The Leader I Needed with James (Trig) Rosseau, Sr. | Emotional Intelligence, Imposter Syndrome, Mentoring, Servant Leader, Ne

James Rosseau, Sr.
  • 5.0 (140)
  • Management
  • Updated Biweekly

Are you a newly promoted manager who got the title, the office, and the responsibility, but nobody actually taught you how to lead people? Do you feel like you're spending your days babysitting, firefighting, and faking your way through meetings? Are you starting to wonder if imposter syndrome is just your gut telling you the truth? The Leader I Needed will help you become the people-first leader others actually want to follow. Each episode gives you real tools, honest conversations, and a repeatable system for leading people that produces results without burning you out or forcing you to fake it. I'm James Rosseau Sr. I spent 20-plus years in corporate leadership, including leading a team of 40 at JPMorgan Chase in New York City. When I stepped into that role, nobody handed me a playbook. My office was a closet nobody had cleaned out. I made the mistakes. I led from my desk when I should have been leading from the hallway. What changed everything was a simple shift: I stopped managing tasks and started investing in people. I learned that emotional intelligence wasn't a soft skill, it was THE skill. And I spent the next two decades refining that philosophy across leadership roles, consulting engagements, and mentoring the next generation of leaders. Now I'm building the show I needed back then, for the leader you're becoming right now. If you are ready to stop feeling like a fraud in your own role, start building real trust with your team, and finally lead with a system instead of survival mode, this is the podcast for you. Grab your coffee, close your office door, and let's get to work. #PurposeDrivenCareer #Careers #CareerAdvice #CareerGuidance #CareerManagement #Entrepreneurship #PurposeDrivenLeadership

  1. 1d ago

    237. How To Fire Someone ( While Keeping Their Dignity Intact)

    Every new leader eventually has to let someone go, and nobody prepares you for it. Here's how to handle it without crushing them, or yourself. Family, the first time you have to fire someone, you'll feel sick about it. You'll probably feel like you failed. But after 20+ years of leading teams, I've learned that letting someone go doesn't have to mean crushing them. Done right, it can help them get to where they belong. In this episode, we cover three things: 1. Why letting people go is part of leading people, and why it will happen more than once 2. The one question that helped a struggling team member find his own way out, before it ever got ugly 3. What to do when that conversation doesn't work and you have to draw the line You'll also hear about a payroll mistake that taught me the difference between someone who lacks ownership and someone who lacks clarity, and why you should look at yourself first before you decide someone "just doesn't get it." Try this in your next one-on-one: ask them to describe their ideal week at work, let them talk, then ask, "Why aren't you doing more of that?" Invest in people, and the growth will follow. Sometimes that growth happens somewhere else. CHAPTERS 0:00 Every new leader has to let someone go 1:03 If you lead people long enough, you will fire someone 1:33 The math of most teams 2:20 The mistake new leaders make 2:50 Decide now how you'll handle it 3:12 I asked him one question and he fired himself 4:46 What to ask in your next one-on-one 5:18 Ownership or clarity? Look at yourself first 7:31 Drawing the line: the honest choice 8:29 Invest in people, the growth will follow

  2. Oct 20

    236. Career Advice: How To Deal With A Negative Nancy At Work

    Every leader eventually inherits the person for whom it is never sunny. Every visit brings a fresh pile of complaints, and no matter how hard you try to fix things, the storm clouds stay put. In this episode of The Leader I Needed, James Rosseau Sr. opens the mailbag to answer a question a lot of new managers are quietly wrestling with: what do you do with a chronically negative employee without drowning in the negativity yourself? James gets practical. He shares why you should never carry the weight of solving every complaint alone, and how the right questions turn a complainer into part of the solution. He walks through exactly what to ask, including the one about success that most employees have never been given the chance to answer, and why writing complaints down next to the fix changes everything. He also digs into why people vent so much in the first place, and the one piece of culture you cannot afford to tolerate while you are trying to win someone’s trust back. If you have an employee who makes it rain on every conversation, this short, focused episode hands you a plan. Listen on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Got a question for the mailbag? James is answering listener questions in upcoming episodes.

