Zone, you’ll find:

• Supportive peers who get it
• Live coaching and encouragement from me, Dr. Natalie Luke
• Simple, practical tools to help you believe in yourself, one small step at a time

Because you don’t need to have it all figured out—you just need to believe enough to take the next step. And we’ll be right there with you.

👉 Join the UnCeiling Zone here

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Rebuild confidence after trauma and adversity
 ✅ Develop self-trust as the foundation for career growth
 ✅ Use storytelling to empower others and heal yourself
 ✅ Transform judgment and fear into fuel for authentic leadership

If you’ve ever questioned your worth, this episode will remind you that your value was never up for debate.

🎧 Listen now to rediscover your power, your purpose, and your voice.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Communicate effectively to build trust and collaboration at work
 ✅ Recognize when you’re in the victim, reactive, or reflective zones
 ✅ Use introspection and writing to strengthen confidence at work
 ✅ Shift from conflict to clarity in challenging conversations

This conversation offers tools to help every leader transform communication into connection—and connection into influence.

🎧 Listen now to discover how mastering your mindset can elevate your leadership and relationships.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources

Lynn's Website: https://zoalq.com/

https://unceilingzone.com/

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Support the show

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You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Redefine identity after trauma and reclaim confidence at work
 ✅ Transform pain into purpose and impact
 ✅ Build supportive communities that foster healing and growth
 ✅ Embrace beauty, faith, and strength beyond physical appearance

This episode is a testament to thriving beyond survival — and finding power in vulnerability.

🎧 Listen now to discover how self-trust and courage can redefine leadership after life’s hardest moments.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources

Michele's Website:  www.micheledclark.com 

UnCeiling Zone: https://unceilingzone.com/

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Support the show

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You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Turn isolation into meaningful community and connection
 ✅ Use podcasting and storytelling as tools for healing and career growth
 ✅ Ask deeper questions to foster authentic relationships
 ✅ Embrace change with gratitude, courage, and clarity

This episode is a must-listen for anyone navigating a new chapter in work or life.

🎧 Listen now to learn how self-trust and community can transform life after change—and spark your next evolution in leadership.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources

📘 Rebuilding Life After a Gray Divorce: A Path to Healing, Significance, and Joy

📓 Pats' upcoming journal 

🌐 PatFenner.me website

The UnCeilingZone

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You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Identify and reframe the money stories driving your behavior
 ✅ Understand money dysmorphia and its impact on confidence at work
 ✅ Build financial resilience and redefine your relationship with success
 ✅ Cultivate emotional and financial mastery for lasting career growth

If talking about money feels uncomfortable, this episode will help you turn financial shame into power.

🎧 Listen now to learn how reclaiming your money story can transform your leadership and life.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources

https://maggiebakerphd.com/

https://unceilingzone.com/

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Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

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You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Shift from self-reliance to strategic support
 ✅ Use gratitude and morning routines to boost confidence at work
 ✅ Redefine networking through generosity and collaboration
 ✅ Leave a lasting legacy through authentic leadership

If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s too late to start again, this episode will remind you it’s never too late to dream, grow, and lead with purpose.

🎧 Listen now to rediscover your dreams and transform your career from the inside out.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources

 https://offers.deantaylorofficial.com/home

It is a free guide for career fathers who are feeling stuck in mediocrity and looking to find their purpose so they can start working towards the life they want.

Book: UnCeiling Your Career: At Any Age

Join the UnCeiling Zone

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Support the show

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You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Recognize when silence becomes self-limiting
 ✅ Differentiate strategic silence from conditioned silence
 ✅ Build confidence at work through authenticity and voice
 ✅ Lead teams that value open communication and inclusion

If you’ve ever felt unheard or hesitant to speak up, this conversation will give you the mindset and tools to rise with confidence and clarity.

🎧 Listen now to learn how using your voice can transform your leadership journey.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

The Book: Unlearing Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully

The Book: UnCeiling Your Career: At Any Age

Join the UnCeiling Zone

 👉 Subscribe to unlock exclusive Insider Questions and bonus content — and support the show simultaneously! Click Here!

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Build confidence and visibility in leadership roles
 ✅ Replace perfectionism with progress and motion
 ✅ Cultivate authentic mentorship and supportive networks
 ✅ Reclaim your worth and rise without burnout

This is more than motivation — it’s your roadmap to career growth, self-trust, and authentic leadership.

