In this episode, Tara and Taylor sit inside a stretch of leadership that almost no one prepares you for: when the old vision no longer fits, but the new one hasn’t fully taken shape yet. Decisions still need to be made. People still need leadership. And the business doesn’t pause just because clarity is still forming.

They explore how this season shows up differently in the Visionary seat versus the Integrator seat, why uncertainty can feel unmooring (or activating, depending on your role), and what actually helps teams stay grounded when things look “in flux” from the outside. The conversation weaves together structure, trust, values, and the often-messy reality of building something alive rather than rigid.

Using real examples and a live scenario, Tara and Taylor unpack how leaders can hold responsibility without rushing resolution—and why meandering with intention is not the same thing as stagnation.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to Leadership Challenges
00:48 Navigating Visionary and Integrator Roles
03:17 The Flux of Vision and Personal Growth
12:45 The Importance of Values and Purpose
17:04 Internal Pressure and Decision Making
34:36 Misinterpretations and Trust in Leadership
45:38 Embracing the Meandering Process
46:44 The Importance of Play and Practice
48:16 Trust and Flexibility in Business
50:46 Addressing Indecisiveness and Alignment
55:07 Navigating Uncertainty with Leadership
01:00:07 The Role of Vision and Trust
01:06:32 Scenario Discussion: Leadership and Vision

Stay in tune with Tara here!

In this Owner’s Room episode, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper is talking about a weird (and honestly relieving) leadership shift: when the noise inside you gets quiet. Not because you’ve checked out — but because you’ve finally settled. The decision is already made internally, so you stop doing the whole “pre-explaining/pre-justifying/pre-narrating” thing to your team like you’re presenting a legal defense.

Tara walks through what self-trust actually feels like in the body (not just in your head), why some leaders feel compelled to explain themselves to death, and what it costs to keep translating yourself so other people stay comfortable. She also digs into the discomfort of letting people have their own interpretations — and what changes when you stop managing reactions in advance while still staying values-led and transparent.

If you’ve been feeling that quiet steadiness in yourself and also wondering, “cool, but do I owe everyone a 12-slide explanation?” …this one’s for you.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to Quiet Leadership
01:04 Exploring the Owner's Room
01:42 Trusting Yourself: Brain and Gut Alignment
06:00 Explaining Yourself to Others
17:11 The Cost of Translating Yourself
22:25 Handling Others' Interpretations
24:29 Understanding Misinterpretations
25:56 Dealing with Discomfort
28:20 Leadership Without Managing Reactions
35:17 Scenario: Leadership Shift
45:46 Final Thoughts and Farewell

Everything Tara is doing runs through her email list. Link is here if you want to stay in the loop!

There’s a strange, quiet moment in leadership that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.

It’s the moment when the vision that once gave you momentum… just stops organizing you.

In this Owner’s Room episode of the Culture Focused Practice podcast, I answer unscripted leadership questions about what happens when a vision loses its pull — not because you failed, and not necessarily because the vision was wrong, but because you’ve changed.

We explore how to tell the difference between burnout and genuine misalignment, how your body signals when something no longer fits, and why questioning a vision is not the same thing as questioning your competence as a leader. I also talk candidly about the fear of destabilizing your team, the responsibility leaders feel to “know,” and what it actually looks like to lead in the in-between space — when the old vision has dissolved and the next one hasn’t fully formed yet.

This episode is for leaders who are still showing up, still leading well, but quietly realizing that the internal organizing principle they’ve relied on is no longer there.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to the Culture Focused Practice Podcast
00:32 Understanding Vision Stagnation in Leadership
01:17 Question 1: Identifying When a Vision Has Run Its Course
10:18 Question 2: Physical Sensations of Misalignment
16:02 Question 3: Leadership Identity and Vision Constraints
27:35 Question 4: Perceptions of Leaders Without a Clear Vision
29:34 The Importance of Vision in Leadership
30:33 Navigating Certainty as a Leader
31:55 The Dynamic Nature of Leadership Decisions
36:00 The Living Practice Framework
38:10 Addressing Leadership Challenges
42:30 Scenario Analysis: Leadership and Vision
53:21 Final Thoughts and Podcast Wrap-Up

If this episode resonated, subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss future conversations like this — and share it with a leader who might be quietly sitting in this same in-between space and wondering if something is wrong with them.

Marketing is one of those things every practice knows it needs — and almost no one feels confident doing.

In this episode, I’m joined by John Sanders from RevKey, a Google Ads specialist who works almost exclusively with mental health practices. Together, we pull apart why marketing feels so murky, emotionally loaded, and ethically fraught for therapists — and why so many practice owners feel like they’re throwing money into a black box and hoping for the best.

