people on our teams start filling in the blanks and making up stories about each other, and the wall between us keeps getting higher. In this episode, Desiree shares the WALL Blueprint from her breakout session at the 2026 Intentional Leader Summit. It’s a structure for having the conversations that need to be had, so the good intentions of the good people on your team can actually lead to a team that trusts each other.

Whether you’re the boss or not, this one will help you speak up, hold people accountable, and ask for what you need without putting anyone on the defensive.

In this episode:
➪ W: What story am I telling myself? How to separate what you know for certain from what you’re assuming, and why your coworker is not the villain in their own story
➪ A: Address it directly. Why the compliment sandwich shuts the conversation down, and what to say instead of hiding behind the handbook
➪ L: Listen through the discomfort. Stop talking, give them space, and swap absolutes like “you always” for what you actually observed
➪ The question to ask yourself before every hard conversation: am I willing to be wrong?
➪ L: Land with clarity. Four questions that keep your team from having the exact same talk six months from now
➪ How to build a feedback culture where your team feels safe to speak up, because what’s rewarded is repeatable and what’s tolerated becomes the standard

So what hard conversation have you been avoiding, and why?

RESOURCES:

Breaking the Fourth Wall Episode

The WALL Blueprint for having hard conversations

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Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

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This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
• Navigate team management with confidence
• Learn how to handle conflict at work
• Apply real, practical leadership tips

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This week I'm connecting two ideas: my Breaking the Fourth Wall concept and Brené Brown's research on fitting in versus belonging.

Brené's research found something surprising, fitting in and belonging are not the same thing. Fitting in is actually the greatest barrier to belonging. It's a survival strategy: reading the room and becoming who you need to be to get accepted. Belonging is the opposite. It's internal, it's unconditional, and it doesn't ask you to change who you are.

I dig into why this matters for leaders who want more self-confidence, what Brené's research says about belonging and standing alone, and how this connects directly to why breaking the fourth wall on your team matters.

This week's tip: Notice when you're fitting in. Notice when you're getting smaller. And when you catch it, name the fear, then say the thing anyway.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Brené Brown: The Call to Courage (Netflix)
• Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
• Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

Go back and listen to last week's episode on Breaking the Fourth Wall if you haven't already.

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Take the DISC or Working Genius Assessment and get a FREE 20 minutes debrief with Desiree

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect: Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
• Navigate team management with confidence
• Learn how to handle conflict at work
• Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...

You don't have to wait for anyone to go first. You get to choose to be the first.

In this episode, Desiree gives you a sneak peek into her brand new keynote, Breaking the Fourth Wall. It's a three-part approach to building trust with your team, and the starting point might surprise you.

If your team has lost some ownership, engagement, or hope, this episode gets at the real reason why. Desiree opens with a personal story that reframes what leadership actually requires, then gets into why self-awareness is rarer than most leaders think and why even smart, capable people avoid difficult conversations at work.

This is workplace communication and team accountability explained in a way you can actually use, whether you're leading two people or two hundred.

What You'll Learn

• The real reason 95% of people believe they're self-aware and only 10-15% actually are
• What's actually killing trust on your team before you even notice it's gone
• Why your team avoids hard conversations at work (it's probably not the reason you think)
• The three C's Desiree uses to help leaders rebuild trust, starting with themselves

CTA

If your team is dealing with a lack of ownership, engagement, or hope, send Desiree an email. She'll help you figure out what rebuilding trust could look like for your specific team.

Hit follow or subscribe wherever you listen so you don't miss next week's episode, where Desiree dives deeper into the candor piece of this framework and breaks down how to make hard conversations easier.

Sign up for Desiree's Weekly newsletter

Take the DISC or Working Genius Assessment and get a FREE 20 minutes debrief with Desiree

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

Connect: Linked In | Instagram | Website

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
• Navigate team management with confidence
• Learn how to handle conflict at work
• Apply real, practical leadership tips

If this episode helped you:

Share it with anoth...