Leading Well with Steph Edusei

Steph Edusei
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Self-Improvement

Leading Well is a reflective podcast about leadership, self-worth, and what it really means to live well alongside responsibility. Host Steph Edusei shares thoughtful solo reflections and conversations with guests, exploring confidence and self-doubt, power and responsibility, boundaries, belonging, and the quiet work of leadership. This podcast is for people who want to lead with clarity, care, and integrity — in ways that are sustainable, human, and true to their values.

Episodes

  1. 1d ago

    Holding the Story: Leadership, Stewardship and Place with Keith Merrin.

    What does it mean to lead something that belongs, in some sense, to everyone? In this episode of Leading Well with Steph Edusei, Steph is joined by Keith Merrin, Director of North East Museums, to explore leadership through the lens of culture, place, public trust and stewardship. Follow or subscribe to Leading Well to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. Keith leads an organisation responsible for museums, galleries and archives across Tyneside and Northumberland. Together, he and Steph talk about the responsibility that comes with holding so much of a region’s history and deciding how those stories continue to be told. They explore why preserving history does not mean allowing its interpretation to stand still. From the North East’s familiar stories of shipbuilding, coal, graft and industry to the less familiar stories that sit alongside them, Keith reflects on the importance of widening the view so that more people can recognise themselves and their communities within it. The conversation also turns to purpose, access and organisational leadership. Keith shares how North East Museums returned to the question of why it exists following the pandemic and funding pressures, focusing more clearly on the impact it wants to have in its communities. He talks about reducing barriers to visiting museums, bringing organisations and cultures together, and learning rather than simply imposing one way of working. And beneath all of that sits the weight of leadership itself. Keith speaks openly about the loneliness that can come when people look to you for answers you do not have, and about seeing himself not as an owner of the organisation but as one of a long line of custodians. In this episode, Steph and Keith explore: What cultural leadership can teach us about stewardship and public trustWhy the North East story is about innovation and ideas as well as graft and industryThe responsibility to keep broadening whose stories are representedWhy challenge and criticism can sometimes be evidence that people care deeplyHow a clear sense of purpose can help people understand difficult organisational choicesWhat accessibility looks like beyond simply making entry freeBringing organisations together by learning from each other rather than simply imposing one cultureThe weight and loneliness of leadership, and why senior leaders do not always have the answersLeading Well is a podcast for people who want to lead with clarity, care and integrity, without losing themselves in the process. Leading Well - leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Keith Merrin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithmerrin/ North East Museums: https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/ Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    Holding the Story: Leadership, Stewardship and Place with Keith Merrin.

  2. Oct 27

    You Don’t Have to Fix It

    What if the most helpful thing you can do as a leader is not step in? In this solo episode of Leading Well with Steph Edusei, Steph explores the instinct to fix, why being useful can become so closely tied to our sense of worth, and what changes when we learn that leadership does not always require us to have the answer. Follow or subscribe to Leading Well to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. Drawing on her years working in the NHS, Steph reflects on how comfortable she became with problems that needed solving. Someone is struggling, something isn't working, there is a difficult issue to untangle, and her instinct is to find the route through. But not everything in leadership is a problem to be solved. People aren't problems. Emotions aren't problems. Discomfort isn't necessarily something we should rush to remove. Building on her recent conversation with Dr Asha Patel about trauma-informed leadership, Steph asks whether understanding what someone is experiencing always means taking responsibility for making it better. She also considers what happens when our identity becomes wrapped up in being the person who can sort things out, and whether some women carry wider expectations about helping, caring and keeping everyone happy into their leadership. This isn't an argument for stepping back from genuine leadership responsibility. Sometimes we need to intervene, challenge unfairness, remove barriers or make the decision. It is an invitation to notice the difference between supporting someone and carrying them, and to ask whether stepping in is genuinely what they need. In this episode, Steph explores: Why the instinct to fix can become part of our leadership identityWhat her NHS background taught her about solving problems and taking actionWhy understanding somebody does not automatically make their difficulty ours to solveThe possible gendered expectations around being helpful, caring and keeping everyone happyWhy compassion is not the same as rescuing peopleThe difference between supporting someone and carrying themWhy saying “I don't know yet” can sometimes be an honest leadership responseHow asking “What do you need from me?” can create space for others to think and act for themselvesLeading Well is a podcast for people who want to lead with clarity, care and integrity, without losing themselves in the process. Leading Well - leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    You Don’t Have to Fix It

