Leadership Tea

What happens when the career you've spent decades building suddenly ends? In this special re-release of one of Leadership Tea's most impactful conversations, executive leader Cathy Duffy shares how being unexpectedly pushed into early retirement became the beginning of an entirely new chapter. Shelby Smith-Wilson and Belinda Jackson explore identity, leadership, resilience, and what it t...

After nearly three decades of public service, Shelby shares her experience navigating a Reduction in Force (RIF), the grief that follows career loss, and the challenge of rebuilding professional identity after an unexpected transition. In this candid coaching conversation, Belinda and Shelby explore what it means to process professional grief, move forward without bitterness, and build confidence...

Leadership often means making difficult decisions, staying calm under pressure, and showing up for others. But what happens when the hardest leadership challenge isn't at work, it's at home? In this episode, Shelby and Belinda sit down with former diplomat and operations leader Brittany Carroll to discuss becoming a caregiver for her father while managing a demanding professional career....

In this episode of Leadership Tea, Shelby and Belinda sit down with Kahana Samms, founder of Good Spirit Cafe, to discuss reinvention, entrepreneurship, wellness, and building community after uncertainty. After years working in federal IT and cybersecurity, Kahana found herself navigating furloughs, layoffs, and major life transitions, prompting her to rethink stability, purpose, and what it truly...

Performance reviews are not just paperwork. They’re a reflection of leadership. In this episode, Shelby and Belinda break down how strong leaders handle employee evaluations, difficult feedback, and accountability conversations without damaging trust or team morale. They discuss: Why employees should never be surprised by feedback How to write more specific and actionable evaluations The differenc...

A bad performance review can feel personal—but your response is what actually shapes your career. In this episode, we walk through exactly how to handle a negative evaluation at work—from figuring out what’s true to deciding whether (and how) to push back. We talk about: How to separate facts from emotions Using your “receipts” to support your performance When to challenge feedback—and when to acc...

When you feel stuck, doing more isn’t the answer. Clarity is. In this episode, we sit down with Bobby Staten III (Chief of Clarity) to unpack what’s really happening when leaders feel overwhelmed, stuck, or out of alignment, and how to move forward with intention. From “changing the tape” to redefining identity, this conversation goes beyond surface-level productivity advice and gets to the core o...

What does leadership look like when the playbook breaks down? In this episode of The Leadership Tea Podcast , Shelby and Belinda reflect on what crisis management requires from leaders when events are unfolding in real time. Drawing from their own experience in high-pressure environments, they discuss calm under pressure, executive presence, hard personnel decisions, internal communication, and th...

AI is moving fast, but leadership still requires judgment . In this episode, Shelby and Belinda are joined by Nadeen Matthews, Founder and CEO of Crescent Advisory Group, for a thoughtful conversation about leadership in the age of AI. Rather than focusing on hype or tools alone, Nadeen explains why leaders need to connect AI to business strategy, customer impact, employee readiness, and organizat...

Hard conversations are part of the job, and avoiding them costs more than most leaders realize. In this episode, Shelby and Belinda share a practical framework for navigating difficult conversations at work with clarity, boundaries, and discernment. They share executive-level strategies for adapting communication styles across different contexts, setting boundaries without overexplaining, and usin...

What can the kitchen teach leaders about influence, trust, and soft power? In this episode, Shelby and Belinda are joined by Jeremiah Knight, Foreign Service Officer and author of Diplomat in the Kitchen , to explore leadership through the lens of culinary diplomacy. Jeremiah shares how food, storytelling, and hospitality can build trust across cultures and serve as a powerful form of soft power i...

What does it really mean to stand for something as a leader right now? In this episode of The Leadership Tea Podcast , Shelby and Belinda discuss the growing pressure leaders face to speak out, and why outrage alone is not leadership. They explore how judgment, discernment, and timing play a critical role in deciding when to speak up, when to wait, and how to create lasting impact without grandsta...

Cathy Duffy joins us to explore redefining power at work, building skill security, and choosing yourself as a leader in today’s evolving workplace. In the Season 5 premiere of The Leadership Tea Podcast , Cathy reflects on leadership from inside complex organizations, sharing hard-earned insights on compensation, identity beyond titles, and why job security is no longer enough. She challenges lead...