We talk about the emotional baggage therapists carry around money and visibility, why “doing it yourself” often costs more in the long run, and how marketing is actually made up of multiple distinct professions that too often get lumped together. We also get into ethical boundaries in mental health marketing, what Google actually allows (and doesn’t), and how to think clearly about delegation without spiraling into fear or avoidance.

This is not a how-to episode. It’s a how-to-think episode — about clarity, specialization, ethical visibility, and building marketing systems that actually serve both you and your clients.

You can also learn more about John and RevKey at http://www.revkey.com/podcasts.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to Marketing and Mental Health
00:35 Meet the Guest: John Sanders
01:11 The Challenges of Naming a Business
02:46 Diving into Marketing Strategies
03:48 Emotional Aspects of Marketing for Therapists
06:18 Technical Hurdles in Marketing
07:09 Common Fears and Misconceptions
13:19 The Importance of a Good Website
24:14 Ethical Marketing Strategies
30:11 Emotional Stories Therapists Carry About Money
30:45 Fear and Hesitation in Business Investments
36:20 The Importance of Delegation
41:08 Questions for Overwhelmed Practice Owners
43:49 The Complexity of Marketing for Therapists
49:23 Core Focus and Avoiding Distractions
56:08 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Books Mentioned in This Episode

• The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
  https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Code-Secrets-Highly-Successful/dp/0804176981
• Traction by Gino Wickman
  https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837
• The Legendborn Series by Tracy Deonn
  https://www.amazon.com/Legendborn-Tracy-Deonn/dp/1534441606
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
  https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Order-Phoenix-Book/dp/0439358078
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
  https://www.amazon.com/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Fable/dp/0787960756
• Enshittification by Cory Doctorow
  https://www.amazon.com/Enshittification-Cory-Doctorow/dp/1250866842

If this conversation helped clarify even one stuck place in your thinking, subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss future episodes — and share this one with a practice owner who’s quietly overwhelmed by marketing and doesn’t know where to start.

We talk about avoiding hard conversations like it’s a communication issue.
It’s not.

Most of the time, avoidance is a self-protection strategy — not from the other person, but from the feelings the conversation brings up in us. And while it might buy short-term relief, it quietly erodes trust, clarity, and leadership credibility over time.

In this episode, I break down why avoidance feels safer than honesty, how self-protective patterns show up in leadership, and how to stop the cycle without swinging into blunt-force honesty or emotional shutdown. We talk about softening the truth, waiting too long, over-explaining, and the subtle ways leaders manage other people’s emotions to avoid their own discomfort.

More importantly, we get into what grounded leadership actually looks like: starting with inner truth, anchoring conversations in structure, and practicing small, everyday honesty so hard conversations stop feeling like landmines.

This is about moving from self-protection to consistent, trusted leadership — not being nice, not being harsh, just being real.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Overview
01:12 Why Avoidance Feels Safer Than Honesty
03:50 The Consequences of Avoidance
05:53 Personal Anecdote: The Bandaid Story
09:27 Leaders' Fear of Being the Bad Guy
12:25 How Self-Protection Shapes Leadership Behavior
21:34 Overtalking and Overexplaining
21:57 Managing Emotional Reactions
24:13 Self-Protection and Avoidance
24:53 Breaking the Cycle of Avoidance
26:56 Inner Truth and Outer Wording
31:41 Grounding in Structure
35:08 Practicing Small Forms of Honesty
39:56 Final Thoughts and Takeaways

If this episode hits close to home, subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss future conversations like this — and send it to the first leader who popped into your head while you were listening.

This episode kicks off a brand new recurring segment on the Culture Focused Practice Podcast: The Visionary–Integrator Table. And we’re starting exactly where leadership actually lives — in the quiet, invisible emotional labor no one warns you about.

I’m joined by my integrator, Taylor, for a candid, unscripted conversation about what leadership really asks of you when no one is watching. We talk about the emotional weight leaders carry so their teams don’t have to, the loneliness that comes with responsibility, and how visionary–integrator dynamics hold tension, humanity, and accountability at the same damn time.

We unpack the emotional work underneath leadership frameworks like LMA, why emotions are always at the table whether you acknowledge them or not, and how patterns in team emotionality quietly inform decisions long before anything becomes “a problem.” We also get into friendship and power dynamics at work, boundaries in social settings, COVID-era leadership trauma, and why clean systems don’t work unless the emotional landscape is tended to too.

