What if the reason nothing is changing isn’t because you lack discipline, but because you’ve treated desire like it’s an optional nice-to-have?

So many high-achieving women want more space, more influence, more alignment, more ease. And yet they postpone what they want, waiting for a crisis, a breakdown, or external pressure to justify change. We were taught to change when something is wrong, not because something inside of us wants more. But desire isn’t indulgent. It’s information.

Tune in this week as I break down the difference between change driven by disgust or demand and change driven by desire. You’ll hear why desire is not a feeling but a decision, why high-achieving women often dampen their desire, and how to turn desire into a decision that reshapes your identity and your leadership.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: www.aspire-coaching.co/70

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanndang/

Mentioned in this episode:

You're Invited: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

This is a 3-day live, interactive workshop where high-achieving women stop overperforming and start leading with the presence, power, and authority only they can bring. When: Feb. 20, 23 and 26, 12PM - 1:30PM EST each day Where: Live on Zoom Format: 3 × 90-minute interactive sessions with guided reflection, practice, and live coaching Investment: $47 Register: https://thebalancedleader.captivate.fm/be-heard

Click here to register for Leadership Lab: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

If you’re experiencing more pushback lately, more questioning, more resistance, or more polite disagreement, nothing has gone wrong. In fact, it may be the clearest sign that your leadership is expanding.

Many high-achieving women reach a moment where leadership suddenly feels heavier, not because they’re less capable, but because they’ve outgrown the version of themselves that relied on being agreeable, adaptable, and easy to work with. In this episode, I unpack why pushback often shows up precisely when women begin leading with more clarity, conviction, and presence.

Tune in this week to learn why pushback is often a signal of power and identity expansion, not leadership failure, what happens when you stop leading from the edges and start activating people, and why pushback is not something to manage away, but something to understand and meet without self-abandonment.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: www.aspire-coaching.co/69

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanndang/

Mentioned in this episode:

You're Invited: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

This is a 3-day live, interactive workshop where high-achieving women stop overperforming and start leading with the presence, power, and authority only they can bring. When: Feb. 20, 23 and 26, 12PM - 1:30PM EST each day Where: Live on Zoom Format: 3 × 90-minute interactive sessions with guided reflection, practice, and live coaching Investment: $47 Register: https://thebalancedleader.captivate.fm/be-heard

Click here to register for Leadership Lab: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

Most women don’t stay stuck because they don’t know what they want. They stay because what they’re doing actually works. The strategies that earned you success kept you safe, got you approval, and delivered results. But survival isn’t leadership, and it isn’t freedom.

In this episode, I introduce the framework that now underpins all of my work: The Inner Authority Change Model. Drawing from my own transformation and years of coaching high-achieving women, I break down why change isn’t about willpower or fixing yourself. It’s about understanding the forces that initiate real change and learning how to stay with it when your nervous system wants to retreat.

Tune in this week to learn the change formula behind real, lasting growth. I share how change is catalyzed through disgust, demand, or desire, why discomfort and disruption are signs that something is working, and how to anchor yourself through identity shifts without self-abandonment.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: www.aspire-coaching.co/68

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanndang/

Mentioned in this episode:

You're Invited: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

This is a 3-day live, interactive workshop where high-achieving women stop overperforming and start leading with the presence, power, and authority only they can bring. When: Feb. 20, 23 and 26, 12PM - 1:30PM EST each day Where: Live on Zoom Format: 3 × 90-minute interactive sessions with guided reflection, practice, and live coaching Investment: $47 Register: https://thebalancedleader.captivate.fm/be-heard

Click here to register for Leadership Lab: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

"You should smile more." We've all heard it, usually said like a compliment but landing like a command or even a demand. Sometimes it comes when you're giving hard feedback, holding someone accountable, or just being neutral.

This episode isn't about convincing you to smile. It's about the empowerment that comes from smiling when it's chosen by you, not demanded by others.

Tune in this week discover the significant difference between smiling because someone told you to and choosing to smile for yourself. You'll learn how to discern when feedback about smiling is someone trying to diffuse your power versus when it comes from genuine goodwill, the neurological research behind a chosen smile, and my own story of how letting myself be more human, more playful, and yes, smiling more, didn't weaken my authority but made me more trusted, more connected, and gave me way more fun in my leadership role.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: www.aspire-coaching.co/67

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanndang/

Mentioned in this episode:

You're Invited: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

This is a 3-day live, interactive workshop where high-achieving women stop overperforming and start leading with the presence, power, and authority only they can bring. When: Feb. 20, 23 and 26, 12PM - 1:30PM EST each day Where: Live on Zoom Format: 3 × 90-minute interactive sessions with guided reflection, practice, and live coaching Investment: $47 Register: https://thebalancedleader.captivate.fm/be-heard

Click here to register for Leadership Lab: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

Join me for a 3-day live workshop where high-achieving women stop overperforming and start leading with the presence, power, and authority only they can bring.

