Your Next Clear Move

Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity
  • 5.0 (13)
  • Management
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to Your Next Clear Move™—the podcast for leaders, professionals, and high-capacity humans who are done “getting ready” and ready to move. I’m Debbie Peterson, Leadership Readiness Expert, and in each episode I deliver grounded insight, clarity-driven mindset strategies, and one actionable step to help you stop the drift and lead yourself forward. This isn’t about fixing what’s broken. It’s about reconnecting to what matters—and making decisions that align with who you are and how you want to lead next. Subscribe for weekly clarity drops that fuel your next level—with confidence.

  1. 4d ago

    Do You See the Person or the Problem

    The fastest way to lose trust is to treat a human like a problem to be managed. I’m bringing you a question that stopped me cold and still challenges me when I’m busy, stressed, and trying to “just fix it”: do you see the person first or the problem? That single choice shows up in every missed deadline, tense conversation, or frustrating mistake, and it quietly shapes your culture more than any policy ever will.  I tell a story from my time as a project manager on a working ranch, when I reacted to an employee based on a label I had already given him. I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t gather context. I just enforced the story in my head and got it wrong. Then came the drive back, the pit in my stomach, and the apology I didn’t want to make. What surprised me most was what that apology created: not less authority, but more trust, because it proved I would tell the truth and do the right thing.  From there, we get practical about relational leadership and emotional intelligence at work: why behavior is what people do and not who they are, how curiosity breaks the power of assumptions, and how “relational readiness” helps you hold standards while still seeing the whole person. As AI continues to reshape the workplace, our humanity becomes more valuable, not less and learning to lead people well is the advantage.  If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a leader who’s carrying a lot right now, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

    Do You See the Person or the Problem

  2. Jul 3

    Why Some Leaders Create Opportunities Instead of Waiting for Them

    Four people walked back into my leadership cohort with news I did not see coming: they created brand-new roles inside their organisations and got promoted into them. No one assigned the work. No one handed them a goal. They simply saw a need that was going unmet, believed they were the right person to solve it, and made a case for a role that did not exist before. That moment changed how I think about opportunity and readiness. Most of us are taught to wait for the opening, keep doing good work, and hope the right person notices. But the leaders who grow the fastest are not the ones who wait the best. They get clear on what they value, what energises them, and where their strengths naturally create impact, then they start spotting possibilities other people walk past. Clarity becomes a filter for smarter career decisions, stronger leadership presence, and more intentional professional growth. We also dig into how to develop the people around you without trapping them in a “menu of existing roles.” I share the questions that unlock ownership and initiative: What problem do you wish someone would let you solve? What strengths are we not fully using? What do you see that nobody else is talking about? Those questions invite curiosity, and curiosity is often where real leadership begins. If you have ever thought, “Somebody should really fix that,” I’ll leave you with one challenge: stop and ask, “What if that someone is me?” Subscribe to Getting to Clarity, share this with a leader who’s ready to step up, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

    Why Some Leaders Create Opportunities Instead of Waiting for Them

  3. Jun 26

    When Leadership Starts Costing You Too Much

    That tight feeling in your chest at 5am, the day you move through on pure muscle memory, the quiet loss of joy you cannot quite explain, those are not random glitches. They can be the hidden price of leadership when your role turns into a test of how much you can carry. We get honest about the kind of exhaustion strong, capable leaders rarely say out loud, and why it builds over years of saying yes, stepping in, and tying your worth to what you can achieve. Debbie Peterson shares a personal moment that was not a shiny breakthrough, but a breakdown, and how a decision came before direction. From there, we unpack a critical leadership clarity insight: we do not only respond to our circumstances, we respond to what those circumstances mean to us. Two leaders can hold similar responsibilities, yet one feels stretched in a healthy way while the other feels crushed, because “more” has become proof of value. We also look at what overcarrying does to the people around you. When we solve every problem and rescue every struggle, we may feel helpful, but we train teams into dependence and starve them of resilience. The practical takeaway is one simple question you can use the next time pressure spikes: “Is this actually mine to carry?” It is a boundary tool, a delegation prompt, and a way to lead with less sacrifice and more sustainable impact. If this resonates, subscribe, share with a leader who needs relief, and leave a review so more people can find Getting to Clarity.