  3. Oct 20

    When Helping Starts with Staying with Dr Asha Patel

    What might someone’s behaviour be communicating that we haven’t yet been curious enough to notice? In this episode of Leading Well with Steph Edusei, Steph is joined by Dr Asha Patel, clinical psychologist and founder of Innovating Minds, to explore trauma-informed leadership and what it can teach us about behaviour, compassion, accountability and workplace culture. Follow or subscribe to Leading Well to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. Asha shares how her work in forensic mental health led her to question why people were reaching services after years of trauma without having been able to access effective support earlier. That frustration eventually led her to set up Innovating Minds and focus on changing systems, rather than only supporting people once they had reached crisis. Steph and Asha explore what trauma-informed leadership actually means. Asha explains why it is not an approach reserved for people with a particular diagnosis or known history of trauma. Instead, it involves being curious about people’s experiences, recognising that behaviour is a form of communication and paying attention to how workplace processes and leadership behaviour can affect people. They also talk about compassion and accountability. Trauma-informed leadership does not mean avoiding difficult conversations, ignoring poor performance or removing boundaries. It can mean being honest about what has to happen while continuing to treat the person going through it as a human being. And the conversation turns to leaders themselves: the temptation to hold everybody else, the importance of recognising our own capacity, and why creating safer workplaces also requires leaders to notice how they are showing up. In this episode, Steph and Asha explore: What trauma-informed leadership actually meansWhy trauma can affect the body as well as the way we thinkWhat behaviour may be communicating beneath the surfaceWhy leaders can be too quick to move into fixing rather than staying with someoneHow compassion and accountability can exist togetherWhy workplace systems and processes deserve scrutiny tooThe effect a leader’s own stress and emotional state can have on othersWhy leaders need to recognise their own limits and create space for themselves tooLeading Well is a podcast for people who want to lead with clarity, care and integrity, without losing themselves in the process. Leading Well - leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Find out more about Asha’s work: innovatingmindsgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashalpatel/ Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    When Helping Starts with Staying with Dr Asha Patel

  4. Oct 13

    When Leadership Gets Heavy

    When does leadership stop being hard and start becoming harmful? In this solo episode of Leading Well with Steph Edusei, Steph explores what happens when leadership gets heavy, drawing on periods in her own career when she was still functioning, still making decisions and still getting things done, but was struggling far more than she recognised at the time. Follow or subscribe to Leading Well to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. Steph reflects on particularly difficult periods while working at Healthwatch and earlier in the NHS, when responsibility, long hours, personal pressures and her own determination to keep going became too much. She considers how easy it can be for capable people to mistake the ability to cope for evidence that they should simply keep coping. The episode explores some of the patterns Steph carried between roles: the need to deliver, taking responsibility for things that were not entirely hers and being the person others relied upon. These qualities had helped her throughout her career, but without boundaries they could also become liabilities. Steph considers the difference between leadership being hard and becoming harmful, and the familiar promise of “after this”: after this deadline, after this project, after this difficult period, then I will rest. But leadership rarely runs out of things that need doing. This is not an argument that leadership should always feel easy. Responsibility will sometimes be uncomfortable and demanding. It is an invitation to notice when continuing to function is no longer the same as being well, to question what we are carrying, and to recognise that how leaders treat themselves also teaches other people what is expected of them. In this episode, Steph explores: Why capable people can mistake coping for evidence that they should keep taking on moreHow burnout can sometimes look surprisingly productive from the outsideWhat happens when our identity becomes tangled up with being capable and reliableWhy strengths without boundaries can become liabilitiesThe difference between leadership being hard and becoming harmfulHow “after this” can become a way of postponing rest indefinitelyWhy looking after ourselves as leaders also has a cultural impactWhat we might need to stop carrying rather than simply become better at carryingLeading Well is a podcast for people who want to lead with clarity, care and integrity, without losing themselves in the process. Leading Well - leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    When Leadership Gets Heavy

