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The Empowered Leader Podcast

The Empowered Leader Podcast

Written by: Margaret Williams MS ACC
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The Empowered Leader is a video podcast for women who have been marginalized, going beneath surface-level leadership advice to name the real tensions of leading inside systems not designed for them: visibility without backlash, authority without permission, and elevating your voice without self-erasure. Each episode interrogates power, bias, and leadership norms while offering a grounded perspective that clarifies what’s personal, what’s systemic, and where your voice and your choices still hold power.

substack.iprofessionalcoaching.comMargaret Williams, MS, ACC Careers Economics Personal Success Self-Help Success
Episodes
  • Expression of Love with Ginny Lynns

    Expression of Love with Ginny Lynns
    May 20 2026

    Labor and Delivery - Published May 11, 2026

    Kitty Gets Hungry - Published May 18, 2026

    Ginny’s Bio

    Ginny Lynns’ creative work on Substack focuses on horror/fiction and features her signature “Remembering to Laugh” philosophy.

    Option 1: The Substack & Creative Focus (Best for profiles)

    Ginny Lynns (Remembring2Laugh)

    Fiction writer, audio creator, and voice behind the horror short Kitty Gets Hungry. I love exploring the tension between dark storytelling and immersive soundscapes, connecting with fellow creators, and finding reasons to laugh through it all. Join the community!

    Option 2: Short & Punchy (Best for Twitter/X or quick bios)

    Fiction writer & horror creator behind Kitty Gets Hungry. Connecting with creators, spinning dark tales, and always remembering to laugh. 🎙️✍️

    Option 3: Community & Engagement Focused

    Ginny Lynns | Creator of Remembring2Laugh

    Bringing stories to life through fiction and audio projects. Whether it’s building palpable tension in a horror short or hosting live chats with fellow creators, I’m all about community, collaboration, and great storytelling.

    Miracle-minded reflections rooted in ACIM (A Course in Miracles) principles

    Expression of Love — Talking Points

    1. Love is a verb, not a feeling. You don’t say it, you show it. Thirty-nine years working for the U.S. Army taught me that the people who loved me hardest were the ones who held me to a standard, not the ones who told me what I wanted to hear.

    2. Silence is a choice. When you don’t express it to your kids, your spouse, your team, you’re not protecting them. You’re protecting yourself. Get over it.

    3. Five ways it actually shows up in leadership:

    Telling someone the hard truth before it becomes a career problem

    Showing up on time, every time

    Remembering what matters to the person in front of you

    Defending your people in rooms they’re not in

    Letting them fail when failing is the lesson

    4. Love at work isn’t soft. It’s the difference between a unit that follows you and a unit that fights for you. The same applies in the C-suite.

    5. The cost of not expressing it. Regret. Resentment. People walking out the door, wondering if they ever mattered. You don’t get those moments back.

    6. One question to leave you with: Who in your life, at home or at work, needs to hear it from you this week? Don’t wait for the funeral.

    Thank you A. Eevie Bateman, Diane, Whitney Douglas, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ginny Lynns (Remembring2Laugh)! Join me for my next live video in the app.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit substack.iprofessionalcoaching.com/subscribe
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    48 mins
  • Laws of Attraction

    Laws of Attraction
    May 20 2026
    Let me ask you something.How much of your beautiful vision is built on waiting for the right opportunities to notice you?Now ask yourself what kind of world you would create if you stopped waiting and started building it with your own hands.That is the conversation we are having today.Laws of attraction are one of the most misunderstood forces in leadership. People tell you to manifest if you believe hard enough. If you hold the vision clearly. If you just align your energy with what you want.But the kind of attraction that actually transforms your life is not magical thinking.Attraction is clarity meeting courage meeting consistent action.It is the moment you stop confusing visualization with work.And it is the doorway to the three things you have been quietly abandoning: your visibility, your liberation, and your transformation.If you are a marginalized leader, you know this in your bones. You learned early that working hard wasn’t enough; you also had to believe you were worthy of what you wanted. So, you visualized. You affirmed. You journaled your dreams. You waited for the universe to see you.Those strategies felt safer than risking rejection.But what you had to become to protect your hope is the very thing now keeping you invisible.You don’t need more vision boards.You need the courage to be seen doing the work that creates what you want.Why it MattersOperating on attraction without action is a slow disappearance. And it makes you disappear in the three ways that matter most.Without strategic visibility:* You stay hidden, the universe can’t align what it can’t see, and neither can the people who could help you* You stay small, you confuse spiritual preparation with the strategic moves that would actually change your circumstances* You stay stuck, you mistake the feeling of possibility for the reality of progressTake a breath and notice which one hurts the most.It looks like:* spending more time visualizing success than taking one scary step toward it* waiting for a sign when the sign is that you’re still waiting* believing that if it’s meant for you, it will find you—while staying so hidden nothing could find you even if it tried* telling yourself you’re “not ready yet” while watching others build what you’re still journaling about.When you rely on attraction without visibility, you ask the universe to do what only you can do. And the universe doesn’t move on your behalf, it moves in response to your movement.Every dream you hold without showing up for it is just hope hiding from disappointment.You deserve a life built on presence, not wishes.Visibility: This is where people can finally see youReal attraction starts with being seen. It means refusing to stay hidden while praying to be discovered.It sounds like:* “I don’t need to be perfect to be visible.”* “I am not waiting for permission to show up, I am the permission.”* “Being seen doing imperfect work beats being invisible doing perfect nothing.”When you stop hiding behind preparation, opportunity replaces waiting.That is visibility.Not the scary kind. The powerful kind. The visibility to post the thing you’ve been perfecting in private. The visibility to reach out to the person you’ve been “meant to connect with.” The visibility to let people see you building, failing, learning, trying, so they know you’re someone who actually moves.Consider Sarah, a marketing strategist who spent two years perfecting her framework in private. She journaled about her book. She visualized speaking engagements. She waited to feel ready. Then one day, she posted one imperfect insight on LinkedIn and within three months had her first paying client, her first speaking invitation, and a book deal conversation. Not because her work got better. Because she finally let people see her working.Visibility is the end of the inherited contract that said you had to be fully formed before you could be seen.That contract is over.Liberation: This is where your power comes backBeing visible liberates you from the prison of someday.Not theoretically. Actually.Leaders carrying this can say:* “I am not waiting to be chosen, I am choosing myself.”* “I don’t need cosmic alignment to take the next step.”* “My worthiness is proven by my willingness to be seen trying, not by waiting until I’m guaranteed to succeed.”Here is the part most leaders miss: your liberation is not built by perfecting yourself in private. It is built by being imperfect in public and discovering you survive it.The universe doesn’t respond to your readiness. It responds to your movement.That is liberation. That is the kind that breaks cycles.Visible action is not reckless. It is trust; trust that you’ll figure it out as you go, trust that being seen matters more than being perfect, trust that the only way to attract what you want is to become someone actively building towards it. Trust that your community will catch you if you stumble, because ...
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    15 mins
  • Expectations

