Let's HEAL!

Beth Jones

Welcome to Let’s HEAL! with Beth Jones. I’m Beth, your leadership performance strategist and the HEALing Mentor. We’re still talking about healing our survival patterns, but this show is taking the conversation somewhere we don’t talk about it nearly enough.   The business world. Because we desperately need conversations about leadership performance and healing the survival patterns that keep us from achieving real success.   Our survival patterns don’t stay in our past. They follow us to work. They shape our leadership behavior and how we treat the people we are responsible for. And most of us have absolutely no idea it’s happening. It shows up as burnout despite success. As trauma responses in leadership that nobody has named yet. Decision-making under pressure that quietly erodes trust in leadership. Emptiness high achievers feel when everything looks right on the outside, but something still isn’t working inside. The higher the performance, the easier it is to look away from your wounds.   That is the conversation this show is stepping into now — and we are ready for it. The first fifty episodes of this show, raw, honest conversations with survivors, gifted healers, and people who have walked through the fire, built the foundation. Now we are taking everything we learned about healing into the room where it is needed most and asking the hard questions.   What happens when survival patterns run the show at work? How does healing our survival patterns make us more effective, more present, and more powerful as leaders? What does it look like to be forced into healing while you are still in the middle of your career? These are the conversations we’re having now. These are the conversations leaders need — and that organizations are not having.   I know one thing for sure: you, too, can heal. And when you do, you lead differently. Your team performs differently. Your decisions come from a different place. You love differently. You show up differently. This is how we build leadership effectiveness that lasts — and a life and legacy to match.   Come on, everybody. Let’s HEAL!

  1. Sep 8

    The Twenty Years She Spent Proving She Was Fine | Renee Jackson-Smith

    On today’s episode, I sit down with Renee Jackson-Smith, a leadership strategist who spent thirty years being the person everyone could hand anything to. She rose to Senior Talent and Performance Manager, walked away from her career twice, and built a practice around a question most leaders never stop to ask: is this confidence, or is this performance? We talk about the twenty years she spent carrying her mother’s death unprocessed, the single question from her pastor that cracked it open, the survival pattern Validation Through Achievement, and what it looks like now when she leads from grounded presence instead of proof.  Chapters: 00:00 Cold Open 00:33 Intro 01:07 Meet Renee Jackson-Smith 05:18 Losing Her Mom at Twenty-One 09:10 The Pastor Who Saw Through Her 19:09 Performing for Mastery vs. Performing for Approval 25:18 The Credential-Collecting Pattern 28:31 The Vacation That Changed Everything 39:11 The Work She Does Today 44:44 Stop Performing, Start Leading Connect with Renee Jackson-Smith: linkedin.com/in/reneejacksonsmith | soar2win.com Beth helps leaders, high-performers, and organisations understand that the survival patterns running leadership styles can be recognised, examined, and changed. Through my leadership performance transformation methodology, Leader Rewired™, I help leaders recognize that the survival patterns running their leadership style can be named, examined, and changed. You, too, can heal. And when you do you lead, live, and love better. Connect with Beth: beth@empoweredsurvivors.com | http://empoweredsurvivors.com | Substack: @‌bethjoneshealingmentor

    The Twenty Years She Spent Proving She Was Fine | Renee Jackson-Smith
  2. Aug 25

    Burnout Nearly Cost Him Everything | Mike Orlowski

    Mike Orlowski spent years leading in a high-stress logistics and talent acquisition career while quietly heading toward a breaking point he told almost no one about. He's now the host of the Mojo, Motivation & Mental Health podcast and founder of MOJO Worldwide — but before any of that, he was standing six feet from ending his life, a little over a year after losing his mother, worn down by burnout he'd never named out loud. In this conversation, Mike and Beth trace the survival patterns underneath that moment (imposter syndrome, a punishing inner critic, and a codependent habit of letting other people's words decide his mood) and what changed once he stopped outsourcing his happiness. They talk about walking, gratitude, why hosting a podcast about other people's pain became part of his own healing, and what he'd say to someone sitting at their own six-foot mark today. Chapters: 00:01 — Introduction & Guest Welcome 00:49 — Life in Logistics, Talent Acquisition, and the Mission Behind Mojo 02:39 — Holding Space for Other People's Pain 04:41 — Setting the Stage: Bullying, Anxiety, and Years of Locking It Away 06:07 — The Breaking Point 08:58 — Imposter Syndrome and the Inner Critic 17:18 — The Turn 20:04 — Walking, Gratitude, and Rebuilding One Percent at a Time 29:15 — Codependency and Choosing His Own Happiness 33:43 — Leading and Loving Differently Now, and What He'd Say at the Six-Foot Mark Connect with Mike Orlowski: Michael Orlowski | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeorlowski/ MOJO Worldwide | Personal Transformation, Motivation & Mental Wellness: https://www.mojomotivates.com/ Connect with Beth: mailto:mbeth@empoweredsurvivors.com | empoweredsurvivors.com