    When Leadership Starts Costing You Too Much

  4. Jun 19

    When Being Good at Your Job Isn’t Enough Anymore

    Being great at your job can actually hold you back once you become the leader. I learned that the hard part of leadership is rarely the work itself. It’s the people side: different personalities, different priorities, different communication styles, and the uncomfortable truth that what seems obvious to me may not be obvious to someone else. I tell a story from early in my career managing a large project on a ranch, where two capable leaders could not have been more different. One tested limits and stirred things up, the other led with grounded, values-first calm. Both cared deeply about the work, yet their differences felt like a “problem” until I realised I was expecting them to operate like me. That insight reshaped how I think about leadership development, emotional intelligence, and the real job of a manager: translating across perspectives so the team can move together. We also unpack a common trap for high-performing new leaders: becoming the bottleneck. When we jump in to solve, answer, and rescue, we accidentally train our teams to depend on us. It feels efficient at first, then it becomes exhausting, and it keeps others from growing. The shift that changes everything is moving from “What do I need to accomplish?” to “How do I help my team succeed?” and bringing curiosity into the conversations you’ve been avoiding. If you want a practical next clear move, start with one person who frustrates you and ask a better question: how might they be seeing this differently than I am? Subscribe to Getting to Clarity, share this with a fellow leader, and leave a review if it helps you lead with less sacrifice and more impact.

    When Being Good at Your Job Isn’t Enough Anymore

  5. Jun 12

    When Everything Feels Important

    If your days feel like nonstop triage, you are not alone and you are not broken. When every email looks urgent and every task feels like it carries consequences, the real issue may be decision fatigue: the quiet drain that happens when we give too many things equal weight. I share what I hear again and again from leaders across industries and why I no longer believe most “there aren’t enough hours” complaints are really time management problems. We get specific about what decision fatigue looks like in real life: dozens of micro-decisions before lunch, mounting pressure, and the temptation to either delay choices or make fast calls just to get something off your plate. Then we look at the hidden cost to your leadership, your team, and your organisation, including slower decisions, unclear communication, and unintentional bottlenecks that keep high-potential employees and emerging leaders from moving forward. To help you regain clarity, I walk you through a practical prioritisation tool I return to whenever everything starts to feel important: the three-bucket exercise. You will learn how to sort your list into critical, important but not critical, and everything else, plus a simple two-item comparison method to identify your A1 priority without overthinking. If you want steadier leadership, better focus, and less overwhelm, listen now, then subscribe, share with a fellow leader, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

    When Everything Feels Important

  6. Jun 5

    When Leaders Stop Trusting Themselves

    One sentence can stall a career for years, not because it’s true, but because of what we decide it means. We talk through the deceptively supportive line “you’re good where you’re at” and how leaders can internalise it as “you don’t have what it takes,” then start treating someone else’s opinion as louder than their own lived experience. If you’ve been overthinking, hesitating, or waiting for the perfect moment to make a move, this conversation is for you.  We dig into what it really looks like when leaders stop trusting themselves: gathering “just a little more” information, asking one more person, delaying hard conversations, and calling it responsibility. We name it clearly as hesitation dressed up as preparation and we connect it to leadership decision-making, clarity, and the ability to act with limited information. The goal isn’t reckless action; it’s grounded movement guided by your judgment, your values, and your next clear move.  We also challenge the confidence myth head-on. Confidence doesn’t arrive first and then grant permission to act; confidence comes after action. It grows through reps, learning, and recovery and it’s contextual, which means you can borrow confidence from areas where you already perform well and apply it to the next leadership stretch.  Finally, we zoom out to the ripple effect: self-doubt isn’t just personal, it impacts teams. When leaders wait for certainty, decisions slow down, communication gets murky, and high-potential people stop getting stretched. If you want to strengthen self-trust, leadership confidence, and readiness, press play, then subscribe, share this with a leader who’s hesitating, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

