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Speak In FlowAuthor: Melinda Lee Language: en Genres: Business, Careers, Education, Self-Improvement Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Should Leaders Speak Up About Current Events?
Episode 152
Thursday, 2 April, 2026
The world feels heavy. Between military conflicts, civil unrest, and constant geopolitical tension, it's not just the news cycle that's disrupted… It's our workplaces. In this timely and essential episode of the Speak In Flow Podcast, host Melinda Lee sits down with Kimberly Davis, founder of Brave Leadership, to tackle the urgent question on every leader's mind: How do you guide your team through uncertainty when you're struggling with it yourself? Kimberly shares a powerful framework for moving from survival mode to intentional leadership, proving that you don't need to be superhuman to create a safe, productive environment.In This Episode, You Will Learn:The Elephant in the Room (Literally)“When the elephant wants to go in a different direction than the rider, who's gonna win? The elephant, all day long.”Kimberly breaks down the brilliant metaphor from Switch to explain why you can't logic your way through raw emotion. Ignoring your team's feelings doesn't make them disappear; it gives them the power to destroy productivity and trust.Your Silence is Speaking Volumes"When there's an absence of information, our brains are going to fill in that empty space. And it's often not going to fill in the way we want it to."Discover why staying silent to avoid conflict actually creates more damage. Your team is already making up stories about what you think and feel, learn how to step in before those stories erode their trust in you.The 90-Second Rule for Lowering the Temperature"Give them about 90 seconds to speak through it in a way that will lower that emotion."When an employee is highly charged, logic is useless. Kimberly provides a simple, actionable technique to help someone feel seen and heard, which is the only way to defuse the emotion and eventually have a logical conversation.Healthy Vulnerability vs. OversharingLeaders must be human, but they also need healthy boundaries. Learn the critical difference between being authentically vulnerable and oversharing in a way that can cause more harm than good.________________________________________What's your news consumption costing you?Higher stress. Lower focus. A 21.5% rise in workplace incivility. And a team that feels the weight of every headline you carry into the room.The answer isn't disconnecting completely. It's intentionality.Read the full guide in our latest blog post. "How to Detox from the News." ________________________________________About the Guest: Kimberly Davis is the founder of Brave Leadership, where she champions emerging leaders and senior managers navigating today's tumultuous workplace. She teaches leadership programs worldwide and serves on the faculty for SMU Cox School of Business' Executive Education. A TEDx speaker and award-winning author, her book Brave Leadership was named among Inc. Magazine's most impactful books to read. The updated edition was released in June 2025.Social handles:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlydavisonstage/ Fun Facts:🏉 Her leadership philosophy was shaped on the rugby field🌍 She has taught women leaders from over 20 countries📍 She makes her home in San Diego, CaliforniaAbout Melinda:Melinda Lee is a Presentation Skills Expert, Speaking Coach, and nationally renowned Motivational Speaker. She holds an M.A. in Organizational Psychology, is an Insights Practitioner, and is a Certified Professional in Talent Development as well as Certified in Conflict Resolution. For over a decade, Melinda has researched and studied the state of “flow” and used it as a proven technique to help corporate leaders and business owners amplify their voices, access flow, and present their mission in a more powerful way to achieve results.She has been the TEDx Berkeley Speaker Coach and has worked with hundreds of executives and teams from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Caltrans, Bay Area Rapid Transit System, and more. Currently, she lives in San Francisco, California, and is breaking the ancestral lineage of silence.Website: https://speakinflow.com/Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/speakinflowInstagram: https://instagram.com/speakinflowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpowerallThanks for listening!Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!Subscribe to the podcastIf you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.Leave us an Apple Podcast review.Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.
