The Unburdened Leader

Rebecca Ching, LMFT
  • 5.0 (66)
  • SELF-IMPROVEMENT
  • UPDATED SEMIMONTHLY
The Unburdened Leader Podcast

Meet leaders who recognized their own pain, worked through it, and stepped up into greater leadership. Each week, we dive into how leaders like you deal with struggle and growth so that you can lead without burnout or loneliness. If you're eager to make an impact in your community or business, Rebecca Ching, LMFT, will give you practical strategies for redefining challenges and vulnerability while becoming a better leader. Find the courage, confidence, clarity, and compassion to step up for yourself and your others--even when things feel really, really hard.

  1. 3 DAYS AGO

    EP 113: Curiosity as a Bridge: Uncovering Fears and Building Connections with Scott Shigeoka

    How does curiosity show up in your life, work, and relationships? Does your curiosity influence your strategy or planning? Or do you follow your curiosity to gain more knowledge or deepen your understanding of topics or viewpoints? Do you lean on curiosity to help you get to know someone better in ways that satisfy your interests or deepen your connection? Do you keep following your curiosity even if it leads to uncomfortable or unknown places? Our curiosity can reveal much about us, our interests, and our capacity for hope, discomfort, and imagination. But just as important is HOW we use our curiosity. When we wield our curiosity to prove a point, we can cause division and harm. And when we use curiosity to honor others and our vulnerability, we can build the bridges necessary to cultivate the spaces we dream about and desire. Today’s guest has combined his own lived experiences and research on curiosity and bridge-building into a powerful, nuanced book and set of practices on curiosity and how we use it in our relationships. Scott Shigeoka believes curiosity has the power to transform your life and change the world. It's the key to connection, healing, and personal growth. It's a critical practice for your relationships, leadership, and life satisfaction. In his book, Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World, Scott teaches readers to strengthen their curiosity muscles with his signature DIVE method. Scott has appeared on The Today Show, Harvard Business Review, NPR, The Guardian, and CNBC, and he has spoken at Google, Microsoft, Pixar, IDEO, Meta, Airbnb, and universities and schools around the world and teaches at The University of Texas at Austin. Listen to the full episode to hear: How Scott’s cross-country road trip showed in real-time that approaching fears with curiosity builds connection, understanding, and possibilityThe limits and boundaries to approaching others with curiosity in the momentWhy we need to bring curiosity and humility when we catch our own biasesHow social and structural power dynamics influence how we balance curiosity, discomfort, and anger in a groupThree key questions to ask yourself to identify if your curiosity about another person or situation is invasive or predatoryHow letting go of certainty opens up possibilities and allows for growth Learn more about Scott Shigeoka: WebsiteSeek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the WorldInstagram: @scottshigeoka Learn more about Rebecca: rebeccaching.comWork With RebeccaSign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email Resources: Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, Brené BrownThe Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, Tom HanksBillie Eilish - LUNCHInside Out 2Beyoncé - RENAISSANCE

    1h 24m

  2. AUG 30

    EP 112: How Dreamwork Can Shape Better Leaders with Dee Kelley

    What is your relationship with your dreams? Not your goals or visions for the future, but the actual dreams that appear when you sleep? Deepening our understanding of our dreams is not just a trailhead, but a transformative journey to better understanding ourselves, what drives us, what limits us, and what impacts our choices and behaviors. Today’s guest, Selden “Dee” Kelley, urges us to take the time to reflect on dreams so that we can better understand how our inner systems are processing our present and our past. He reminds us of the profound power of witnessing our subconscious burdens, a process that validates our experiences and our desire to be seen and heard. Dee is a lifelong learner. He holds five degrees in religion, psychology, an MBA, and a PhD in Industrial Psychology and Organizational Development. He served 18 years as the Pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in San Diego and held various leadership and administration positions before becoming a pastor.  He has a deep passion for helping others discover the rich guidance that dream work can provide for their journey toward health and wholeness, and helps people connect with the power of their dreams as a pathway toward new insight, better decision-making, and improved creative thinking. Content Note: Dee draws heavily from Jungian male-female archetypes. I want to note that the discussion of gender expands across the spectrum and is not limited to the male-female binary. Listen to the full episode to hear: How Dee’s approach blends hypotheses of the biological functions of dreaming and uses them in service of greater self-awarenessHow every person’s dreams have an individual dialect Advice for beginning to remember and take note of your dreamsWhy specific interpretation can matter less than the reflections the interpretation leads toHow paying attention to our dreams can help us embrace imaginative, nuanced thinkingDifferentiating between dream crushers and useful contrarian voices, in dreams and awake Learn more about Dee Kelley: WebsiteInstagram: @drdeedreamscoach Learn more about Rebecca: rebeccaching.comWork With RebeccaSign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email. Resources: What Dreams May ComeInception