When: Feb. 20, 23, and 26, 12PM - 1:30PM EST

Where: Live on Zoom

Format: 3 × 90-minute interactive sessions with guided reflection, practice, and live coaching

Investment: $47

Replays: Available for all registered participants.

Click here to grab your spot: thebalancedleader.captivate.fm/be-heard

Mentioned in this episode:

You're Invited: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

This is a 3-day live, interactive workshop where high-achieving women stop overperforming and start leading with the presence, power, and authority only they can bring. When: Feb. 20, 23 and 26, 12PM - 1:30PM EST each day Where: Live on Zoom Format: 3 × 90-minute interactive sessions with guided reflection, practice, and live coaching Investment: $47 Register: https://thebalancedleader.captivate.fm/be-heard

Click here to register for Leadership Lab: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

If you're a woman who's ever felt invisible in a room where decisions are being made, this conversation is for you.

In this episode, I sit down with Sonali Fiske, master storyteller and my TEDx speaker coach, to explore why the people who shape rooms, cultures, and futures aren't always the loudest or most credentialed. They're the ones who can move people, and nothing moves people like story.

Listen in this week as Sonali and I discuss why storytelling is a power skill for women leaders. learn why owning your internal narrative is the foundation of powerful external storytelling, and what happens when women stop minimizing their stories to make them professional enough. We explore how leadership doesn't begin with visibility but with authorship, and why the cost of women not telling their stories is that culture gets shaped without us. If you've been waiting until you're ready to share your story, this episode will challenge that thinking.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: www.aspire-coaching.co/66

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanndang/

Connect with Sonali here: https://calendly.com/sonali-fiske/30min

Mentioned in this episode:

You're Invited: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

This is a 3-day live, interactive workshop where high-achieving women stop overperforming and start leading with the presence, power, and authority only they can bring. When: Feb. 20, 23 and 26, 12PM - 1:30PM EST each day Where: Live on Zoom Format: 3 × 90-minute interactive sessions with guided reflection, practice, and live coaching Investment: $47 Register: https://thebalancedleader.captivate.fm/be-heard

Click here to register for Leadership Lab: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

There is a moment in every powerful woman's life when she realizes something quietly devastating: she's been playing someone else's power game. Power as force, power as control, power as dominance, power as being the hardest working, smartest person in the room.

Maybe that worked once, but not anymore. In this episode, I'm exploring why the old definition of power no longer fits, and what happens when you finally see that power isn't who dominates, but who defines the game.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: www.aspire-coaching.co/65

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanndang/

Mentioned in this episode:

You're Invited: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

This is a 3-day live, interactive workshop where high-achieving women stop overperforming and start leading with the presence, power, and authority only they can bring. When: Feb. 20, 23 and 26, 12PM - 1:30PM EST each day Where: Live on Zoom Format: 3 × 90-minute interactive sessions with guided reflection, practice, and live coaching Investment: $47 Register: https://thebalancedleader.captivate.fm/be-heard

Click here to register for Leadership Lab: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

You've broken ceilings. You've navigated power dynamics. You've proven yourself time and time again. Yet somehow, you wake up asking yourself, “Why am I so tired when I've done everything right?”

Here's a truth that might surprise you: you're not burnt out because you're weak. You're burnt out because your nervous system never learned that you win. Think about it. When was the last time you truly savored a victory? When did you last let your body feel the power of what you've accomplished?

This week, I dive into why so many brilliant women leave the game right before they win, and how to build the fortitude to stay. You’ll learn what fortitude is all about in leadership, why burnout isn’t actually about your workload, and how to teach your nervous system what power feels like through celebration and integration.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: www.aspire-coaching.co/64

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanndang/

Mentioned in this episode:

You're Invited: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men

This is a 3-day live, interactive workshop where high-achieving women stop overperforming and start leading with the presence, power, and authority only they can bring. When: Feb. 20, 23 and 26, 12PM - 1:30PM EST each day Where: Live on Zoom Format: 3 × 90-minute interactive sessions with guided reflection, practice, and live coaching Investment: $47 Register: https://thebalancedleader.captivate.fm/be-heard

Click here to register for Leadership Lab: How to Be Heard in a Room Full of Men