  5. Oct 5

    Leadership Begins with Noticing with Justin Morris

    What can happen when we notice something that isn't right and decide not to look away? In this episode of Leading Well with Steph Edusei, Steph is joined by Justin Morris, founder and CEO of Diver's Community CIC, to explore community leadership, purpose and what Justin has learned from turning one small act into a growing organisation supporting people experiencing homelessness in Birmingham. Follow or subscribe to Leading Well to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. Justin shares the encounter that started everything: seeing a man sitting in the pouring rain while everyone around him sheltered, and deciding to buy him an umbrella. What stayed with Justin was not the umbrella itself, but the man's reaction to simply being noticed. From there, Steph and Justin talk about dignity, the stigma surrounding homelessness and why Diver's Community has chosen to tell people's stories without filming them at some of the most vulnerable points in their lives. They explore the responsibility that comes with helping people, including recognising the power that can exist even when someone has technically given consent. Justin also talks openly about the demands of purpose-led work. He reflects on boundaries, burnout, supporting the mental health of volunteers and the challenge of switching off when you care deeply about what you do. As Diver's Community has grown, Justin has also had to learn to let go. He shares his journey from trying to do everything himself to trusting his team, delegating responsibility and accepting that leadership does not mean holding everything at the centre. In this episode, Steph and Justin explore: How one small act led to the creation of Diver's Community CICWhy being noticed and treated with dignity can matter as much as practical supportChallenging some of the assumptions and stigma surrounding homelessnessUsing social media to build trust and tell stories without exploiting vulnerable peopleWhy boundaries and debriefing matter in emotionally demanding workThe difficulty of letting go when you have created something you care deeply aboutLearning to trust, delegate and give other people ownershipWhy community leadership involves listening, learning and recognising that you do not have all the answersLeading Well is a podcast for people who want to lead with clarity, care and integrity, without losing themselves in the process. Leading Well - leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Connect with Justin and Diver's Community CIC: TikTok: @divers.community Instagram: @diverscommunity.cic LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-morris-38a76a325/ Diverse Community CIC: https://diverscommunitycic.com/ Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    Leadership Begins with Noticing with Justin Morris

  6. Sep 28

    Culture Beyond the Words with Ivan Hollingsworth.

    What does your culture actually feel like to the people experiencing it every day? In this episode of Leading Well with Steph Edusei, Steph is joined by Ivan Hollingsworth, founder and director of Centric Consultants, to explore what it really takes to create cultures where people and teams can thrive. Follow or subscribe to Leading Well to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. Ivan talks openly about his own journey from the pharmaceutical industry into work focused on leadership, teams and organisational culture, including the self-doubt that accompanied that change and why those feelings still play a part in how he learns and reflects. Together, Steph and Ivan explore what Ivan describes as “culture washing”: when organisations say the right things about values, people and culture, but those words do not necessarily hold up when pressure is applied. They discuss why values need to be visible in behaviour, decisions and the everyday experience of the people within an organisation. The conversation also questions some of our assumptions about high performance. Ivan reflects on lessons from his own sporting background and asks whether a relentless focus on performance, comparison and outputs can sometimes create conditions that work against the humans expected to deliver them. And they consider what leadership looks like when it is less about doing everything yourself and more about creating the conditions for other people to do their best work, being present, staying curious and asking what happens when you are no longer in the room. In this episode, Steph and Ivan explore: What culture washing looks like in practiceWhy values need to be lived rather than simply displayedWhat pressure reveals about an organisation’s real cultureWhether our ideas about high performance always help people thriveThe difference between measuring outputs and creating the right inputs and conditionsWhy leadership can feel like “doing nothing” when your role has shifted from doing to enablingThe importance of presence, self-awareness and showing people that they matterWhy leading well includes recognising that none of us has it completely worked outLeading Well is a podcast for people who want to lead with clarity, care and integrity, without losing themselves in the process. Leading Well - leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Connect with Ivan Hollingsworth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-hollingsworth-a7271944/ Instagram and TikTok: @TheThriveGuy Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    Culture Beyond the Words with Ivan Hollingsworth.

  7. Sep 21

    The Shadow Leaders Cast

    What might it actually feel like to be led by you? In this solo episode of Leading Well with Steph Edusei, Steph explores the shadow leaders cast and the influence we can have even when we are not consciously trying to influence anyone at all. Follow or subscribe to Leading Well to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. Beginning with a story from her teenage years in Girlguiding, Steph reflects on how seemingly small words and actions can carry far more weight because of who says them. Drawing on John Amaechi’s The Promises of Giants and her own experiences of getting things wrong, Steph considers the gap that can exist between our intentions and our impact. This episode explores the small moments that help create culture. How we respond when somebody makes a mistake. What happens when we are challenged. Whose ideas receive our enthusiasm. Where we give our attention. Even what our face communicates when somebody else is speaking. This is not about becoming anxious or trying to perform perfect leadership. It is an invitation to become more curious about our influence, listen to how others experience us, and pay attention to the shadow we cast. In this episode, Steph explores: How leaders can have an impact they cannot completely controlWhy ordinary words and actions can carry more weight when we hold influenceThe gap that can exist between intention and impactHow culture is created in small, everyday momentsWhy positional power gives our behaviour greater significanceHow influence is not restricted to formal hierarchyWhat it means to become more curious about the experience others have of usWhy leading well includes noticing the shadow we castLeading Well is a podcast for people who want to lead with clarity, care and integrity, without losing themselves in the process. Leading Well - leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    The Shadow Leaders Cast

