Ripple Effect Leadership

Journey of Grace Coaching
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The Ripple Effect Leadership Podcast is for leaders at work, at home, and in the community who feel overwhelmed and want to grow with intention. Every other week, hosts Jen Brown and Hugo Rodriguez, drawing on 50+ years of combined leadership experience as U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Officers and as coaches, share real conversations, actionable insights, and practical tools to help you lead with clarity, courage, and connection. If you’re navigating doubt, burnout, or uncertainty, this podcast will help you create the ripple effect your leadership was meant to have.

  1. Sep 21

    30 | Celebrate the Wins: The Leadership Habit That Builds Momentum

    Leaders are often great at seeing what still needs to be done — and terrible at stopping long enough to recognize how far they’ve already come. In this episode of the Ripple Effect Leadership Podcast, Jen Brown and Hugo Rodriguez explore why celebrating wins isn’t fluff — it’s a leadership practice that builds energy, reinforces progress, strengthens relationships, and helps teams keep moving when the finish line still feels far away. Drawing from their years leading teams in the U.S. Foreign Service and Jen’s experience building her own business, they look at celebration from both the team and individual perspective. Hugo shares how a frustrating commute home in Mexico City changed when he stopped measuring his day by an unfinished to-do list and started recognizing the people he had “unlocked” as a leader. Jen shares her own realization that while she was quick to celebrate the growth of others, she hadn’t stopped enough to recognize how far she had come herself. They also explore what makes recognition meaningful rather than hollow, why peer-to-peer celebration can be especially powerful, and how leaders can build celebration into everyday leadership without needing balloons, confetti, or a major milestone. Key Takeaways Celebration isn’t just about the finish line. Recognizing progress along the way creates energy for the next climb.Build an “evidence list” of what worked, what you learned, and where you made progress.A leader’s impact isn’t measured only by their own to-do list. Sometimes the biggest win is unlocking someone else to succeed.Recognition needs to be specific and authentic. Hollow praise can undermine trust rather than build it.Celebration can be as simple as a genuine acknowledgment, a team ritual, peer recognition, or taking a moment to look back at how far you’ve come.Build celebration into project milestones instead of waiting until everything is finished.Leaders need to celebrate themselves, too. Constantly focusing on what remains undone is a fast route to exhaustion.Celebrate the misses as well as the wins when they create learning, clarity, or a better path forward.Chapters / Timestamps00:00 — Why leaders need to celebrate the wins04:12 — Celebrate what worked — and what didn’t06:00 — When your to-do list is the wrong measure of success10:20 — Leadership by walking around: connection as a win14:30 — Why hollow recognition doesn’t work20:09 — What meaningful celebration actually looks like30:17 — Build celebration into the milestones32:35 — The cost of not celebrating — and celebrating yourself38:51 — Celebrating one year of the Ripple Effect Leadership Podcast Our challenge to you: What are you celebrating right now? A big win, a small step, a lesson learned, or even a miss that gave you clarity — take a moment to recognize it. And then share it with us so we can celebrate with you.

  2. Sep 8

    29 | Empathy Is a Leadership Superpower: How Great Leaders Connect Without Losing Accountability

    Empathy is one of the most important leadership skills — and can be one of the most misunderstood. It isn’t about being soft, excusing poor performance, or absorbing everyone else’s emotions. It’s about being present enough to see what’s happening, curious enough to understand it, and grounded enough to respond with both care and accountability. In this episode of the Ripple Effect Leadership Podcast, Jen Brown and Hugo Rodriguez draw from their experiences as former U.S. diplomats, leadership coaches, and leaders in high-stakes environments to explore what empathy actually looks like at work. They unpack the connection between empathy, emotional intelligence, and trust — and why leaders who put people first can actually unlock greater capacity across an entire team. They also get into the harder side of empathy: leading people you don’t naturally connect with, maintaining accountability when someone is struggling, protecting yourself from absorbing other people’s emotions, and knowing when being available to someone actually means saying, “I want to give this the time it deserves — can we find a better time?” Key Takeaways Empathy isn’t sympathy. You can understand someone’s experience without taking on their emotions as your own.Curiosity is a leadership skill. Instead of immediately reacting to behavior or performance, ask what may be happening underneath it.People want to be seen. Small acts of presence and genuine connection can build the trust that makes harder conversations possible.Your job as a leader isn’t to be 1X. It’s to unlock the capacity of the people around you.Empathy does not excuse behavior or poor performance — it shapes how a leader responds while still holding people accountable.You don’t have to naturally connect with every employee to lead them well. Sometimes the people who frustrate you require the greatest curiosity and grace.Empathy needs boundaries. Great leaders care without climbing onto someone else’s emotional roller coaster.Being people-first doesn’t mean being available every minute. Sometimes respecting someone means creating the space to be fully present. Chapters / Timestamps 00:00 — Intro & why empathy isn’t “soft” leadership02:44 — What empathy is — and what it isn’t13:20 — “People want to be seen”19:17 — People first: unlocking your team’s capacity32:05 — Leading people you don’t naturally connect with37:26 — Empathy + accountability: you need both39:32 — The pitfalls of empathy: boundaries & emotional absorption51:03 — The challenge: becoming a stronger, more empathetic leader

