What I Was Ashamed of 8 Years Ago is Actually an Important Leadership Lesson

Kristen and I delivering a keynote at the Feb 25th EmpowerHER event.

I did something that scared me this week.

I stood on a stage in front of 100+ women in Media and shared one of the lowest points of my professional career. A story I had once carried with such embarrassment and shame.

But this time was different.

This time, I stood there with intention and purpose. I stood there with every scar and imperfection fully on display, because that was the point.

Kristen, my trusted UNLOCK Leadership Collective partner, and I were invited to the event to teach this incredible audience about cognitive load. And I knew the most powerful way to do that wasn't through polished theory or a perfect case study.

It was through me. The messy, human, still-figuring-it-out version.

And something beautiful happened.

After I left the stage, women came to find me. One by one, they leaned in and whispered their own stories. Their own moments of doubt, failure, and imperfection. A quiet, collective exhale of me too.

That's when I remembered something I know to be true:

I am drawn to people's quirks and scars. That's where the real person lives.

And I think we forget, as leaders, that our imperfections aren't liabilities. They are the very things that make us connectable. Owning our imperfections gives others permission to stop pretending they have it all figured out too.

So here's my invitation to you:

Own your story. Show up fully. Lead with a less polished and more relatable version of yourself.

Because when you do, you don't just free yourself,  you free the people around you.