  8. Sep 14

    Leadership, Confidence and the Courage to Start Again with Lesley Cuthbertson

    What can starting again teach us about leadership, confidence and self-worth? In this episode of Leading Well with Steph Edusei, Steph is joined by Lesley Cuthbertson to explore reinvention, resilience, career change, relationships and helping others grow. Follow or subscribe to Leading Well to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. Lesley Cuthbertson is an area manager for Pitman Training Group, but her path into leadership has been anything but straightforward. Her career has taken her from corporate banking, through redundancy, into building and running her own businesses, and then back into employment in a new sector after 13 years as an entrepreneur. In this conversation, Lesley reflects on the confidence it takes to change direction, the self-doubt that can come with starting again, and the leadership lessons she learned from running businesses, managing people and navigating difficult decisions. Steph and Lesley talk about what happens when a business is successful on paper but no longer works for your life, how failure and disappointment can become part of our growth, and why career paths do not need to be neat or linear to be meaningful. They also explore the importance of relationships, networking, purpose and empowering others. Lesley shares how helping people recognise their own potential has become one of the most fulfilling parts of her work, and why passing on knowledge, supporting others to grow and wanting the best for your team can be powerful acts of leadership. In this episode, Steph and Lesley explore: Why career paths are rarely neat or linearWhat redundancy and reinvention can teach usThe confidence it takes to move into a completely new sectorHow self-doubt can show up when we are starting againWhy a business can be successful but still no longer be right for youWhat entrepreneurship teaches about resilience, adaptability and responsibilityHow to make difficult people decisions with kindness and integrityThe role of relationships and networking in rebuilding confidenceWhy networking is not just about selling, but about connectionWhat it means to empower your team and pass your knowledge onWhy helping others grow can strengthen trust across a teamThe importance of asking for help and not carrying everything aloneHow change can become an opportunity, even when it is hardLeading Well is a podcast for people who want to lead with clarity, care and integrity, without losing themselves in the process. Leading Well - leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Contact Lesley Cuthbertson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-cuthbertson-22b99166/ Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    Leadership, Confidence and the Courage to Start Again with Lesley Cuthbertson

  9. Sep 7

    Confidence Without Performance: Trusting Yourself as a Leader

    Have you ever looked confident on the outside while quietly questioning whether you really belong in the room? In this solo episode of Leading Well with Steph Edusei, Steph explores confidence, self-worth, imposter phenomenon and why real leadership is not about performing certainty. Follow or subscribe to Leading Well to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. So many of us assume that confidence will arrive once we have enough experience, enough qualifications, enough achievements or enough external proof that we are good at what we do. But confidence does not always work that way. In this episode, Steph reflects on the disconnect between what others may see on the outside and what we may be feeling on the inside. She explores why capable, experienced and successful people can still question themselves, and why achievement does not automatically cure self-doubt. Steph also talks about why self-doubt is not a defect or a personal failing. It is an experience, and it is often shaped or amplified by the environments we are in. This episode is an invitation to rethink confidence. Not as charisma, certainty, polish or always having the answer, but as the steadier ability to ask questions, admit mistakes, say “I don’t know”, seek help, learn, change your mind and still trust that you belong. Steph explores how leaders can create environments where people do not have to perform confidence, but can develop real confidence in ways that are honest, human and sustainable. In this episode, Steph explores: Why confidence is not the absence of doubtHow imposter phenomenon can affect capable and experienced leadersWhy success, visibility and responsibility can sometimes intensify self-doubtThe difference between appearing confident and being trustworthyWhy “fake it till you make it” can become a performanceHow some environments amplify self-doubt, especially for women and minoritised peopleWhy being interrupted, undermined or excluded can affect confidenceWhat real confidence can sound like in leadershipWhy saying “I don’t know” or “I got that wrong” can take real strengthHow leaders can create environments where people feel safe to ask questions, try things, disagree and learnWhy self-worth is not dependent on proving yourself every minute of every dayWhat it means to trust yourself without needing constant external validation Leading Well is a podcast for people who want to lead with clarity, care and integrity, without losing themselves in the process. Leading Well - leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    Confidence Without Performance: Trusting Yourself as a Leader

