Welcome to HeartGlow CEO, the podcast for mission-driven leaders navigating growth, pressure, and change without losing themselves in the process. I'm Kc Rossi, Integrative Leadership Coach. Here we explore practical leadership through the lens of emotional intelligence, nervous system awareness, and deeper self-trust so you can lead with greater clarity, steadiness, and impact in the moments that matter most.
There's something about this time of the year that still carries a certain energy, even when we are long past buying school supplies or heading into a classroom. The air starts to change. We're getting some 50-ish degree mornings here in upstate New York.
The light shifts. Calendars fill back up. There's a sense that something new is starting.
I think leaders can use that. As we head toward fall and the fourth quarter, I want to invite you to borrow a little of that back-to-school energy. Not the pressure to perform or prove yourself, but the curiosity, clarity, and willingness to learn that comes with being a beginner again.
Because with so much change happening in organizations and in our lives right now, it can be tempting to contract. We stay with what we know. We wait for more certainty, or we convince ourselves that we need another credential, another sign, or another level of confidence before we step up.
But maybe this season isn't asking for you to know more before you move. I want you to think about that. Maybe it's asking you to trust yourself to learn as you go.
I've been thinking about this in my own life because I've been intentionally stepping outside of some familiar boxes and challenging my own skill set. I'm saying yes to things that require me to stretch, learn new tools, and use my experience in different ways. Even after decades of experience, that can bring up the question, am I qualified enough for this? Do I know enough? Should I wait until I'm more prepared? And maybe you know that feeling too.
There's a statistic that often gets quoted a lot in conversations about women and work. It's often referred to as a Harvard study, but technically it came from an internal HP report and was later explored by the Harvard Business Review. I think Tara Moore was the one that first brought it into light.
And it cited that men would apply for a role when they met about 60% of the qualifications, while women tended to wait until they met, you guessed it, a hundred percent. What I find even more interesting is the deeper point. It's not simply that women lacked confidence.
Many were treating the qualifications like rules. If they didn't meet every requirement, they assumed they wouldn't be considered. And that's worth noticing.
So I want you to take a minute here and just get grounded, grounded in yourself. I like to look at my feet and feel almost like roots are coming through the center of my feet. If you're able to do this and you're not driving, just take a breath here with me.
And where might you be treating a preference like a rule? Perhaps you're assuming you need permission that no one has actually said you need, or you're waiting to feel completely ready for something that can only be learned by doing it. And it's scary. I get it.
It takes a lot of vulnerability to step into something that you may not a hundred percent know yet. And for you, that could mean considering a promotion, speaking up more visibly in your organization, or learning AI or another technology that you've been hesitant to explore. It might be a certification, a creative project, a leadership opportunity, or even a side passion that keeps tugging at your heart.
The invitation isn't to recklessly say yes to everything. Discernment matters. Your values matter.
Capacity matters. But there's a difference between discernment and self-elimination. Sometimes what looks like being responsible is actually protecting ourselves from the vulnerability of being new.
Can you let yourself be a beginner? Being new can feel especially uncomfortable when you're already accomplished. People may look to you for answers. You've built experience and credibility.
Entering a space where you don't know everything can feel humbling. But that doesn't diminish your leadership. It actually may deepen it.
Strong leaders, they stay teachable. They remain curious and allow themselves to evolve. That matters even more in seasons of transition.
The leaders who navigate change well aren't necessarily the ones with the clearest map. Often they're the ones who can stay grounded in their values while remaining flexible about the path forward. They know what they stand for without requiring certainty about exactly what comes next.
That's a different kind of confidence. Can you feel it? It isn't certainty about the outcome, but it is self-trust about who you are, which to me is so much greater. It's one of the most underrated skills that I feel that we can develop and that we can hone.
So as we move into this fall season, I want to give you a simple back-to-school challenge. Are you up for it? Choose one thing to put on your personal fall curriculum. It could be a skill you want to strengthen, a conversation you're ready to have, an opportunity that you've been circling around, or an area of your life and leadership where you're willing to become a beginner again.
And then I'd like you to sit with three questions. What am I genuinely interested in learning? Where am I waiting to be 100% ready before I let myself begin? And what would it look like to trust myself enough to take the next step now? Just the next step. And that could mean enrolling in a course, applying for a role, raising your hand for something new, volunteering, opening that software you've been avoiding and experiment with it, or finally making room for an idea that's been sitting in your heart.
As mission-driven leaders, we can become so focused on serving, delivering, and holding things together that we forget something important. We are allowed to be in our own process of becoming, too. You are not only here to execute what you already know, you're here to grow.
So take some of that crisp September energy and use it intentionally. Clear out what no longer fits, sharpen what matters, learn something that expands you. And as the fourth quarter approaches, resist the urge to collapse inward because the path ahead isn't perfectly clear.
Okay? Can you agree to stay rooted in your values while remaining open to possibility? Can you trust your experience and trust your capacity to learn what you don't yet know? Because sometimes the next evolution of your leadership begins with being willing to become a student again. Thank you so much for being here with me on Heart Glow CEO. Until next time, keep leading with clarity, self-trust, and heart.
We'll see you then.