  3. Oct 13

    235. Career Advice: Being Accepted, Delegating Work & Avoiding The Hard Conversations

    The weight of leadership is rarely the work itself. It’s the stuff nobody prepared you for. In this episode of The Leader I Needed, James Rosseau Sr. opens the mailbag again and answers honest questions from managers wrestling with the parts of the job that don’t show up in any training manual. He starts with the new manager struggling with being accepted by a team and a boss who don’t know them yet, and why that feeling may be more self-induced than they think. Then he digs into the hard-won wisdom managers shared about what they’d do differently, including why delegating work is not the same as rescuing your team, and why avoiding hard conversations quietly costs you, your people, and the whole chain. From there it gets real. How do you reset expectations in a one-on-one when the most important work keeps drifting toward someone else? Why is knowing when to stop talking one of the most underrated skills a leader has? And if you’ve ever felt more isolated the higher you climb, James has an honest word on the loneliness almost every manager feels but rarely admits. If you carry the responsibility but still feel like you’re figuring it out as you go, this one is for you. Listen on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Got a question for the mailbag? James is answering listener questions in upcoming episodes.

  4. Oct 6

    234. Career Advice: I Want To Quit My Job, Maternity Leave Dilemma & Fixing A Toxic Work Environment

    The hardest questions in leadership are usually the ones you can't ask out loud at work. In this episode of The Leader I Needed, James Rosseau Sr. opens the mailbag again and answers real questions from managers stuck in the hard middle of the job, the moments the leadership books skip right over. He digs into what to do when a new boss quietly strips away your voice and the work you once loved starts to drain you, and how to raise it without sounding like you're just in your feelings. He tackles the manager who can't stop fixing everything himself, and how to know when to step in versus when to let your team wrestle with a problem and grow. Then it gets personal. What do you do when you're treated like you're disposable in your very first week on a new job? How do you fight for a star employee who just told you they're looking elsewhere, without making it all about you? And can you actually protect your team inside a blame-first culture, or is the only real move to leave? Along the way, James shares the frameworks he keeps coming back to, from leading with performance instead of emotion, to nose in and fingers out, to building the kind of relational equity that carries you when things get hard. If you lead people and some days quietly wonder whether you're cut out for it, this one is for you. Listen on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Got a question for the mailbag? James is answering listener questions in upcoming episodes.

  5. Sep 29

    233. Women In Leadership: Success In a Male- Dominated Industry & Mentoring In The Workplace

    The most capable person in the room isn't always the one who gets promoted. Ashwini Balasubramanian learned that the hard way. In this episode of The Leader I Needed, James Rosseau Sr. sits down with Ashwini, an author and seasoned executive who spent years climbing in the male-dominated world of automotive. She is honest about the season she calls "faking it," when she blended in so well that her colleagues told her she'd become "one of the bros," and the moment that finally forced her to bring her full self to work instead. She digs into the difference between being a culture fit and a culture add, why she stopped chasing titles and started chasing skills, and what she did after getting passed over for a promotion, a move that turned a painful no into a mentoring relationship she never saw coming. Along the way she shares hard-won lessons on women in leadership, why real influence starts with generosity instead of transactional networking, and how mentoring others became one of the most fulfilling parts of her career. If you have the title but feel like you're faking the rest, this conversation hands you the map. Listen on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get Ashwini's book, Map Your Ascent: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Ashwini-Balasubramanian/author/B0H7T39FHG?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=0ef015b3-0cf8-4d2e-9152-4fbc1cf04205 Connect with Ashwini on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashwini-balasubramanian/ Visit her website: https://mapyourascent.com/