    1h 16m

  3. AUG 16

    EP 111: Imagining New Possibilities of Inclusion with Meg Raby Klinghoffer

    When you are excited about something, how do you show up? Do you wear excitement and passion on your sleeve for all to see?  Maybe your personality is more low-key and strategic, and it is less obvious when you're really excited about an idea, a vision, or being a part of something. Or maybe you adapt and edit yourself, muting your responses to play it cool for fear you won’t be taken seriously.  Yes, it’s essential to consider your role, environment, and audience when you feel energized about something. But if we’re constantly focused on who we should be, how we should act, and what the right thing to say is, it’s hard to have hope and a vision for the future.  Meg Raby Klinghoffer does not feel weighed down by messages about playing it cool and downplaying her excitement and joy anymore. She is emphatically all in with helping others envision how the spaces where we live, work, and play can be inclusive for those with invisible disabilities. She is becoming a contagion to create spaces where we can all be welcome and feel comfortable being ourselves, from concerts to museums to schools and beyond. Meg is the author of the My Brother Otto series, a Speech-Language Pathologist, a writer for Scary Mommy, and a full-time employee of KultureCity, the nation’s leading nonprofit in sensory inclusion. She is also autistic.  At any given moment, Meg is thinking about how to better love the humans around her and how to create positive change without causing division. Listen to the full episode to hear: How receiving an autism diagnosis and owning that identity has allowed Meg to advocate for herself more freelyHow to respectfully approach learning more about and supporting the autistic adults in your lifeHow having an autistic community helped Meg let go of old rules and embrace her identityHow KultureCity addresses the need for macro-level change to make spaces more supportive and inclusiveMeg’s vision for moving beyond awareness or acceptance to true inclusionLearn more about Meg Raby Klinghoffer: KultureCityScary MommyInstagram: @author.meg.rabyLearn more about Rebecca: rebeccaching.comWork With RebeccaSign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader EmailResources: Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir, Ashley C FordKamala Harris and the Threat of a Woman's Laugh - Sophie Gilbert, The AtlanticWe're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation, Eric GarciaYung PuebloPost Malone - Hollywood's BleedingLauren Daigle - Rescue3 Body ProblemThe Jacksons: An American Dream

    1h 21m

  4. AUG 2

    EP 110: Intro to Fall 2024 Series: The Generative Power of the Imagination

    What sparks your imagination? What shuts down your capacity to imagine? Where does your mind go when the stakes are high, and the pressure feels too great? Do you find yourself mentally preparing for the worst possible outcomes, as if you were rehearsing a play? Do you shut down or numb out to manage your fears and anxieties? Our brains naturally seek comfort in the known or fill in the unknown with potential disasters. However, it takes conscious effort and practice to build the capacity to imagine positive outcomes when things feel bleak. But we can counter overwhelm and despair by connecting with imaginative individuals who embody hope, curiosity, and possibility grounded in vision and action. These visionary leaders remind us that something different is possible and that we can choose to take deliberate action to change the prevailing tides. In this new series of Unburdened Leader conversations, I’ll be in dialogue with leaders who urge us to envision a future that's not just a distant dream, but a reality we can actively shape today. Over the next few months, you will hear conversations that invite you to take meaningful action here and now that does not deplete but heals and energizes. These visionary conversations will help you connect with your desire to see a way through the noise and do something different. Listen to the full episode to hear: Why this moment feels so vital to share conversations with leaders imagining–and building–a more moral and just worldA taste of upcoming topics of conversation, from invisible disabilities to reframing resilience as a collective undertakingEssential steps for building and protecting your capacity to hope and imagine in trying times Learn more about Rebecca: rebeccaching.comWork With RebeccaSign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email. Resources: EP 02: How Self-Leadership Saves You From The Relentless Drive To Succeed with Dr. Richard SchwartzEP 88: Right-Use-of-Power: Navigating Leadership Dynamics with Dr. Cedar Barstow