🎧 Listen now and stop shrinking — your next power level starts here.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources

https://unceilingzone.com/

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Turn obstacles into opportunities for leadership growth
 ✅ Silence self-doubt and lead with authenticity
 ✅ Build confidence at work and beyond
 ✅ Stay aligned with your mission—even when facing resistance

If you’ve ever felt underestimated or ready to make a change, this episode reminds you that career growth and leadership impact often start with one bold decision.

🎧 Listen now to close out Season 2 with purpose, power, and possibility.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

From Jodi Bondi Norgaard

The Book: More Than a Doll: How Creating a Sports Doll Turned into a Fight to End Gender Stereotypes 

More about Jodi Bondi Norgaard

From Natalie Luke, PhD

The Book: UnCeiling Your Career: At Any Age

Join the Community @ the UnCeiling Zone

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Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Transform obstacles into opportunities through faith and focus
 ✅ Use mindset shifts to rebuild confidence at work
 ✅ Visualize success to attract new opportunities and allies
 ✅ Lead with purpose and lift others along the way

🎧 Listen now to discover how reclaiming your power can inspire both personal and professional transformation.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

Meet Kelly: https://www.northernarizonafinehomes.com/about/kelly-broaddus/

UnCeiling Zone: https://unceilingzone.com/

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Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Prevent burnout while pursuing high performance
 ✅ Reconnect with passion and purpose for authentic leadership
 ✅ Replace external validation with inner confidence
 ✅ Shift from achievement to alignment for lasting growth

This episode is a powerful reminder that you don’t need to burn out to break through — your next level of success starts with taking care of you.

🎧 Listen now to discover how to lead, live, and grow—without limits.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources:

From Vicky Tee: https://hpexecutive.com/

From Natalie Luke: https://unceilingyou.com/

 👉 Subscribe to unlock exclusive Insider Questions and bonus content — and support the show at the same time! Click Here!

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Reframe aging as a chapter for reinvention and leadership
 ✅ Overcome internalized ageism and show up with confidence at work
 ✅ Build intergenerational networks that foster collaboration and growth
 ✅ Redefine retirement as a launchpad for purpose and impact

If you’ve ever wondered whether your best years are behind you, this episode will prove they’re just beginning.

🎧 Listen now to embrace ageless ambition and lead with renewed purpose.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources

From Ande Lyons

• https://www.dontbecagedbyyourage.com/

From Dr. Natalie Luke

• https://unceilingyou.com/
• UnCeiling Your Career Book 

 👉 Subscribe to unlock exclusive Insider Questions and bonus content — and support the show at the same time! Click Here!

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Distinguish between achievement and authentic fulfillment
 ✅ Reclaim your voice and confidence at work
 ✅ Practice radical responsibility and inner alignment
 ✅ Harness community and sisterhood for healing and leadership growth

🎧 Listen now to rediscover your strength, reignite purpose, and lead from power — not pressure.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Cam's Resources

• Free Divine Feminine guide: https://immersives.divinuslvx.com/divinuslvx-guide
• Cam on Instagram: Instagram.com/cam_kashani
• Cam on TikTok: TikTok.com/camkashani 
• Cam's Website: http://divinuslvx.com 

UnCeiling You Resources

• Membership Site: https://unceilingzone.com/

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You’ll learn how to:
 ✅ Recognize when resilience turns into self-suppression
 ✅ Reclaim your emotional voice and personal power
 ✅ Apply the “Emotional Bill of Rights” for fulfillment and clarity
 ✅ Transform anxiety and burnout into purposeful career growth

This episode reminds ambitious professionals that leadership isn’t about endurance—it’s about authenticity, alignment, and self-trust.

🎧 Listen now to rediscover your purpose and reconnect with your true power.

🎁 Free Reset Guide for Leaders Who Carry a Lot
If you’re constantly “on,” responsible for everything, and craving more calm without losing momentum, this short reset will help you slow the internal pace and lead with clarity. 👉 Download here!

Resources

From Dr. Ardeshir Mehran

• https://ardeshirmehran.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ardeshir-mehran-a3457/

From Dr. Natalie Luke

• https://unceilingyou.com/
• https://unceilingzone.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalielukephdbcmas/

 👉 Subscribe to unlock exclusive Insider Questions and bonus content — and support the show simultaneously! Click Here!