    Burnout Nearly Cost Him Everything | Mike Orlowski
  3. Aug 11

    The Leadership Performance That Was Hiding an Addiction | Jeff Johnston

    What does it cost a team when their most composed leader is the one carrying the most? Jeff Johnston built a wealth management practice that eventually managed hundreds of millions of dollars in client assets and looked, from the outside, like the complete version of success. For over thirty years, he was also a daily drinker, present enough at work to never raise a flag and absent enough at home that he now names it directly: he was not present in his son's life. This conversation goes past the loss Jeff has spoken about publicly and into the leadership behavior underneath it: the overfunctioning that let a real crisis run for decades in plain sight, the moment that performance broke, and what Jeff leads differently now. You, too, can heal. Chapters: 00:00 Cold Open 00:45 Welcome and Introduction 02:00 Two Lives, Split at Fifty 09:45 Building an $800 Million Practice 12:10 The Call About Seth 16:50 “I Was a Narcissist, I Was Arrogant, I Wasn’t Present” 18:45 Thirty-Six Years of High-Functioning Alcoholism 22:50 Losing Prudence and Three Days in the Closet 39:56 Purpose Becomes Passion When It Gets Personal 53:25 Shattering the Self-Built Prison 1:02:35 Building Brightn and Leading Differently Connect with Jeff Johnston: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-a-johnston/ | brightn.app | http://livingundeterred.org Connect with Beth: beth@empoweredsurvivors.com | http://empoweredsurvivors.com | Substack: @‌bethjoneshealingmentor

    The Leadership Performance That Was Hiding an Addiction | Jeff Johnston
  4. Jul 28

    When the Duck Stops Gliding | Jessica Hammock

    Jessica Hammock is the Director of Behavioral and Mental Health for one of the largest charter school networks in Texas, responsible for crisis response and mental health training across 100 campuses and 25,000 students. When a death on campus happens, she is the person every principal calls. From the outside: completely calm. From the inside, her words: "my little heart is fluttering away like little legs underneath the pond."  In this conversation, Jessica and Beth go somewhere most leadership conversations don't reach. Jessica describes what it looks like to lead at scale while managing her own nervous system beneath the surface — the go mode, the over-functioning, and the moment she recognized that owning the weight of everybody else's outcomes was never hers to carry. What survival mode leadership looks like when you're the designated calm one. Why "leave your problems at the door" is physiologically impossible. The performance-based identity that showed up long before the leadership title did. And what it looks like to lead from giftedness instead of a false sense of responsibility.  Chapters: 00:00 — Cold open: the duck on the pond 00:19 — Leadership series intro 02:08 — Who Jessica is today 09:39 — What happens when the crisis call comes in 13:38 — “You’re not getting in the car” — when the boss says no 18:53 — “Leave your problems at the door is a lie” 21:05 — Owning what was never mine to own 26:14 — Resourcing vs. armor — where Jessica is today 32:33 — What healing taught her about leadership 38:23 — Sitting across from younger Jessica 40:59 — Closing / call to action Connect with Jessica Hammock: vibrantvoice.life | https://www.linkedin.com/in/vibrantvoice/ Connect with Beth: beth@empoweredsurvivors.com | http://empoweredsurvivors.com | Substack: @‌bethjoneshealingmentor