Ready to start 2026 with clarity instead of chaos? Belinda & Shelby lay out a four-move blueprint to make your first quarter productive and sane: choose a small number of strategic bets, audit and activate your influence architecture, fix friction in your systems, and lead at the pace of judgment. Rather than sprinting into January, we unpack how deliberate choices, cleaner processes, and thou...

In this Leadership Tea Podcast episode, Belinda and Shelby take stock of 2025 with clear eyes, celebrate wins, acknowledge lows, and set 2026 on two pillars: abundance and audacity. We trade scarcity for flow, set targets for brave action, and commit to celebrating progress while we implement at full speed. Here are the highlights: • review of our 2025 focus words and what they produced • identity...

In this heartfelt conversation, Shelby and Belinda share their reactions to the 2025 Women in the Workplace report by McKinsey & LeanIn.org.  They highlight the deep fatigue and burnout women experience as they rise into senior leadership. They reflect on the emotional and logistical realities that the data doesn’t always capture:  – women reaching the top of the ladder only to find exhaustion...

Shelby and Belinda are joined by two financial professionals from the State Department Federal Credit Union (SDFCU): Samia "Sam" Salmon (Vice President of Retail Business Development) and Josh Barrett (Manager for Overseas Operations). They share actionable, no-nonsense advice to help you get your financial house in order as we head into 2026. We discuss how to think through competing fi...

Belinda & Shelby break down the Sunday rituals that high-performing leaders use to reduce anxiety, set clear priorities, and start the week with confidence, not chaos. If you're a leader, executive, or high achiever who feels the Sunday pressure creeping in, this conversation is for you. What we cover: ✨ Why successful leaders avoid emails on Sundays ✨ How to set boundaries without guil...

A layoff can feel like a verdict. We treat it as a turning point. In this candid conversation, we unpack what it means to “fail forward” when the spotlight is brightest and the Sunday Scaries won’t quit.  Shelby shares the raw aftermath of being laid off from a high-profile role and the unexpected freedom that came from choosing silence, setting boundaries, and designing a schedule that serves her...

Belinda and Shelby host a candid conversation with a panel of high-achieving women from South Africa: Samantha Kavuma, Ayanda Nkosi, Lehlohonolo Siwundla, and Carmin Varnicker. We discuss internal barriers that can block our professional progress, such as limiting beliefs and doubting our own abilities. We share practical leadership strategies, including the vital skill of knowing which battles ar...

In the newly launched Sunday Scaries to Sunday Strategy Series as part of the Leadership Tea Podcast, Belinda and Shelby help executives with tips to lean into the week and strategies for long-term professional growth. This episode highlights how to future-proof your career in an unpredictable world, focusing on four critical soft skills: digital fluency, influence without authority, cross-cultura...

Airports jammed, paychecks paused, nerves frayed—crisis has a way of revealing what actually keeps leaders steady. Belinda and Shelby peel back the layers of the recent shutdown and run our lessons through “priority screening,” naming the habits and guardrails that matter when systems fail and people still need direction. First, Belinda and Shelby get practical about money. Financial fragility isn...

Belinda and Shelby are joined by tech policy and AI governance expert, Soribel Feliz, also known as The AI Therapist. Soribel tackles the anxiety currently gripping the professional world: fear of being replaced by artificial intelligence. If you're wondering what your kids should study, how to upskill mid-career, or how to maintain your mental health amid constant doom-and-gloom headlines, t...

Finding Growth in Discomfort: Strategies for Transition and Coping In this episode of the Leadership Tea Podcast, hosts discuss the challenges and growth opportunities during a shutdown. Shelby shares her experiences transitioning out of government work, dealing with introversion through networking, and finding new ways to communicate and cope during uncomfortable times. Belinda talks about the im...

Shelby and Belinda reflect on managing personal and professional lives amidst the prolonged government shutdown. They discuss its impacts, such as the end of SNAP benefits and continued layoffs at major companies. Shelby and Belinda also draw parallels between the resilience seen in the World Series and the mindset needed to navigate challenging times.  They emphasize the importance of mutual supp...