This is not a polished leadership highlight reel. It’s an honest look under the hood at how leadership actually functions — emotionally, relationally, and systemically — when it’s done with integrity.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to the Culture Focused Practice Podcast
01:07 Introducing the Visionary Integrator Table
02:02 The Quiet Labor of Leadership
03:42 Navigating Leadership Challenges
33:25 Balancing Personal and Professional Relationships
37:21 Setting Boundaries in Social Settings
38:14 Challenges of Leadership and Friendship
39:49 Reflecting on Leadership and COVID-19
41:25 The Weight of Responsibility
50:16 Emotional Patterns in the Workplace
01:00:51 The Emotional Work of Leadership
01:14:33 The Impact of Emotions on Data Collection
01:14:59 Systems vs. Emotions: A Social Work Perspective
01:16:01 Integrating Systemic and Emotional Approaches
01:16:47 The Role of Environment in Behavior
01:17:54 Balancing Emotions and Structures in Leadership
01:19:06 Matriarchal vs. Patriarchal Leadership Approaches
01:19:38 Practical Advice for Overwhelmed Leaders
01:25:49 The Importance of Emotional Awareness in Leadership
01:39:18 Final Reflections and Takeaways

If leadership has ever felt heavier than you expected — or lonelier — this episode is for you.

This episode dives into a part of leadership most people avoid talking about because it feels too internal, too quiet, too unproductive to name out loud: the winter dormancy period. That long, muted stretch where nothing on the outside is changing, but internally you can feel the ground shifting, the roots thickening, and the old structures sloughing off.

I explore what happens to your leadership identity when growth stops being a performance and starts becoming something denser, truer, and far less dramatic than we think transformation should look like. We talk about the strange sensation of sensing something before it has shape, the difference between rest-as-a-strategy and rest-as-a-state, and the relief (and disorientation) that comes from letting old roles, expectations, and ambitions fall away.

And in true Owner’s Room fashion, I answer listener questions and unpack a scenario where a practice owner steps into stillness for the first time… only to find that the quiet raises more questions than it answers.

If you’re in your own winter right now, or you can feel one coming, this episode will help you name what’s happening beneath the surface.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to Winter Dormancy in Leadership
00:56 Exploring the Internal Experience of Leadership
02:55 Shifts in Leadership Identity
10:47 The Sensation of Forming Ideas
15:16 Rest as a State, Not a Strategy
19:04 Sloughing Off Old Structures
23:12 Leadership Guided by Felt Sense
27:31 Changing Internal Pace Without Deadlines
31:28 Scenario: Navigating Quiet Seasons
40:10 Conclusion and Call to Action

This deep-dive episode pulls the curtain all the way back on a relationship most people think they understand but absolutely do not: the visionary–integrator dynamic. I sit down with my integrator, Taylor—one of my favorite humans and also the person who makes sure my ideas don’t spontaneously combust—and we have an unfiltered conversation about what really happens behind the scenes.

We talk about the messy middle of leadership, the emotional transparency required to make big decisions, the friction that actually makes things work, and the real-life process of evolving into aligned roles. There’s no glossy “best practices” list here. It’s just two people who run a company together, telling the truth about how the sausage gets made.

We cover identity, delegation, trust, resentment, bottlenecks, clear roles, protecting your time, and how many times I should stop putting things on my own damn to-do list.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to Visionary and Integrator Dynamics
01:34 Meet Taylor: The Integrator
02:34 Taylor's Journey and Role Evolution
04:32 Challenges and Growth in the Visionary–Integrator Relationship
05:19 Navigating Workplace Dynamics and Emotional Transparency
11:13 The Importance of Intentionality and Conflict in Leadership
35:09 Personal Reflections on Communication
36:18 Navigating Professional Roles and Responsibilities
37:52 Challenges in Delegation and Trust
41:09 Defining Leadership Roles
42:31 Visionary vs. Integrator: A Dynamic Relationship
55:41 The Importance of Regular Meetings
01:06:34 Practical Tips for Visionaries and Integrators
01:11:34 Understanding To-Do Lists and Small Projects
01:12:09 Dealing with Burnout and Resentment
01:12:50 Prioritizing Tasks and Visionary Work
01:13:13 Optimizing Your Schedule for Productivity
01:14:04 The Importance of Protecting Your Time
01:15:19 Visionary and Integrator Dynamics
01:16:00 Effective Leadership and Delegation
01:19:13 Encouraging Open and Honest Communication
01:27:03 Reflections on Leadership Roles
01:34:00 Closing Thoughts and Final Remarks

If you're a visionary, integrator, leader, or you’re still trying to figure out which the hell you are—subscribe. These deep dives are basically free leadership therapy.