    When the Duck Stops Gliding | Jessica Hammock
  5. Jul 14

    I Couldn't Afford to Tell the Truth | Kathy Love

    What happens when the fear of losing a paycheck teaches you to swallow the truth — and what does that same fear look like once you're the one running the room? My guest is Kathy Love: two-time TEDx speaker, self-care coach, author, and podcast host, whose ex-husband was convicted of white-collar crime and sentenced to federal prison. We go back to where the co-dependency pattern started, long before the FBI ever showed up at her house, and bring it forward into how she leads and works today. Through The HEAL Framework™ — Hope, Evolve, And Love — Beth helps leaders recognize the survival patterns shaping how they lead. You, too, can heal. Chapters 00:00 Cold Open & Intro 07:44 Meet Kathy Love: From Federal Investigation to Self-Care Coach 16:53 Naming the Pattern: “An Extreme People Pleaser” 17:41 Falling in Love at 23 and Missing the Red Flags 34:55 The Slow Unraveling: “You Just Don't Understand” 38:39 The Card from the FBI 45:23 Coming Home to an Unfamiliar Calm 49:15 The Root Cause: A Fear of Being Alone 1:00:16 Changing Her Name, Rebuilding Herself 1:05:38 What Changed at Work After the Healing 1:07:40 Debate, Not Argument: Truth as a Leadership Tool 1:10:04 Close Connect with Kathy Love: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathylove111/ https://www.myselfcareshit.com/ Through The HEAL Framework™ — to Hope, Evolve, And Love, each as an action — Beth helps leaders, high-performers, and organizations understand that the survival patterns running leadership styles can be recognized, examined, and changed. Connect with Beth: beth@empoweredsurvivors.com | http://empoweredsurvivors.com | Substack: @‌bethjoneshealingmentor

    I Couldn't Afford to Tell the Truth | Kathy Love
  6. Jun 30

    When Empathy Is a Survival Skill | Kristan Gainey Keene

    What happens when the skill that makes you an exceptional leader is the same skill that’s quietly exhausting you? Kristan Gainey Keene spent thirty years in enterprise technology building programs that helped people feel seen, heard, and included. What she didn’t know was that every one of those skills was forged in an unsafe childhood. In this conversation, Kristan and Beth go to the place most leadership interviews never reach: the personal history underneath the professional expertise. Chapters: 00:00 Cold open 00:28 Intro 00:59 Meet Kristan Gainey Keene 01:51 Who Kristan is today 03:12 Why storytelling is an identity 04:24 The AAA Forum: storytelling as belonging 09:00 “Bring a Man” — including men in the conversation 11:58 Creating safe spaces during hard times 13:26 Work as the safe place 14:20 Where the warmth comes from 15:40 “I thought they were my feelings” 20:38 The healing journey begins 25:04 Leadership before healing 26:31 Beyond belonging — acceptance 28:23 Curiosity over resistance 35:03 The story that changed a C-suite leader 37:29 What would you say to her? 41:00 Connection as the opposite of addiction Connect with Kristan Gainey Keene: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristangaineykeene/ Through The HEAL Framework™ — to Hope, Evolve, And Love, each as an action — Beth helps leaders, high-performers, and organisations understand that the survival patterns running their leadership styles can be recognised, examined, and changed. You, too, can heal. Connect with Beth: Website: https://empoweredsurvivors.com Substack | LinkedIn: @‌BethJonesHEALingMentor Email: beth@empoweredsurvivors.com Book: Becoming an Empowered Survivor (Amazon) #LeadershipPerformance #SurvivalModeLeadership #TraumaInformedLeadership #LeadershipDevelopment #EmotionalIntelligence

