Leadership Beyond the Title

Have you been sitting in your car a little longer before walking into work? Not because you're early — but because you know that when you walk through those doors, you'll be the only one. The only Black woman. The only person of color. The only one who has to prove she belongs before she even opens her mouth. This episode isn't a framework. It's honest. It's where I am right now — how I'm staying focused as a Black woman business owner while so much is happening in the world, and why I still haven't given up hope. If you've been carrying something heavy lately, this one is for you. I get into the question I carry into every room that most people around me never have to ask — am I safe here? Not just physically, but safe to be myself, to be taken seriously, to make a mistake without being targeted. And I share the real reason so many of us are exhausted, and why it has nothing to do with being lazy, failing, or having imposter syndrome. It's called weathering. Dr. Arline Geronimus's research found that the constant stress of racism and always having to push through wears on Black women's bodies faster than anyone else's — her studies show our cells showing signs of aging years ahead of white women the same age. We're not just tired. We're carrying it in our blood pressure, our sleep, our immune systems. In our bones. In this episode: The question Black women carry into rooms that most people never have to Why it's not in your head — the microaggressions, the "what did you used to do?", the people stepping into your lane "to help" The data: Black women losing jobs at higher rates since 2025 while others held steady What reality TV (Big Brother, Traitors) reveals about who gets assumed guilty before they start Weathering — the name for the exhaustion you couldn't explain Why, even as we lose jobs, Black women are one of the fastest-growing groups of business owners How I keep going (not a formula): stepping away and resting, coming back to my mission, and refusing to do it alone What I want you to walk away with: You might be the only person in that room — but you are not the only one. Take one more breath. Walk in. And when you need to, walk away and rest. Then come back to your mission, because the world needs what you're here to do. 🔗 Work with me — 1:1 & team coaching: I help Black women and leaders walk into rooms with systems thinking so they can grow their leadership, influence, and income — without shrinking or code-switching. Let's talk: https://coachingwithtasheena.as.me/sales 📬 Read my Substack — Off the Org Chart: New articles every Sunday. https://substack.com/@tbraxtoncoach Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coach_tasheena/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coachtasheena LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tasheena-braxton-msod-cpcc-orscc-ccmp-pcc-11b14a69/ 🎧 New episodes weekly. If this resonated, share it with someone who needs to hear it today. Take care of yourself, and take care of each other. Media Credits: Images and visual content created with Canva and licensed via Storyblocks.

Have you noticed people at work showing up differently lately — checked out, resistant, not themselves? There's a name for what's underneath it. I call it change grief: the grief that shows up when things aren't the way they used to be, and when it feels like you have to change who you are just to get through the day. With layoffs, reorganizations, new leaders, return-to-office mandates, and AI reshaping everything, we're all navigating more change than we know how to process. And here's what I keep seeing as a certified change practitioner: we slap a framework on it — ADKAR, RACI, a process — and skip the human part. But the human side of change is the make-or-break of any change effort. Ignore it, and the grief people already carry amplifies two and three times over. At the heart of it is identity. A layoff, a new boss, a new role, even a return-to-office order — each one presses on who we've known ourselves to be, and drops us into an unknown future. That's the "in between" we never deal with: not current state, not future state, but the grief in the middle. In this episode I get into: Why change frameworks like ADKAR and RACI only take you so far — and where they fall short Change as an identity shift, and why layoffs, new leaders, and RTO hit so hard The "pause" between stimulus and response — and why grief lives there Navigating change with consciousness, so your amygdala doesn't run the show Meeting people where they are instead of writing them off as "not leadership material" Why leaders need to hold both — the human side AND the forward movement Planning your future instead of letting change happen to you The difference between leaving with bitterness and leaving with a plan Pulling from your own journey for insight (what my two layoffs taught me) Whether you're leading a team through change or living through it yourself, this one will help you name what you're feeling and move through it with more agency. 🔗 This episode is sponsored by my 1:1 and team coaching — I help leaders and teams increase productivity by 50% or more using systems thinking and change management, bringing in the human side, not just frameworks and process. Let's talk: https://coachingwithtasheena.as.me/sales 📬 Read my Substack — Off the Org Chart: New articles every Sunday. https://substack.com/@tbraxtoncoach Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coach_tasheena/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coachtasheena LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tasheena-braxton-msod-cpcc-orscc-ccmp-pcc-11b14a69/ 🎧 New episodes weekly. If someone you know is navigating change in their career or life, share this with them — it helps more people find the show. Media Credits: Images and visual content created with Canva and licensed via Storyblocks.

