Grounded and Aligned™

Stepping into a bigger role can be exciting - but it can also create blind spots that slow your momentum. In this episode of Grounded and Aligned , Karen shares four leadership patterns she repeatedly sees among senior leaders who have recently taken on more responsibility through promotion, growth, acquisition, reorganization, or expanded scope. Drawing from real client experiences, Karen explore...

In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault speaks with Leah Goldman, founder of an advisory firm focused on integrating intuition into leadership and strategy. The discussion focuses on how leaders make decisions in environments where there is no clear cause and effect. If you’re working with incomplete or conflicting information, this episode looks at how intuition can be used along...

In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault speaks with Kirsten Schmidtke, founder of a revenue leadership consulting firm focused on B2B technology companies. The discussion examines why revenue issues are often treated as sales problems when they come from how leadership is operating. If your growth targets are not converting into consistent results, this episode looks at how leader...

In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen looks at a common tension in senior roles: you are expected to be visible and well-connected, but much of the advice on how to do this feels unnatural. As expectations increase, visibility is no longer optional. It affects how often you are brought into discussions, how your work is recognized, and how decisions move along. The episode focuses on how...

Most senior leaders who avoid the informal conversations — the individual check-ins, the quiet conversations before a decision needs to be made— aren't doing it because they're lazy or disorganised. They're doing it because it doesn't feel right. It feels like politics. Like pre-managing the outcome. Like their work should be strong enough to stand on its own. And that instinct, as understandable...

Organizations often respond to performance challenges by adding more accountability: additional metrics, more reporting, and closer monitoring. Yet in many cases, these efforts do not solve the underlying problem. In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen speaks with leadership researcher and author Patrick Veroneau about the difference between accountability and ownership in high-performing...

In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen examines something most senior leaders do but rarely admit: assuming the people around them already know what they need. Not because they're conflict-averse. Not because they're passive. But because at senior levels, asking can feel like a signal that something has gone wrong. The result is a pattern that quietly damages relationships in both directi...

Leadership conversations often focus on strategy, growth, and organizational change. Yet the daily reality of leadership still comes down to something more fundamental: how effectively leaders manage people and themselves. In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen speaks with leadership coach Kris Plachy about what has — and has not — changed in leadership as we move into 2026. Drawing on th...

In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen examines a recurring situation at senior levels: leaders who consistently deliver, operate at the next level, and still do not get promoted. The issue is not capability or performance. It is how promotion decisions are actually formed inside large organizations. If you are operating at Director, VP, or SVP level and relying on execution to carry you...

The operating environment for CEOs and senior leaders has shifted materially over the past five years. Artificial intelligence is accelerating, funding cycles are volatile, remote work is embedded, and expectations around leadership have changed. In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen speaks with Nick Herinckx, founder and CEO of Oxygen, about what is structurally different for CEOs in 20...

At senior levels, execution alone rarely determines results. Most decisions, promotions, and initiatives depend on how effectively you work with other people. In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault looks at a pattern that appears consistently in her work with senior leaders: when progress slows, a relationship dynamic is usually involved. It may be a new boss reshaping the organi...

In many organizations, performance is necessary but no longer sufficient for advancement. Senior roles now require visible authority, clarity under pressure, and the ability to influence across stakeholders who may not sit in your reporting line. In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen speaks with executive communication advisor Laurie-Ann Murabito about what she is hearing from corporate...

In senior roles, you are expected to have a point of view. You are promoted for judgment and decisiveness. But there is a structural risk that emerges at VP and SVP levels: the instinct to defend your position can reduce your ability to move work forward. In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault examines what happens when relational alignment at the top is not deliberately built. I...

In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault addresses a pressure most senior leaders recognize immediately: how to stay focused when the organization feels unsettled. A new CEO, a reorganization, acquisitions, limited communication, and leadership turnover can quickly create uncertainty. At the same time messages, meetings, and internal speculation compete for your attention. If you a...

In senior roles, pressure is constant. Decisions are visible. Stakeholders bring urgency, frustration, and competing priorities into the room. You cannot control those inputs but you can control your response. In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault examines emotional regulation as a core leadership skill. Emotional regulation is the ability to notice your reaction, pause, and cho...

At senior levels, challenge is constant, questions are direct, assumptions are tested in real time, and comments are brief and often ambiguous. In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault begins a series on leadership skills that materially affect effectiveness in expanded roles. The first: the ability to avoid turning routine business scrutiny into a "personal verdict", a.k.a. taking...

If you’re operating with sustained responsibility, constant decision flow, and expanding scope, overwhelm often shows up not because of poor time management, but because of how decisions, expectations, and work are structured. In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault addresses why senior leaders remain cognitively overloaded even when they are experienced, disciplined, and committe...

If you are stepping into a new role with broader scope, higher visibility, or C-suite level accountability, the pressure to perform often shows up as more effort, more involvement, and faster execution. This episode of Grounded and Aligned™, looks at why that approach breaks down at senior levels. Karen examines how success in expanded roles depends less on activity and more on how leaders see the...

In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen addresses a pattern that consistently undermines senior leaders taking on new roles: delaying decisions in the name of certainty. When you step into expanded scope with incomplete information, hesitation carries real organizational consequences. Drawing on client work and direct experience, she examines why waiting for clarity rarely produces better...

Taking on a broader mandate at VP or SVP level is rarely accompanied by clear operational boundaries. The remit expands, visibility increases, and expectations accumulate often faster than they are explicitly discussed. In the early phase, scope is shaped less by formal agreement and more by behavior. Leaders make themselves available. They absorb unresolved issues. They step into gaps to keep mom...

In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault reflects on leadership through an unexpected but instructive lens: observing how people respond when authenticity, vulnerability, and respect are consistently present, without scripting or control. This is not a conversation about celebrity, though it is based on observations of Taylor Swift. It is an examination of why some leaders generate...

This episode was recorded on December 31, 2025. It’s a simple pause at the end of the year to look at what actually made a difference, personally and professionally. In this solo episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault walks through how she reviewed 2025: time with people she cares about, a full year living in the south of France, and a business that now feels settled and right-sized. The...

The meeting is scheduled for the next day. A decision needs to be made. Teams are waiting for direction. As you review the materials one final time, you see it immediately: the analysis is incomplete. Key inputs are missing. Several assumptions haven’t been tested. This is not new. You’ve been clear about expectations before. And there is no time left to send it back without delaying the decision....

There’s a shift happening in leadership—and in this podcast. In this episode of Stepping Into the Arena , Karen announces powerful changes coming to the show, all rooted in what modern leaders truly need today: clarity, calm, and grounded strength. Drawing on 28 years in corporate leadership and three years coaching successful executives, Karen shares five critical trends she sees in the market an...

You can be grateful—and still feel dissatisfied. In this episode of Stepping Into The Arena , Karen unpacks a powerful phrase shared by her mentor: “You can be grateful and dissatisfied.” At first glance, those emotions may seem contradictory, but they often show up together at pivotal career moments. Karen shares her personal experience of having a successful job, a fulfilling personal life, and...