  3. Aug 24

    28 | You’re Not Starting Over: Juliana Pereira on Finding Yourself Through Career Pivots

    What happens when the career you built no longer fits — or life decides for you? In this episode of Ripple Effect Leadership, Jen Brown and Hugo Rodriguez sit down with Juliana Pereira — former CMO, TEDx speaker, Harvard Business Review contributor, and co-author of Pivot-Quest — to explore what really happens when we change direction. After more than seven career pivots of her own and interviews with more than 100 pivoters around the world, Juliana discovered that a pivot is rarely just about finding the next job. It can challenge our identity, relationships, financial security, and courage — while creating an opportunity to reconnect with who we are and what gives us energy. Pivot-Quest, co-authored with Luis R. Baptista, launches August 25, 2026. IN THIS EPISODE • The four crises of a pivot — identity, social, financial & courage • Why you're not starting from scratch — you're starting from experience • Finding transferable skills beyond your job title • How your energy can reveal what you want next • Mourning the identity and community attached to a role • Networking vs. building genuine community • Why opportunities often come through people, not platforms • Why courage can look as small as asking someone for coffee • How to test a pivot before making the leap TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Introduction 01:55 Seven pivots — New York to Madrid 09:30 When life forces the pivot 19:35 The four crises of a pivot 20:35 “You are not starting from scratch. You are starting from experience.” 25:49 Forced transitions & transferable skills 31:10 “What brings you energy?” 33:17 Mourning the identity you leave behind 35:04 Networking vs. genuine community 42:09 Doing one thing a year that scares you 52:02 Pivot-Quest: book, workbook & community 57:40 The freedom on the other side — testing before you leap Whether you're choosing your next chapter, navigating a transition you didn't choose, or wondering whether your work still fits who you've become, remember: You are not starting from scratch. You are starting from experience. Sometimes a pivot isn't about becoming someone new. It's about finding your way back to more of who you already are. CONNECT WITH JULIANA + PIVOT-QUEST Pivot-Quest: https://www.pivot-quest.com Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR5H99G8 Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pivot-quest-luis-r-baptista/1150502507?ean=9798995027928 Launch events: https://linktr.ee/pivot_quest_book LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliananaranjopereira/ House of Pivots: https://www.instagram.com/houseofpivots/

  4. Aug 10

    27 | Leadership Lessons from the Wilderness: “There Is No Cavalry”

    Leadership isn’t a title — it’s service under pressure. Former U.S. diplomat, leadership coach, and Hampden-Sydney College professor Hugo Rodriguez joins Jen Brown to share the leadership lessons from co-teaching Expeditionary Leadership: a ten-day backcountry course that takes ten young men deep into Idaho’s Sawtooth wilderness carrying 50-pound packs. It’s a vivid, real-world look at followership, servant leadership, and leading when the stakes are real. Hugo walks through the full arc: rotating daily leadership teams (leader, deputy, medic, navigator), blistered feet and heavy packs, nightly debriefs around the fire, and the messy, honest work of a group learning that leadership is service, not status. The turning point is a mid-week “storming” session where the young men asked the professors to step away so they could confront themselves and build their own norms — moving from criticism to accountability, from followership as complaint to ownership. It all culminates in a flash flood on the final day that tests everything they’d built. Along the way, Jen and Hugo connect the experience to the Tuckman model of team development (forming, storming, norming, performing), the real difference between teaching, mentoring, and coaching, and a message that lands hard: you’re never too old to find a new calling, and leadership is learned by doing. Key Takeaways - Leadership isn’t the glory of the title — it’s “stinky feet”: inspecting everyone’s blisters, matching the pace of your least-experienced teammate, and doing the unglamorous work that keeps the team moving. - No plan survives first contact. Blisters, hills, uneven experience, and bad maps force leaders to adapt in real time. - Followers make or break a team. The breakthrough came when they stopped critiquing the leader and started asking, “What could I have done to help my leader succeed?” - “There is no cavalry.” A leader asked the professors to eat alone so the team could confront itself, set new norms, and own the outcome. - You learn leadership by doing — the deepest lessons came from what didn’t work. - Managed risk is the teacher. You can’t replicate crisis in a classroom. - It’s never too late to find a new calling. After 25 years in the Foreign Service, Hugo found a second one teaching leadership. Chapters / Timestamps - 00:00 — Intro & welcome - 01:48 — Inside “Expeditionary Leadership”: 10 days in the Sawtooth wilderness - 13:52 — “Leadership looks like stinky feet” - 20:28 — The turning point: “There is no cavalry. We own this.” - 24:26 — The Tuckman model: forming, storming, norming, performing - 29:31 — The hike out, the rain, and the flash flood - 44:42 — Takeaways: never too old to pivot; lead by doing Mentioned in This Episode - Expeditionary Leadership — Hampden-Sydney College’s ten-day wilderness leadership course with Vinton Bruton, Director of the Wilson Center - The Tuckman model of team development - The Emergency Mind — course reading - Meditations by Marcus Aurelius — course reading - Sawtooth Lodge — with thanks to Kristy Heinrichs and the whole team - Boise County Sheriffs and Idaho Search and Rescue

