S1 E0: Welcome to the BRAVE PROXIMITY Conversation
A vintage yellow rotary dial telephone on a clean desk, symbolizing the Brave Proximity hotline for naming workplace elephants.
It’s time to get brave & proximate.
Most leaders won't say it out loud — but leadership is lonely. Not the quiet, reflective kind of lonely. The kind where you see what's really happening inside your organization, you know what needs to be said, and you look around the room and realize no one else is saying it. That's the loneliness Marissa and Susan are here to name — and refuse to accept as the cost of doing the job well.
In this debut episode, we pull back the curtain on why we built this podcast, what we’re tired of, and what we believe is possible when leaders stop performing and start telling the truth.
"We had to put the truth out there — and I always felt hopeful that we could address some of these really complex challenges in organizations. But damn, we had to name them first." - Susan Page
One Key Takeaway: Human-centered leadership isn't soft — it's strategic. The skills that make leaders feel most isolated right now (empathy, truth-telling, authentic connection) are exactly the ones that drive culture, performance, and trust. This isn't the moment to pull back. It's the moment to get louder.
"People are tired of holding those truths in. It's weighty. They're tired of seeing inhumane things happen in the name of results — and having no one say anything." - Marissa Green
If you've ever walked out of a meeting, turned off your Zoom, and only told your best friend what you actually thought — this podcast was built for you. Brave Proximity isn't a bitch fest and it's not toxic positivity. It's hard truth with empathy. And it starts here.
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00:00 — The Loneliness of Leadership
05:23 — Embracing Authenticity in Corporate Spaces
10:05 — Navigating Hard Truths with Empathy
14:03 — Creating a Supportive Community
18:11 — The Future of Work and Human-Centered Leadership
23:12 — Our Commitment to Listeners
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