    When Empathy Is a Survival Skill | Kristan Gainey Keene
  7. Jun 16

    What Happens When a Leader Puts the Human First | Laura Roach

    Laura Roach is a partner at McCathern and one of the most recognized family law mediators in Texas. In this conversation, Laura shares what her breakdown taught her about leadership, why she tells her young attorneys to go home to their families, and the business case for doing your own work: better talent, stronger teams, and more revenue. Beth explores how Laura’s story connects to tone at the top—the leadership behavior that determines whether people feel safe to be human at work. Chapters: 0:00 Cold Open 0:13 Intro 0:50 Who is Laura Roach? 4:05 The protector and the blunt truth-teller 8:20 Laura’s breakdown and the road to recovery 12:45 What vulnerability changed about her leadership 14:00 Why her team isn’t afraid to bring her problems 22:45 Fighting ego to get help 26:00 The people you lose and the people you find 29:40 “Go home to your babies” — human-first leadership in practice 32:40 Work-life balance vs. life-work integration 36:15 The ROI of recovery: revenue, talent, and the cycle that repeats 38:30 Close Connect with Laura Roach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-roach-09563467/ | lroach@mccarthernlaw.com Through The HEAL Framework™ — to Hope, Evolve, And Love, each as an action — Beth helps leaders, high-performers, and organizations understand that the survival patterns running leadership styles can be recognized, examined, and changed. Connect with Beth: beth@empoweredsurvivors.com | http://empoweredsurvivors.com | Substack: @‌bethjoneshealingmentor

    What Happens When a Leader Puts the Human First | Laura Roach
  8. Jun 2

    I Discovered I Am a Black Man at 19 | Rick Hightower

    Rick Hightower grew up in an all-Black neighborhood in Atlanta, arrived at TCU (a university in Ft Worth, TX) at 19, and discovered for the first time what it meant to be a Black man in a predominantly white world. That discovery shaped his entire career. In this conversation, Beth and Rick explore the survival patterns that navigating race creates, Rick introduces the concept of aversive racism, and Beth shares her own unconscious bias story and asks whether it crossed into how she led. Today’s lesson: conscious living. Chapters: 00:00 Cold open 00:10 Intro 00:45 Meet Rick Hightower 03:25 Two heart attacks and a wake-up call 05:20 The courage to speak up before retirement 12:00 Right under your nose but you don’t see 13:15 “I haven’t had any major trauma” 14:48 I discovered I was Black at 19 16:32 The calculus class that changed everything 20:00 Working harder and watching others get more 22:05 The false arrest at TCU 24:00 Black professionals and the exceptional standard 27:45 Conscious living and picking your battles 29:50 Prepare to be wrong 32:05 What navigating race costs your relationships 35:03 Seeking joy and setting boundaries 35:35 Beth’s unconscious bias story 39:56 Aversive racism explained 43:13 The mask, the pandemic, and conscious living 47:10 Close Connect with Rick Hightower: LinkedIn:   / rick-hightower-3405bb179  Instagram: instagram.com/hightower_rick Facebook: facebook.com/rick.hightower.7 Website: therickhightower.com Connect with Beth: beth@empoweredsurvivors.com empoweredsurvivors.com Substack

    I Discovered I Am a Black Man at 19 | Rick Hightower

About

Welcome to Let’s HEAL! with Beth Jones. I’m Beth, your leadership performance strategist and the HEALing Mentor. We’re still talking about healing our survival patterns, but this show is taking the conversation somewhere we don’t talk about it nearly enough.   The business world. Because we desperately need conversations about leadership performance and healing the survival patterns that keep us from achieving real success.   Our survival patterns don’t stay in our past. They follow us to work. They shape our leadership behavior and how we treat the people we are responsible for. And most of us have absolutely no idea it’s happening. It shows up as burnout despite success. As trauma responses in leadership that nobody has named yet. Decision-making under pressure that quietly erodes trust in leadership. Emptiness high achievers feel when everything looks right on the outside, but something still isn’t working inside. The higher the performance, the easier it is to look away from your wounds.   That is the conversation this show is stepping into now — and we are ready for it. The first fifty episodes of this show, raw, honest conversations with survivors, gifted healers, and people who have walked through the fire, built the foundation. Now we are taking everything we learned about healing into the room where it is needed most and asking the hard questions.   What happens when survival patterns run the show at work? How does healing our survival patterns make us more effective, more present, and more powerful as leaders? What does it look like to be forced into healing while you are still in the middle of your career? These are the conversations we’re having now. These are the conversations leaders need — and that organizations are not having.   I know one thing for sure: you, too, can heal. And when you do, you lead differently. Your team performs differently. Your decisions come from a different place. You love differently. You show up differently. This is how we build leadership effectiveness that lasts — and a life and legacy to match.   Come on, everybody. Let’s HEAL!