Author and former corporate executive Doug Earl Johnston joins Mairin Moore Cane on the Root, Realign, Rise™ Podcast to explore emotional literacy, decision-making, and the emotions beneath our leadership.

Doug is the author of Choosing Emotions: Thinking with Your Head and Acting with Your Heart.

Drawing on nine years of multidisciplinary research, his “Emotionary” examines 272 emotions and emotional conditions through perspectives from psychology, philosophy, language, science, art, and spiritual traditions.

This conversation examines the distinction between an automatic emotional reaction and the response that follows and what greater awareness can help us notice before we act.

We explore:
• Emotional literacy and finding language for what we feel
• Emotions as protective responses
• Recognizing familiar emotional patterns
• How emotion influences communication and decisions under pressure
• Taking responsibility for behavior without blaming ourselves for every feeling
• Making room for both clear thinking and compassion

A question to take into your week:
What am I feeling and what response would reflect the person or leader I want to be?

CONNECT WITH DOUG
Learn about Doug’s work and find his book:
https://choosingemotions.com/

Choosing Emotions: Thinking with Your Head and Acting with Your Heart
Published under D. Earl Johnston.

CONNECT WITH MAIRIN
Take the free leadership assessment:
https://form.jotform.com/261139523864057

Read Rooted, Not Rushed:
https://a.co/d/9fewKGc

Subscribe to the Leadership Journal newsletter and explore private advisory, speaking, and workshops:
https://mairinmoorecane.com

Social media:
@mairinmoorecane

Follow Root, Realign, Rise™ and share this conversation with someone exploring how to lead with greater awareness and responsibility.

This conversation is educational and does not replace individualized mental health care.

You don’t have to be whole to lead. Keep leading from where you are.

What happens when the career you’ve built no longer reflects what energizes you and how do you explore a different direction without abandoning your experience or responsibilities?

In this episode of the Root, Realign, Rise™ Podcast, Mairin Moore Cane welcomes author, speaker, and transportation leader Paul Comfort for a conversation about purpose, identity, fulfillment, and leadership.

Drawing on his experience across executive leadership and public service, Paul introduces his X Factor framework: the intersection of what you enjoy and what you do well.

Together, Mairin and Paul explore how experience prepares us to lead, why achievement and fulfillment can diverge, and how to approach your next chapter with intention.

Topics include:
• Recognizing the difference between professional success and personal fulfillment
• Exploring the connection between your strengths, interests, and purpose
• Building leadership confidence through learning and experience
• Reconsidering a role without dismissing everything you’ve built
• Taking practical steps toward greater alignment while honoring your responsibilities

A question to carry into your week:
Where are you using your abilities in a way that also brings you energy and meaning?

CONNECT WITH PAUL COMFORT
Explore his work:
https://paulcomfort.org/

Find Your X Factor: Follow Your Personal Treasure Map to Purpose:
https://www.findyourxfactor.ai/

CONTINUE YOUR OWN ROOT–REALIGN–RISE JOURNEY
Take Mairin’s leadership assessment:
https://form.jotform.com/261139523864057

Read Rooted, Not Rushed:
https://a.co/d/9fewKGc

Subscribe to the Leadership Letter and explore private advisory, speaking, and workshops:
https://mairinmoorecane.com

Connect with Mairin on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube:
@mairinmoorecane

Follow the Root, Realign, Rise™ Podcast and share this episode with someone reconsidering their direction.

You don’t have to be whole to lead. Keep leading from where you are.

They know what they want, understand what they should do, and may even have the strategy to get there. Yet they still procrastinate, overwork, second-guess themselves, or repeat patterns that conflict with the future they say they want.

In this episode of the Root, Realign, Rise™ Podcast, Mairin Moore Cane speaks with Dr. Joseph Drolshagen- mindset and performance expert, business strategist, author, speaker, and creator of the SMT Method™.

Together, they explore the knowing–doing gap: the space between what we consciously want and the subconscious conditioning that influences what we repeatedly do.

Dr. Joseph shares how growing up in a struggling blue-collar family influenced his definition of work and success, why he walked away from a multimillion-dollar opportunity at 22, and what missing his son’s first birthday taught him about inherited beliefs.

He also explains how those same patterns later appeared in his leadership, business growth, and response to disruption during COVID.

This conversation examines self-sabotage, fear, burnout, identity, sustainable ambition, and what it takes to build external success without sacrificing your health, relationships, or sense of self.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why information and strategy alone rarely create lasting change
• How subconscious conditioning affects leadership and decision-making
• The everyday behaviors that can signal self-sabotage
• Why high performers often respond to stalled growth by working harder
• How fear can prepare us rather than stop us
• What Dr. Joseph means by the knowing–doing gap
• How the SMT Method™ connects clarity, aligned action, and dynamic vision
• Why old patterns can return during disruption or uncertainty
• How leaders can pursue growth without being consumed by hustle
• The difference between achievement and fulfillment

EPISODE MINUTES:

00:00 Opening and show introduction
01:04 Why awareness alone does not create transformation
02:55 Joseph’s early conditioning and search for change
03:46 Turning down a multimillion-dollar opportunity
05:22 The cost of inherited definitions of success
07:03 From struggling salesperson to sales leader
08:44 Why capable people sabotage their own growth
10:05 How self-sabotage appears in everyday behavior
10:52 Stepping through fear instead of avoiding it
12:03 External blame and internal conditioning
13:10 Closing the knowing–doing gap
14:53 Can success become emotionally unsafe?
15:53 Why people stop before a breakthrough
18:14 Reframing failure through the car-wash story
19:42 Mairin on closing a business and choosing differently
21:28 The two points of clarity behind the SMT Method™
22:50 How the SMT Method™ works
26:15 How COVID reactivated Joseph’s old programming
27:20 Why burnout patterns can return
29:30 Creating growth without being consumed by hustle
31:00 Why overworking can hold a business back
32:20 Mairin on illness and permission to slow down
34:25 Scaling while taking more time away
35:02 From not wanting to live to experiencing joy
36:18 Fulfillment versus achievement
37:04 A practical challenge for changing repetitive patterns
38:17 Connect with Dr. Joseph
38:49 Closing reflections

CONNECT WITH DR. JOSEPH

Website: https://coachwithjoey.com

Schedule a conversation:
https://smtmethod.com/reg

CONNECT WITH MAIRIN

Website and Leadership Letter:
https://mairinmoorecane.com

Read Rooted, Not Rushed:
https://a.co/d/9fewKGc

Take the Leadership Clarity Assessment:
https://form.jotform.com/261139523864057

Connect on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, and LinkedIn:
@mairinmoorecane

Follow the Root, Realign, Rise™ Podcast so you never miss a conversation about the leader behind the leadership.