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Every week we publish a new episode of truth telling, corporate real talk to help people-centered leaders find validation and support in navigating tricky corporate cultures.
S1 E13: Embracing Your Own Purgatory: Who Are You When the Work Goes Away?
We are expected to be experts whenever we walk into a room, but we are never experts of ourselves.” In this live community episode, Geoff Curtis joins Susan and Marissa to unearth the jarring reality of losing a professional identity and why running straight into the next job is a trap.
S1 E12: You Can’t Handle My Whole Self At Work
We can't expect individuals to bring their whole selves if the organization isn't willing to put its own whole self out on the table ." In this episode, Susan and Marissa dismantle the corporate cliché of the "whole self," exposing the gap between idealized brand promises and the real, messy baggage that humans carry every single day.
S1 E11: When No One Tells the CEO the Truth
Filtered truth causes false confidence . When we prioritize 'professionalism' over proximity, we lose the honest signals needed to lead effectively." In this episode, Susan and Marissa unearth the high cost of managing up through avoidance and why "drafty work" is the key to innovation.
S1 E10: Ask Your People: Data Is Not a Substitute for Judgment
Data has become a way to put off decisions and shirk responsibility. Not every observation needs a data point; sometimes, it just needs a leader brave enough to act on what they see." . In the season finale, Susan and Marissa unearth why an over-reliance on dashboards is holding organizations back from moving at the pace of change.
S1 E9: DEATH BY POWERPOINT: Storytelling is the Next Great Leadership Capability
"Leaders who can’t tell a story cannot move people. Storytelling isn’t a charismatic 'add-on'; it’s a required leadership capability." S1 E9 of Brave Proximity unearths why our reliance on 80-page slide decks is killing inspiration and change initiatives. We’re moving from 'telling' to 'inspiring'—from bullet points to human connection.
S1 E8: Burnout is Not a Leadership Pipeline
If your best leadership pipeline is just the people too tired to say 'no,' you aren’t building a future; you’re just managing a 'wake of bodies.'”
In the season finale of Brave Proximity, Marissa and Susan unearth the dangerous fallacy of relying on burnout as a leadership strategy. We’re peeling back the layers of Professional Distance to understand why we treat exhausted high-performers as the logical succession plan—and how to stop the cycle of compliance before your 'Silent Heroes' burn out completely.
S1 E7: The Work No One Needs: The Real Reason We’re Drowning in Work That Doesn’t Matter
Are you busy, or are you just indifferent? We’re so caught up in the 'work about the work'—the decks, the updates, the performative spreadsheets—that we’ve lost proximity to the mission. In this episode, Susan and Marissa unearth the real reason we’re drowning in work that doesn't matter and why the most courageous thing a leader can do is delete the tasks that no longer serve a purpose.
S1 E6: When One Toxic Leader Destroys the Culture (And Still Gets Promoted)
Tired of corporate theater? If your measure of success for a promotion list is that nobody says ‘Are you kidding me?’—you’re already ahead of the game. In this episode, Susan and Marissa unearth the 'Secret Cycle of Promotion' that keeps toxic high-performers rising while the 'Silent Heroes' do the actual work of keeping the culture alive. It’s time to stop performing the compliance and start leading with real accountability.
S1 E2: Executive Presence is Broken: The Polished Pretender Problem
Executive presence is often just conformity dressed up in boardroom lighting. In this episode, Susan and Marissa unpack the 'polished pretender' problem and how managing impressions kills the authentic connection and humanity required to actually lead change.
