Brave Proximity: Real Leadership Doesn't Happen at a Distance

"Sometimes the only way to change a culture is to steal it back from the people protecting it." Marissa Green has been convicted of a culture heist. She served nine years. Susan Page was her accomplice. And in this episode of Brave Proximity, they are finally putting it on the record. After a season of naming the hardest things in organisational life, S1 E17 is about what you actually do. Not the...

"When did telling the truth at work come with a severance package?" You know the email. The subject line has the name of the loudest person in the building. The one who kept bringing forward the signal everyone else was afraid to name. The body says “has chosen to pursue other opportunities.” And you get quiet. Because you understood exactly what just happened. In this episode of Brave Proximity,...

Managing up: the quiet sabotage of leadership This is not about learning to flatter or perform. It’s about recognizing how often the system pushes us to act against our better judgment, feeding egos instead of fueling growth. Sometimes managing up becomes a mask for fear, control, or avoidance. This episode cuts through the noise and names what’s real in those interactions and how they undermine u...

Rethinking Career Pathing: The Future of Development in Organizations What if the idea of a career ladder is just a mirage? As organizations fast-forward into the future of work, traditional development systems are no longer enough — they're part of the problem. This conversation cuts through the noise, exposing the illusion of linear progress and framing development as agility, project work, and...

“We’re always expected to be experts whenever we walk into a room... but we’re never experts of ourselves.” What happens when the work goes away? In this special, raw, live-recorded episode of Brave Proximity , Marissa and Susan welcome author Geoff Curtis to pull back the curtain on executive transitions. Many of us have spent decades climbing the ladder, unknowingly using the non-stop demands of...

The Myth of Whole Self at Work This conversation cuts through the slick language and exposes what’s really happening when organizations talk about bringing your "whole self" to work. What started as a buzz term became less about sparking genuine authenticity and more about navigating a system that often won’t hold your full reality without cost. Key insights: The phrase "bring your whole self" is...

When Filtering the Truth Becomes the Real Problem In an environment where up is down and “everything is fine” often meets silence, honest conversations are more vital than ever. This episode confronts the habit of filtering truth in leadership and explores how transparency with brave proximity drives real progress. Key insights: Leaders are often fed filtered truths to avoid discomfort or upsettin...

“Waiting for perfect data is how obvious problems spiral out of control.” Ever seen a cultural disaster or a project failure coming a mile away, only to be told: "We need more data before we can act" ? In this episode of Brave Proximity , Marissa and Susan unearth the dangerous corporate tendency to use spreadsheets as a shield against making hard decisions. We’ve been conditioned to believe that...

Leaders who can't tell a story cannot move people. In an era of 80-page pre-reads and bullet-point fatigue, we’ve mistakenly treated storytelling as a charismatic "add-on" rather than a core leadership requirement. Today, Marissa and Susan put the elephant on the table: if you can’t inspire your team to join you on a journey, your strategy and your change initiatives are dead in the water. We expl...

Leaders talk about development — and then expect people to do more, with less. Burnout isn’t a side effect. It’s a sign we’ve lost the plot on meaningful growth. Today, we talk about what it really takes to develop without depleting ourselves or others. Key Insights: Growth confused with piling on projects, with no additional support or pay. Organizations rebrand burnout as “stretch,” expecting hi...

“We’re so busy doing the 'work about the work' that we’ve forgotten what the mission actually was.” In this episode of Brave Proximity , Marissa and Susan unearth one of the most exhausting realities of the modern workplace: The Work No One Needs. We’re talking about the low-value, high-effort tasks—the endless decks, the performative spreadsheets, and the "updates about updates"—that keep us from...

"If your measure of success for a promotion list is that nobody says ‘Are you kidding me?’—you’re already ahead of the game." In this episode of Brave Proximity , Marissa and Susan put the elephant on the table: the "Secret Cycle of Promotion" that keeps toxic high-performers rising while the "Silent Heroes" do the actual work of keeping the culture alive. Rewarding a toxic leader isn't neutral. I...

If the only thing that changed is who is gone, it wasn't a transformation. It was a layoff. In this episode of Brave Proximity , Marissa and Susan put the elephant on the table and unpack the growing corporate trend of mislabeling mass layoffs as "strategic transformations." Mislabeling a layoff isn’t neutral. It’s often a statement. When leaders choose corporate spin over human connection during...

In a world where professional performance feels mandatory, many of us are losing sight of what truly matters: real connection. This episode cuts through the noise to explore the anxiety, shame, and disconnection simmering beneath digital façades—and offers a steadier way forward. Key Insights Include: LinkedIn as a stage for anxiety, not authenticity The performance and masks we wear to appear mar...

Leadership right now is weird and often absurd. CEOs everywhere are calling people back to the office so we can sit next to each other, yet the emotional distance between us has never been greater. In this episode, we unpack the "loneliness epidemic" facing human-centered leaders and change-makers. We examine the corporate conditioning that tells us to strip away our humanity at the door and put o...

The conversation delves into the challenges of executive presence, the mask it creates, and the need to reimagine it with authenticity and storytelling. It explores the impact of authenticity and the potential reframe for executive presence, emphasizing the importance of shedding old ways and embracing uniqueness. Takeaways Redefining Executive Presence Authenticity Over Conformity Chapters 00:00...

Silence in leadership isn’t neutral. It’s often a statement. When leaders choose quiet over human connection during times of crisis, they risk more than they realize. This episode pulls back the curtain on why silence is an active choice, especially during turbulent times. We explore how organizations inadvertently normalize avoiding uncomfortable conversations, what that means for our future as p...

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...