It names why you can walk into a meeting perfectly prepared and still feel your nervous system hijack the room. It explains why defensiveness isn't a personality flaw, it's a signal that safety left the conversation before you even noticed. And it reframes nervous system regulation not as a wellness buzzword but as the actual infrastructure of effective leadership.
Sharon is the founder of The Center for Conscious Leadership and the creator of the Trauma Informed Leader program. In this episode, she walks us through what happens when a room full of nervous systems becomes its own collective organism and why co-regulation is the leadership skill nobody taught you. We explore the window of tolerance, what polyvagal theory looks like in real time (not in a textbook), and how to spot when someone across from you has shifted from connection into protection without either of you naming it.
We also get into something Sharon calls the un-ripened tomato effect. It's her metaphor for how organizations pluck emerging leaders too early, teach them to perform executive presence without building the nervous system capacity underneath, and then wonder why emotional regulation crumbles under pressure and emotional resilience never takes root. If you have ever been told to fake it until you make it and felt your body keeping score the whole time, this part of the conversation will land.
This conversation is about recognizing that stress management and psychological safety start inside your own system before they ever show up in relation with colleagues. You'll leave with a clearer sense of what high functioning anxiety actually costs, how to attune to the regulational field in any room you walk into, and why leading well might come down to how willing you are to stay in connection when everything in you wants to protect.
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Recommended Next Videos to Watch:
• Nervous System Regulation: Take Back Control of Your Responses with Ashley Douglas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yim5d8FO7Oo&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=10&t=552s
• Nervous System Regulation: Improve Relationships Even In Disagreement | Author & TEDx Speaker Kerry-Lyn Stanton-Downes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv3N6pvsuiY&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=3&t=843s
• High-Achievers Stay Stuck For This ONE Reason with Brooklyn Dicent UN and TEDx Speakerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qLW1CMu2G8&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=9&t=3053s
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*** Don't miss another episode - subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@WDYKTBT?sub_confirmation=1 ***
In this episode, Sharon answers the following questions:
• What is trauma?
• What is trauma informed leadership?
• How to not activate a trauma response in others?
• How to regulate my nervous system?
Resources mentioned in the episode:
• Sharon’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonpodobnik/
• The Center for Conscious Leadership: https://www.thecenterforconsciousleadership.com/
Chapters
0:00 What Is Trauma-Informed Leadership?
3:56 Defining Trauma: When Nervous System Regulation Fails
5:21 The Three Lenses of Trauma-Informed Leadership
8:47 Co-Regulation: How Leaders Create Nervous System Safety
13:54 Psychological Safety: Am I Safe? Do I Matter? Am I Loved?
17:00 Burnout Symptoms: The Unripened Tomato Leadership Metaphor
20:29 Holding Space: Sharon's Origin Story & Superpower
36:09 Imposter Syndrome: The Cost of Looking the Part
41:46 Leadership Development As Public Health & Well-Being Requirement
What Do You Know To Be True?" is an invitation to be inspired to become more of your possible self by discovering your superpower, unlocking your potential, and creating your impact in the world.
This podcast is for leaders, coaches, org development practitioners, and anyone who works with people who want to be inspired to discover their superpower, unlock their possibilities, and make meaningful impact in the world.
Want more info about What Do You Know To Be True?
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"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/
Keywords
#nervoussystemregulation #traumainformedleadership #psychologicalsafety #emotionalregulation #consciousleadership #impostersyndrome #emotionalresilience #burnoutsymptoms #stressmanagement #coregulation