You interviewed. You prepared. You did the temporary role or put in the years — and they still chose someone else. The rejection is real, and so is the question underneath it: where do I go from here? This week I'm getting honest about what happens next. I'll tell you about the time I worked my butt off in a temporary admin role, threw my name in the hat, and didn't get it — and how I was so hurt that I was flat-out mean to the person who did. What pulled me out wasn't pretending it didn't sting. It was asking a better set of questions. I share the reflection questions I still use with clients today, why the people who didn't choose you are watching how you respond, and the mindset that actually moves you forward — without abandoning your why. And the reframe at the heart of it: stop asking why they didn't choose you, and start asking whether you're choosing you. Because right now — in this exact moment — you have more leverage to shape your next step than you think. I'll also name the hard truth: some organizations you should walk away from. And some are worth staying in and shaping. I'll help you tell the difference. If you (or someone you love) just came up short on a role, this one's for you. 🔗 Work with me — 1:1 & team coaching (helping leaders grow their careers and teams increase productivity by 50%+): https://coachingwithtasheena.as.me/sales 📬 Substack — Off the Org Chart: https://substack.com/@tbraxtoncoach Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coach_tasheena/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coachtasheena LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tasheena-braxton-msod-cpcc-orscc-ccmp-pcc-11b14a69/ 🎧 New episodes weekly. Know someone who just didn't get the role? Send this their way. Media Credits: Images and visual content created with Canva and licensed via Storyblocks.

Decisions are the most emotionally charged thing that happens at work — which is why they stall, bottleneck, and turn into meetings before the meeting just to get everyone aligned. This week I'm busting a belief: that there's a right or wrong decision at work. In a fast-changing market, there isn't. There's only a learning decision — an experiment you run like a scientist. I break down the four frameworks everyone reaches for — RACI, DARCI, RAPID, and the Eisenhower Matrix — what each was actually built for, and why none of them get you to a clear decision. Then I share the simple approach I use with teams instead: just three roles that take the anxiety out of deciding and get you moving without the bottlenecks. If deciding at work feels slow, political, or stuck — this one's for you. 🔗 Work with me — 1:1 & team coaching (increase team productivity by 50%+): https://coachingwithtasheena.as.me/sales 📬 Substack — Off the Org Chart: https://substack.com/@tbraxtoncoach Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coach_tasheena/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coachtasheena LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tasheena-braxton-msod-cpcc-orscc-ccmp-pcc-11b14a69/ 🎧 New episodes weekly. Know someone stuck on a decision? Send them this. Media Credits: Images and visual content created with Canva and licensed via Storyblocks.

If you get one thing from this episode, let it be this: you don't need more confidence. You're not broken. And you don't have imposter syndrome — you're being impacted by imposter treatment. After a few weeks away (the tech kept stalling, and skipping one week made it easy to skip the next), I'm back — kids in school, routines settling — to talk about the hairy little monster I see over and over in my coaching: the belief that something is wrong with us. I'm here to dispel that myth. "Imposter syndrome" puts the problem in your head and sends you chasing confidence to fix a self that was never broken. But run your own resume back — the degrees, the certifications, the years, the sacrifices. You prepared for these rooms. So why do you feel like you don't belong? Because the system — the biases, the culture, the treatment — is gaslighting you into believing you're not who your receipts say you are. The 3 shifts I want you to make: Name it as treatment, not a syndrome. A "syndrome" is something to diagnose, medicate, or fix in you. Treatment names what's happening in your environment — so you can find real solutions instead of trying to fix yourself. Separate feelings from facts. "The room went quiet so I don't belong" is a feeling. Five degrees, two certs, 15 years of experience — those are facts. Stick with the receipts. Reclaim your agency. Once you call it treatment, you get to choose your next tangible step instead of managing self-doubt. Step into your power and take up your space. "But isn't that just blaming everyone else?" Naming treatment isn't refusing to grow — it's aiming your energy at the real thing, instead of exhausting yourself fixing a problem that was never you. When you stop carrying this weight as personal failure, you free up the energy to lead, to make decisions, and to take up the full space you're meant to. That's full agency over yourself, your career, your team, and your life. And when you're called to lead, you're called to lead as you are — not as a shrunken version of some imposter. Your reflection this week: Catch one moment and ask — is this me, or is this treatment? Just notice it. Awareness is the first step. 🔗 Work with me 1:1 or bring this to your team: This is the work I do in my one-on-one and team coaching — walking into the room pulling receipts instead of leaning on confidence. Book a call: https://coachingwithtasheena.as.me/sales 📬 Read my Substack — Off the Org Chart: New articles every Sunday. https://substack.com/@tbraxtoncoach Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coach_tasheena/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coachtasheena LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tasheena-braxton-msod-cpcc-orscc-ccmp-pcc-11b14a69/ 🎧 New episodes weekly. If this helped, hit like and share it — it helps more people find the show. Media Credits: Images and visual content created with Canva and licensed via Storyblocks.