  6. Sep 22

    232: Career Advice: Mental Health Sick Leave, Getting A Promotion & Firing Someone You Like

    You got the title. Nobody handed you the playbook. In this special mailbag edition of The Leader I Needed, James Rosseau Sr. answers the exact career questions newer and newly promoted leaders are asking right now. Can you take a sick day for your mental health when you just stepped into management, or does that let your whole team down? What actually makes someone sound senior in a meeting when you're angling for a promotion? And when you're forced to lay off a strong performer you fought to keep, do you have to be the one in the room? James answers each one straight, drawing on 20-plus years in corporate leadership and a people-first philosophy rooted in stewardship. You'll hear why you put your mask on first, why "answer first" beats narrating your whole thought process, and how to deliver the hardest news with empathy without betraying your team or your company. If you have the responsibility but feel like you're firefighting and faking it, this one is for you. Got a question for the mailbag? Reach James directly at JamesRosseau@holyculture.net.

  7. Aug 18

    231. How to Handle Imposter Syndrome When You Just Got Promoted

    Did you get the promotion and immediately start wondering if they made a mistake? Do you feel like a fraud in your own role, waiting for someone to figure out you don't belong? Are you a newly promoted manager who's carrying this quietly, convinced no one else in leadership feels the way you feel right now? The Leader I Needed is the podcast for the promoted professional who has the title but not the tools. Every episode is an honest, people-first conversation about what it actually takes to lead. That includes the private battles no one prepares you for. I'm James Rosseau Sr., and I've spent 20-plus years in corporate leadership at companies like JPMorgan Chase, Allstate, and LegalShield. I've led teams of 40 in New York City. I've been the youngest at the table more times than I can count. And I've dealt with imposter syndrome at every level, including the ones that looked most impressive from the outside. This show is the one I needed back then, built for the leader you're becoming right now. If you're ready to stop carrying this in silence and start leading with the clarity and confidence your team needs, subscribe now and let's do this together. Grab your coffee, close the office door, and let's get to work.

  8. Aug 4

    230. How To Regulate Your Nervous Systems As A New Manager with Daniel Zavrel

    You got the title. You got the office. You got the increase in comp. What nobody taught you was how to handle the pressure that came with it. In this episode, James Rosseau Sr. sits down with Daniel Zavrel, who has spent 30 years teaching athletes, police officers, and executives how to regulate themselves under real pressure. You'll learn the specific zone the best new managers find, and a two-minute practice you can start today. Learn more about Daniel's work: https://checkout.consciouz.com/

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Are you a newly promoted manager who got the title, the office, and the responsibility, but nobody actually taught you how to lead people? Do you feel like you're spending your days babysitting, firefighting, and faking your way through meetings? Are you starting to wonder if imposter syndrome is just your gut telling you the truth? The Leader I Needed will help you become the people-first leader others actually want to follow. Each episode gives you real tools, honest conversations, and a repeatable system for leading people that produces results without burning you out or forcing you to fake it. I'm James Rosseau Sr. I spent 20-plus years in corporate leadership, including leading a team of 40 at JPMorgan Chase in New York City. When I stepped into that role, nobody handed me a playbook. My office was a closet nobody had cleaned out. I made the mistakes. I led from my desk when I should have been leading from the hallway. What changed everything was a simple shift: I stopped managing tasks and started investing in people. I learned that emotional intelligence wasn't a soft skill, it was THE skill. And I spent the next two decades refining that philosophy across leadership roles, consulting engagements, and mentoring the next generation of leaders. Now I'm building the show I needed back then, for the leader you're becoming right now. If you are ready to stop feeling like a fraud in your own role, start building real trust with your team, and finally lead with a system instead of survival mode, this is the podcast for you. Grab your coffee, close your office door, and let's get to work. #PurposeDrivenCareer #Careers #CareerAdvice #CareerGuidance #CareerManagement #Entrepreneurship #PurposeDrivenLeadership

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