    23 min

  5. JUL 19

    EP 109: Navigating Regrets and Embracing Inner Clarity with Molly Mahar

    What does it mean to you to live a life with no regrets? Is that even possible? What if it’s less about avoiding regrets entirely and more about being clear on your values, dreams, and desires and combining that with intentional practices to build a life focused on things that matter to you and the world around you? Of course, this takes work because we’re constantly pulled in many different directions and responding to many inputs, just trying to keep our heads above water.  To lead well, we must get clarity in our values and develop trusting relationships with our inner worlds and physical bodies. Instead of chasing a life with zero regrets, we need to learn to respond well to our regrets in the moment. If we want to look back and feel good about how we responded, we can’t numb out or bypass; we must make amends and correct our course. Today’s conversation is with a long-time friend and colleague who reminds us that living an aligned life is a meandering path, a life that is always stretched and tested. It's not always easy, but when we stay connected to our values, desires, and integrity, there can be ease and clarity even in the hard times. Molly Mahar is the founder of Stratejoy, a community helping women reclaim intimate, honest, and joyful relationships with themselves for the good of all. She's an entrepreneur, mama, writer, and adventurer obsessed with designing personal experiments that scare you, telling the truth, and her new teardrop trailer. In this episode, Molly shares her journey of living an aligned life, her struggles, and the lessons she learned along the way.  Listen to the full episode to hear: How Molly prepared, financially and emotionally, to embark on a year of travel and a major move with her familyHow relocating on their return may have actually made it easier for Molly to integrate her experiencesWhat putting their lives on hold and being together 24/7 revealed about Molly’s relationship with her husband, their parenting choices, and how they handle conflictThe support and practices that helped Molly get back in alignment Unpacking her complicated relationship with alcohol and why she knew she needed to get sober for goodThe core questions that Molly used to guide her self-reflection throughout the trip Learn more about Molly Mahar: StratejoyInstagram: @stratejoy, @mollymahar Learn more about Rebecca: rebeccaching.comWork With RebeccaSign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email Resources: EP 107: The Seasons of Entrepreneurship: Leading a Deliberate Life with Laura RoederBetween Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted, Suleika JaouadBirnam Wood, Eleanor CattonYou, Again, Kate GoldbeckPaper Planes - Radio UpMAGIC! – Good Feeling About YouNyadThe Idea of YouSaved by the Bell

    1h 12m

  6. JUL 5

    EP 108: Speaking Truth to Power: Taking a Stand Guided by Faith and Love with Dee Kelley

    What do you want to be known for? And what actions do you take to be seen in that light?  What lengths do you go to to avoid being misunderstood and viewed differently than what you want to be known for?  What drives what you want to be known for, and what are your choices to uphold your desired image or reputation? Most of us have multiple internal agendas that shape our decisions and how we show up and are seen by others and ourselves. Our values, fears, and burdens, internally and externally, drive us.  When we place our worth and safety solely in the hands of others, we go to great lengths to hold on to how we want to be perceived. Lengths that too often leave a wake of chaos, abuse of power, manipulation, and betrayal–all to maintain the illusion of control. We need more leaders who give us hope and reverence for humanity and others. These leaders do the work to build their capacity for discomfort so that they can lead with conviction, humility, and a deep sense of connectedness bigger than their personal ambitions or fears. Joining us today is a guest who embodies the principles we discuss on this podcast. Dee Kelley is a leader who leads with love and compassion, demonstrating the power of these qualities in leadership. Our conversation with Dee is a reminder that compassion and empathy are not signs of weakness, but rather, tools for personal growth and resilience. Selden “Dee” Kelley is a lifelong learner and a beacon of knowledge. With five degrees, his academic prowess is unmatched. He served 18 years as the Pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in San Diego, demonstrating his deep understanding of faith and its intersection with personal development.  A driving force in his life is to help others discover the rich guidance that dream work can provide for their journey toward health and wholeness. He now helps people connect with the power of their dreams as a pathway toward new insight, better decision-making and improved creative thinking. Listen to the full episode to hear: Why Dee wanted to open a conversation about the relationship between the LGTBQIA+ community and the church, and why he has no regrets despite the consequencesHow Dee came to realize that the things he feared in others were invitations for learning and growthWhy we need to commit to having hard conversations even when we don’t know the outcomeHow a strong sense of values and identity apart from his position in the church softened the loss of his role and credentialsHow Dee’s case sits in the larger context of faith communities grappling with and declaring how they will relate to LGBTQIA+ communities Learn more about Dee Kelley: WebsiteInstagram: @drdeedreamscoach Learn more about Rebecca: rebeccaching.comWork With RebeccaSign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email. Resources: The Daring Way™EP 02: How Self-Leadership Saves You From The Relentless Drive To Succeed with Dr. Richard SchwartzA Hope For ChangeWhy We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, Matthew WalkerAstridWomen Talking

    1h 16m

  7. JUN 21

    EP 107: The Seasons of Entrepreneurship: Leading a Deliberate Life with Laura Roeder

