In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we look at self-empathy as a practical skill you can use in everyday life. My guest, Melissa Robinson-Winemiller, is a former professional musician and university professor who later founded EQ via Empathy where she works today. Melissa shares how a tough career pivot pushed her to study empathy and write the book, The Empathic Leader.

Here we talk about how to build your self-empathy muscles in easy moments first so that you have the skills available to you when the stakes rise. We also explore why high achievers take the blame when things go wrong yet wave away credit when things go well, how empathy and judgment cannot coexist, and a simple practice to interrupt reactivity so you can lead with more clarity at work and at home.

About My Guest
Dr. Melissa Robinson-Winemiller isn’t just talking about leadership: she’s challenging us to do it differently. With over 20 years of cross-industry experience, she helps leaders build emotionally intelligent cultures that don’t just feel better, they perform better. A TEDx speaker, EQ coach, and author of The Empathic Leader, Melissa blends research, real-world insight, and lived experience to make empathy actionable at every level of leadership. She’s on a mission to prove that the so-called “soft” skills are the ones driving the hard results — and the future of leadership depends on them.

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Connect with Melissa:
Website: https://eqviaempathy.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-melissa-a-robinson-winemiller-author-speaker-trainer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empathyqueen.eq/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheEmpathicLeader

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
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Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://kimmeninger.com

In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about why authenticity is overrated and what to do instead. My guest this week is Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, psychologist, professor, Chief Science Officer at Russell Reynolds Associates and author of the new book Don’t Be Yourself. Tomas argues that it’s not raw authenticity that makes you a good leader. Great leaders care deeply about what others think of them. They leverage their emotional intelligence and engage in strategic impression management, which leads them to come across as more authentic and trustworthy to others. Tomas believes that instead of bringing our authentic selves to work, we should focus on being our best selves.

We also explore concepts from Tomas’ book Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders (And How to Fix It), including a look at how we overvalue confidence and undervalue competence. We examine what DEI got wrong, how gender bias holds women back, and how AI can help us create more meritocratic systems.

About My Guest
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is the Science Officer at Russell Reynolds Associates, a professor of business psychology at University College London and at Columbia University, a cofounder of Deeper Signals, and an associate at Harvard's Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. He is the author of several books, including Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (and How to Fix It), upon which his popular TEDx talk was based, and I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique.

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Connect with Tomas:
Website: https://drtomas.com/
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Be-Yourself-Authenticity-Overrated/dp/1647829836 (or if you have a preferred bookseller - bookshop, Barnes & Noble)

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://kimmeninger.com

In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we explore what it takes to create teams that are not only high-performing but also deeply connected and resilient, especially in today’s fast-changing workplace. My guest this week is Daria Rudnik, a former Chief People Officer turned leadership consultant, who draws on her experience leading tech and telecom companies to help organizations transform how they lead and collaborate.

Daria shares her personal journey from being the only woman in the C-suite to becoming a champion for better workplaces. Together, we dive into why most teams today aren’t true teams at all and how that’s costing us in engagement, performance and well-being. She shares practical strategies to reduce leader overload, strengthen peer-to-peer connections and build teams that can thrive even amid uncertainty, remote work and AI integration.

About My Guest
Daria Rudnik is a Team Architect and Executive Leadership Coach, author of CLICKING: A Team Building Strategy for Overloaded Leaders Who Want Stronger Team Trust, Better Results, and More Time, and co-author of The AI Revolution: Thriving Within Civilization’s Next Big Disruption. A former Chief People Officer and ex-Deloitte professional, she brings over 15 years of international executive experience in tech and telecom.

Having lived in three countries and worked with clients across six continents, Daria has helped leaders and organizations navigate global financial crises, wars, and the COVID-19 pandemic. For the past five years, she has focused on helping busy leaders escape work overload by building self-sufficient, high-trust teams. She does this through a mix of team and leadership coaching, organizational consulting, assessments, and an AI-powered coach she developed.

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Connect with Daria:
Website: https://dariarudnik.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariarudnik/
Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN4S6P37

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://kimmeninger.com