  10. Sep 7

    You’re Not Behind: Trusting Your Own Pace in Leadership and Life

    Have you ever looked around and thought, “I should be further ahead by now”? In this solo episode of Leading Well with Steph Edusei, Steph explores leadership, self-worth, comparison and the imaginary timelines we use to judge our lives and careers. Follow or subscribe to Leading Well to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. So many of us carry an unspoken timetable for what our lives and careers are supposed to look like. We imagine where we should be by a certain age, what we should have achieved by now, and how quickly we should have progressed. In this episode, Steph reflects on her own experience of joining the NHS National Graduate Training Scheme, where the idea of becoming a chief executive within ten years became a powerful internal yardstick. When her career path stopped following that neat upward trajectory, she began to feel as though she was falling behind. Steph explores how comparison, social media, organisational expectations and our own self-imposed milestones can distort the way we see ourselves. She shares how stepping away from one version of success helped her find work, leadership and impact that felt more aligned with her values. This episode is an invitation to question the timelines you have absorbed, notice where comparison may be shaping your choices, and trust that your own pace may be wiser than you think. In this episode, Steph explores: Why so many of us feel we should be further aheadThe imaginary timelines we create for our lives and careersHow comparison can make even successful people feel inadequateThe difference between career progression and leadership developmentWhy success is not always a straight lineHow detours, setbacks and changes of direction can shape usThe danger of judging your whole life against someone else’s visible highlightsWhy later does not necessarily mean lateHow trying to catch up can lead us into lives we do not really wantWhat it means to trust your own pace without giving up on ambitionLeading Well is a podcast for people who want to lead with clarity, care and integrity, without losing themselves in the process. Leading Well - leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    You’re Not Behind: Trusting Your Own Pace in Leadership and Life

  11. Sep 7

    Trying to Lead Like Someone Else Almost Broke Me

    If you’ve ever felt you had to harden yourself to be credible as a leader, this first episode of Leading Well with Steph Edusei is for you. In this opening episode, Steph reflects on how trying to be the kind of leader she thought she was supposed to be almost broke her. Steph shares the honest story behind the podcast and invites you to follow or subscribe as we rethink what it means to lead well, live well and carry responsibility without losing ourselves. Drawing on her experience as a leader in the NHS and then in the voluntary and community sector, she explores the culture of overwork, constant availability, pressure, performance and emotional suppression that so often gets mistaken for strong leadership. Steph also talks about the role of imposter phenomenon and how self-doubt can make leaders overwork, over-prove and tolerate situations that work against their own values. But this episode is not just about what leadership can cost us. It is also about what becomes possible when we stop trying to perform leadership and start practising it in ways that are more human, compassionate, sustainable and true to who we are. In this episode, Steph explores: Why working hard can quietly become overworkingThe pressure to prove yourself as a leaderLeadership cultures that reward toughness, certainty and constant availabilityHow imposter phenomenon can shape the way leaders show upWhy kindness, compassion and integrity are not alternatives to effective leadershipThe importance of boundaries, rest and sustainabilityWhat it means to lead well as a practice, not a performanceReflection questions from this episode: Where have I been trying to lead like someone else?What part of myself have I been taught to work against so that I can seem more credible as a leader?What would change if I trusted that kindness, compassion and integrity were not alternatives to effective leadership, but core elements of it?Leading Well is a podcast for people who want to lead with clarity, care and integrity. Follow or subscribe to Leading Well with Steph Edusei to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. Leading Well - leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    Trying to Lead Like Someone Else Almost Broke Me

  12. Season 1 Trailer

    Introducing Leading Well with Steph Edusei

    What does it mean to lead well without losing yourself in the process? Welcome to Leading Well with Steph Edusei, a podcast about leadership, self-worth and living well alongside responsibility. Follow or subscribe to join the conversation and be notified when new episodes are released. In this short trailer, Steph introduces Leading Well and shares what listeners can expect from the podcast. This is a space for honest, human conversations about the realities of leadership. Not the polished version where we pretend to have all the answers, but the version that makes room for confidence and self-doubt, imposter phenomenon, boundaries, values, compassion, power and responsibility. Some episodes will be solo reflections from Steph. Others will be conversations with guests from different backgrounds and sectors. Each episode will explore what it means to lead with clarity, care and integrity in ways that are sustainable and true to who we are. Leading Well is an invitation to pause, reflect and think a little differently about the kind of leaders we are becoming. Leading Well – leadership support: https://www.stephedusei.co.uk/leading-well Hi. I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

    Introducing Leading Well with Steph Edusei
  • 1 Trailer
    11 Episodes

Trailer

About

Leading Well is a reflective podcast about leadership, self-worth, and what it really means to live well alongside responsibility. Host Steph Edusei shares thoughtful solo reflections and conversations with guests, exploring confidence and self-doubt, power and responsibility, boundaries, belonging, and the quiet work of leadership. This podcast is for people who want to lead with clarity, care, and integrity — in ways that are sustainable, human, and true to their values.

Information