    When Leaders Stop Trusting Themselves

  7. May 29

    Leaders Under Pressure - How to Respond Instead of React

    Pressure changes how we lead, and not always in ways we’re proud of. When staffing is tight, interruptions are constant, and tough conversations stack up, it’s easy to start treating everything as urgent and everyone as a problem to solve. I share what pressure feels like for many leaders right now and why the instinct to speed up can quietly sabotage clarity, trust, and communication. We dig into a core leadership skill that sounds simple but takes practice: the pause. I tell a story from early in my leadership career where I reacted hard to an employee, only to realise I didn’t have the full story and I was carrying emotional baggage into the moment. That experience drove home a truth I still rely on today: reacting and responding are not the same thing. Reactive leadership is fast and emotionally driven, assuming before asking and escalating before understanding. Responsive leadership slows down just enough to get curious, ask better questions, and separate facts from assumptions. You’ll also hear what emotionally steady leadership really means. It isn’t being emotionless. It’s creating enough internal space so emotions don’t lead the conversation, especially under pressure. We talk about the cost of reactive leadership, how it makes teams walk on eggshells, and why people remember the feeling you create more than the exact words you used. If you want calmer leadership under stress, a stronger culture of trust, and better decision-making when things feel urgent, listen now. Subscribe, share this with a leader who’s carrying a lot, and leave a review to help more people find the show.

    Leaders Under Pressure - How to Respond Instead of React

  8. May 22

    The Leadership Cost of Ignoring What You Feel

    “I’m fine” can sound like strength, but it often masks a leadership risk that grows quietly over time. I’m Debbie Peterson, and I’m naming what many leaders have been trained to do: suppress stress, compartmentalise emotion, keep the plates spinning, and deal with it later. The problem is that later shows up uninvited, and ignored emotions don’t disappear, they accumulate and start shaping how we communicate, decide, and relate. I walk through the leadership behaviours that teams feel first when emotional weight goes unprocessed: perfectionism, micromanaging, reactivity, defensiveness, control, avoidance, emotional unavailability, overwhelm, and short tempers. It’s a sobering list because it’s rarely “just personality.” It’s often emotional strain leaking into workplace culture, trust, and psychological safety. Then we reframe “negative emotions” like anger, fear, anxiety, guilt, resentment, and shame as signals, useful internal data pointing to boundaries, beliefs, losses, and unmet needs. You’ll also hear why emotions are meant to move, how the brain looks for evidence to reinforce what stays unresolved, and what the real costs can be for decision making, empathy, conflict management, creativity, and physical health. I share my own wake-up call and why emotional steadiness is not emotional suppression. It’s awareness, processing, and choosing intentional responses under pressure. If you want sustainable leadership, better communication, and a healthier team climate, press play. Subscribe, share this with a leader who needs it, and leave a quick review to help more people find the show.

    The Leadership Cost of Ignoring What You Feel
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About

Welcome to Your Next Clear Move™—the podcast for leaders, professionals, and high-capacity humans who are done “getting ready” and ready to move. I’m Debbie Peterson, Leadership Readiness Expert, and in each episode I deliver grounded insight, clarity-driven mindset strategies, and one actionable step to help you stop the drift and lead yourself forward. This isn’t about fixing what’s broken. It’s about reconnecting to what matters—and making decisions that align with who you are and how you want to lead next. Subscribe for weekly clarity drops that fuel your next level—with confidence.

Information

  • Creator
    Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    250
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Your Next Clear Move
  • Show Website
    Your Next Clear Move