    Expectations
    May 19 2026
    Let me ask you something.How much of your exhaustion comes from trying to meet expectations that were never actually spoken?Now ask yourself what kind of energy you would reclaim if you stopped performing for an invisible audience.That is the conversation we are having today.Expectations are one of the most destructive forces in leadership. People tell you to manage them if you communicate clearly enough. If you set boundaries properly. If you just get better at articulating what’s realistic.But the kind of expectations that actually serve you are not managed.Expectations are agreements made visible.It is the moment you stop performing for standards no one articulated.And it is the doorway to the three things you have been quietly depleting: your clarity, your agency, and your peace.If you are a marginalized leader, you know this in your bones. You learned early that expectations were unspoken rules you had to decode. So, you became hyperaware. You read every signal. You anticipated needs before they were voiced. You performed at 150% because 100% might not be enough.Those strategies kept you employed.But what you had to become to meet invisible standards is the very thing now keeping you from leading powerfully.You don’t need better time management.You need a different relationship to whose expectations you’re actually serving.Why it MattersOperating under unspoken expectations is a slow depletion. And it depletes the three things you can least afford to lose.Without clear expectations:* Your clarity disappears; you’re chasing moving targets you can’t even see* Your agency vanishes you surrender decision-making power to what you imagine others want* Your peace evaporates, you can never rest because you can never know if you’ve done enoughTake a breath and notice which one you have lost the most of.It looks like:* working nights and weekends on tasks no one actually asked for* second-guessing decisions because you’re trying to predict what someone else would want* feeling perpetually behind on standards that shift every time you think you’ve met them* saying yes to everything because saying no might violate an expectation you don’t even understandWhen you operate from assumed expectations, you lease your leadership from mind-reading. And mind-reading always fails eventually.Every move you make based on what you think people want rather than what they’ve actually said they need is built on a foundation of guesswork.You deserve a foundation made of actual agreements.Visibility: This is where your agency comes backClear expectations change how you make decisions.Not reactively. Proactively.Leaders carrying this can say:* “I make decisions based on stated priorities, not assumed ones.”* “I don’t need to read minds to lead well.”* “I negotiate expectations before work begins, not after it’s done.”Here is the part most leaders miss: your agency is not built by anticipating every possible expectation. It is built by demanding clarity about actual ones.Teams don’t trust leaders who guess at what they want. They trust leaders who ask.That is agency. That is the kind that creates alignment.Visible expectation-setting is not confrontational. It is professional. It tells every stakeholder that you’re building on agreements, not assumptions, and they provide clarity because you’ve made space for it.Liberation: This is where your clarity comes backReal expectation management is internal liberation. It means refusing to perform for audiences that exist only in your head.It sounds like:* “I don’t need to exceed unspoken standards to prove I belong here.”* “I am not responsible for expectations that were never communicated to me.”* “Asking what’s actually expected is strength, not weakness.”When you stop performing for invisible standards, direction replaces confusion.That is clarity.Not the abstract kind. The everyday kind. The clarity to know what success looks like because someone actually told you. The clarity to prioritize because you know what matters most to the people who matter. The clarity to rest because you’ve met the standards that were actually set, not the ones you imagined.Liberation is the end of the inherited contract that said you had to anticipate and exceed expectations that were never voiced.That contract is over.Transformation: This is where peace comes back, yours and the people you leadWhen one leader stops performing for invisible expectations, something radical happens.The organization is forced to articulate what it actually wants.Other leaders realize:* “I don’t have to guess what success looks like either.”* “Clarity is collaborative, not demanding.”* “We can build cultures where expectations are agreements, and everyone can finally rest when the work is done.”And then something most leaders forgot was possible begins to return, peace.Peace in knowing you’ve met the standard. Peace in making decisions without ...
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    14 mins
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