  5. Jul 27

    26 | Professional Grief: The Workplace Emotion We Don't Talk About

    Have you ever left a job, lost a trusted colleague, watched a meaningful project disappear, or struggled through a major workplace transition—but couldn't explain why it affected you so deeply? In this episode of Ripple Effect Leadership, Jen Brown sits down with former U.S. diplomat, executive coach, and leadership consultant Elizabeth Power to explore the often-overlooked concept of professional grief. Together they discuss: What professional grief really isWhy leaders often mistake grief for disengagement or burnoutHow career transitions, layoffs, promotions, organizational change, and even successful careers can create unexpected lossPractical ways to acknowledge and honor grief without getting stuckHow choosing who you want to become after loss can transform both your leadership and your life Whether you're navigating change yourself or leading a team through uncertainty, this conversation offers practical wisdom and compassionate insight for moving forward with greater intention. Because sometimes the first step toward healing isn't fixing the problem—it's simply giving it a name. Connect with Elizabeth Power: Website: www.elizabethpowercoaching.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethpowerleadership Professional Grief Workshop (Complimentary): https://elizabethpowercoaching.as.me/professionalgrief

  6. Jul 13

    25 | Align Your Energy, Not Just Your Calendar | The Power of Consistency

    Have you ever planned the perfect day only to find yourself struggling to follow through? In this episode of Ripple Effect Leadership, Jen Brown and Hugo Rodriguez explore why consistency isn't about doing more—it's about taking the right next step, building momentum, and aligning your actions with your energy. They share practical strategies for overcoming setbacks, breaking big goals into manageable pieces, using accountability, and creating habits that lead to lasting success. If you're ready to move from intention to consistent action, this conversation is for you. We'd love to hear from you! What's one habit that's helping you stay consistent—or one challenge that's getting in your way? Share it in the comments below.

  7. Jun 29

    24 | From Melanoma to Multi-State Success: How Evonne Varady Built Clean Eatz

    We sat down with Yvonne Varady, co-founder of Clean Eatz, for a powerful conversation about reinvention, resilience, and leadership. Evonne shares how a melanoma diagnosis, a divorce, and a major life pivot led her to leave her career, open a restaurant, and eventually grow Clean Eatz into a multi-state franchise.   She opens up about the early scrappy days of building the business from the ground up, the lessons she learned about listening to customers and staying flexible, and why whole ingredients, convenience, and affordability still drive the Clean Eatz mission today. The conversation also dives into Yvonne’s TEDx talk, “The Invisible Weight Our Kids Carry,” where she explores the lasting impact of words, body image, and the importance of speaking with more awareness.   This episode is packed with honest insights for entrepreneurs, leaders, parents, and anyone navigating a season of change.   Evonne on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evonne.white.9 Evonne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evonnevarady/ Rebel Rootz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebelrootzshow/ Rebel Rootz on Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/rebelrootzshow/ Clean Eatz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleaneatzlife/ Clean Eatz on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CleanEatzLife Clean Eatz on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CleanEatz Evonne's Tedx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nufx-vRA-jE

  8. Jun 15

    23 | The Hidden Costs of Avoiding Difficult Conversations

    Most leaders know they need to address performance issues, accountability gaps, and workplace conflict. The challenge is that difficult conversations are uncomfortable—and avoiding them often feels easier in the moment. But what is the real cost of avoidance? In this episode of Ripple Effect Leadership, former U.S. diplomats and leadership coaches Jen Brown and Hugo Rodriguez explore the hidden costs of avoiding difficult conversations and why unresolved issues rarely stay contained. What begins as a missed deadline, communication breakdown, or performance concern can quickly impact team morale, workplace culture, productivity, reputation, and future growth. Jen and Hugo discuss: Why leaders avoid difficult conversationsThe impact on performance, productivity, and business resultsHow unresolved issues affect culture, trust, and moralePractical strategies for addressing problems earlyThe role of expectations, accountability, and regular check-insHow trust makes difficult conversations easierWhy avoiding conflict today often creates bigger problems tomorrow If you're a business owner, team leader, manager, or emerging leader, this episode will help you address challenges with greater confidence and create a healthier, more intentional workplace culture.

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About

The Ripple Effect Leadership Podcast is for leaders at work, at home, and in the community who feel overwhelmed and want to grow with intention. Every other week, hosts Jen Brown and Hugo Rodriguez, drawing on 50+ years of combined leadership experience as U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Officers and as coaches, share real conversations, actionable insights, and practical tools to help you lead with clarity, courage, and connection. If you’re navigating doubt, burnout, or uncertainty, this podcast will help you create the ripple effect your leadership was meant to have.

Information

  • Creator
    Journey of Grace Coaching
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Journey of Grace Coaching
  • Show Website
    Ripple Effect Leadership

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