    What are you deliberate about in your life? What does living deliberately mean to you? Would you say that you’re a deliberate person? Would those who know you say that you are deliberate in how you live your life and lead? Living deliberately can be a real challenge, especially when we’re constantly dealing with unexpected issues and navigating through the many crises in our world. The pace of life is so fast, it often feels impossible to slow down and reflect before taking action. But there’s something deeply important about being deliberate if we want to cultivate life, work, and relationships that align with our values. It is messy, awkward, and challenging, but it is so worth it. Today’s guest has built a career that serves her personal needs, values, interests, and skills through deliberate action, even when it flies in the face of conventional wisdom about entrepreneurship.  Our guest today, Laura Roeder, is a true inspiration. She's a lifelong entrepreneur and the founder of several bootstrapped companies that have each reached multi-million dollar status. Her ventures include Paperbell, CoachCompare, MeetEdgar, Marie Forleo’s B-School, and LKR Social Media. She's been recognized as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under 30 and has shared her insights on entrepreneurship at prestigious venues like the White House, the Virgin Unites Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, the University of Southern California, and Loyola Marymount University. Listen to the full episode to hear: How Laura’s desire for time freedom has impacted her decision-making as a business ownerHow launching a business immediately before having her first child fundamentally changed the way Laura has run every venture sinceWhy leaders need to let go of the belief that they can’t teach someone else to do what they do How owning up to your mistakes and the steps you’ve taken to fix them builds trustHow Laura has navigated her desire to work and to lead after selling a company for a life-changing amount of money Learn more about Laura Roeder: BlogPaperbellInstagram: @bypaperbell Learn more about Rebecca: rebeccaching.comWork With RebeccaSign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email. Resources: The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth about Extraordinary Results, Gary KellerNo, Wealth is Not a Measure of Value CreationExit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career, Kristi CoulterFlorence and the MachineLove is BlindSaved by the BellWaking Up

    1h 8m

  8. JUN 7

    EP 106: Trauma, Leadership, and Healing: A Colleague Conversation with Sarah Buino

    Do you have thoughts about how the word “trauma” and other therapy-speak terms have bled into our day-to-day conversations in person, at work, and on social media? Do you feel pressure to perform being “okay,” even when you’re anything but? Have you ever pursued a project or career milestone only to realize, once you achieved it, that it no longer fits your life, values, or interests? Today’s guest is a long-time, respected colleague who joins me for a profound and thought-provoking conversation about all of the above and then some. It’s a privilege to have people with whom we can engage in deep conversations without hesitation or self-editing; this chat is no exception. Our guest, Sarah Buino, is a renowned speaker, educator, and therapist. She is the founder of Head/Heart Therapy, Inc. and Head/Heart Business Therapy, and a member of the adjunct faculty at Loyola University Chicago. Sarah is also a podcast host, known for her series, ‘Conversations With a Wounded Healer' and 'The Burnt Out Practice Owner.’ Her work focuses on the role of personal healing in caregiving and the challenges of group therapy practice ownership. Listen to the full episode to hear: How the concept of ordinary trauma helped Sarah recognize what was and wasn’t her responsibility as she healedThe essential difference between discomfort and trauma and how it relates to our relationship with agencyWhy being “okay” is just a data point, not a destinationHow mindful awareness sets the stage for healing, regardless of modalityWhy Sarah maintains that therapy is political and that we have to lead through values and relationshipsHow Sarah and her colleagues brought their values into their group practiceHow Sarah came to realize that she was done owning her practice and ready to move on Learn more about Sarah Buino: Head/Heart Business TherapyInstagram: @HeadHeartBizTherapyConversations with a Wounded Healer PodcastThe Sarahs Learn more about Rebecca: rebeccaching.comWork With RebeccaSign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email Resources: How trauma became the word of the decade — and the Covid-19 pandemic - VoxWhat is NARM?Farewell, Strategic Accommodation, An Elegy to White Supremacy by Sarah SuzukiDecolonizing Therapy for Black Folk 2024Politicizing Your PracticeLiving In The Tension: The Quest for a Spiritualized Racial Justice, Shelley TochlukOlivia Rodrigo - vampireThe Secret of Skinwalker RanchSaved by the Bell

    1h 4m
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About

Meet leaders who recognized their own pain, worked through it, and stepped up into greater leadership. Each week, we dive into how leaders like you deal with struggle and growth so that you can lead without burnout or loneliness. If you're eager to make an impact in your community or business, Rebecca Ching, LMFT, will give you practical strategies for redefining challenges and vulnerability while becoming a better leader. Find the courage, confidence, clarity, and compassion to step up for yourself and your others--even when things feel really, really hard.

Information

  • Creator
    Rebecca Ching, LMFT
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2024
  • Episodes
    114
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2023 The Unburdened Leader
  • Show Website
    The Unburdened Leader

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