What does deep listening in leadership really require, especially during rapid change?

In this episode of the Lifting Leaders Podcast, we welcome Master Certified Coach Barbara Acevedo Visser, MCC, for a powerful conversation about deep listening, curiosity, self-awareness, and sensing emerging possibilities in uncertain times.

Barbara shares how intentional slowing down strengthens executive presence and transforms the way leaders respond to complexity. When leaders choose curiosity over judgment, they create psychological safety, expand perspective, and make wiser decisions. Curiosity becomes a leadership discipline — not just a mindset.

You’ll learn:

• How deep listening improves leadership effectiveness and team trust

• Why slowing down enhances strategic thinking and innovation

• How to sense what is emerging before it is fully visible

• Practical ways to respond thoughtfully instead of reacting impulsively

• Why self-awareness and clarity of values are essential during rapid change

This episode explores how leaders can stay grounded in who they are while adapting to shifting environments. When leaders are anchored in values and identity, they can navigate uncertainty without losing effectiveness or themselves.

If you are leading through complexity, change, or organizational transformation, this conversation offers practical leadership wisdom, reflective insight, and actionable strategies to help you listen more deeply and lead more intentionally.

Light the Spark. Ignite Genuine Hope. Lead the Change.

We’re taking a short break from our Light the Spark series to share something close to our hearts — love. 💛 In this special post-Valentine’s Day episode of the Lifting Leaders Podcast, we’re sending heartfelt gratitude to you, our listeners, and celebrating the people and places we cherish most — our friends and families, and the breathtaking beauty of the Pacific Northwest we’re blessed to call home.

We also reflect on a powerful “Gist of Things” article by Marilyn Gist, titled The Courage to Let Yourself Be Helped. As we share highlights from her insights, we explore how accepting help is not weakness - it’s love in action. What goes through your mind when someone offers to help you? Do you worry that they don’t see you are fully capable, on our own? Just what if you accepted help?

There’s something profound about this simple exchange. Accepting help can build connection. It can strengthen trust. It can spark community. So, what does that have to do with interdependence? Everything. In this episode, we share stories of when interdependence was simply “the way we did life” - and why it still matters for leaders today.

We hope you love this week’s episode - and that it reminds you that leadership, at its core, is relational. 💕

In this Lifting Leaders Podcast Gems episode, we revisit key insights from our conversation with Julie Pham, PhD, author of 7 Forms of Respect and share what we discovered after taking her Respect Assessment.

This brief reflection revealed powerful aha moments about how respect is experienced differently across teams and cultures. We explore what the assessment uncovered for us, how leaders can intentionally build trust and respect, and why co creating team norms and working guidelines is essential for a healthy culture.

If you are a leader looking to strengthen trust belonging and respect on your team, this episode offers practical insight and inspiration to spark meaningful cultural shifts.

✨ We hope this episode lights a spark and supports you in leading with greater awareness and intention to make a better world.