The Empowered Leader Podcast

Corruption and the abuse of power in Washington, and what can be done about it.

Margaret Williams, MS, ACC, talks with Cryn Johannsen, Social Media Director and Content Writer for SwampWatch, a nonpartisan news and research aggregator from Not On Our Watch (NOOW). Founder Mark Cohen joined from the chat. We talk about:

Why SwampWatch exists, and its How to Fix It section

What accountability looks like after the midterms

Who gets hurt when power goes unchecked

Federal ethics rules, and how to keep these abuses from happening again<...

Opening

* Frame for today: the women who get called too much (too loud, too ambitious, too difficult) and why those might be the very qualities that set us free.

* For the men watching: “If you’re a man, think of your wife, your mother, your daughter, your sister as we talk today.”

* Ellen shared her leadership journey and what brought her to Substack.

Ellen Scherr: Bio

Ellen Scherr is a therapist who has worked with women in midlife for more than twenty years and has been featured in Oprah Daily...

Thank you Jana, Florence Acosta, Tig Manzueta, Stuart Cohen, Jolie, and many others for tuning into my live video with Zuri Stevens and A. Eevie Bateman! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Join Me: Want to be a guest on one of my Substack Live conversations? Book a Substack Live Pre-Interview on Zoom.

Less than a week after the midterms, Walter Rhein joined me live.

We came to talk about looking back and leading forward. We talked about the wins, the pressure to make space for people who never make space for us, why messaging matters, and how money decides who gets heard.

Here’s what stayed with me.

Opening

* Frame for today: the past taught every one of us rules about who leads and who waits. Today we look back so we can keep the lessons, leave the old rules behind, and lead fo...

Opening

* Frame for today: what we bury does not go away. It shapes how we lead. This season of loss is the time to bring it into the light.

* Welcome Beth back. She was here on October 7 for “A Shaman’s View.”

* For the men watching: “If you’re a man, think of your wife, your mother, your daughter, your sister as we talk today.”

Bio: Beth Shekinah

Beth Shekinah is a shaman and holistic transformation facilitator who writes Awakening Soul Path on Substack. She has worked as a healing prac...

Opening

* Frame for today: noticing what’s really happening around us, and knowing what to do once we see it. For many women, that awareness never switches off.

* For the men watching: “If you’re a man, think of your wife, your mother, your daughter, your sister as we talk today.”

Chris Resists: Bio

Chris Resists writes Unimpeachable on Substack and co-hosts the Transcending Decency podcast with Mel Watz. In his words: “Critical thinker. Advocate. Anti-Fascist. Husband. Dad of 4. Gamer. Geek. GenX.” (Resists, n.d., homepage description).

Key Research

* The s...

Opening

* Frame for today: what brings people together, from a shared table to a shared page, and why women so often are the ones who do the gathering.

* For the men watching: “If you’re a man, think of your wife, your mother, your daughter, your sister as we talk today.”

Bio: Cryn Johannsen: Bio

Cryn Johannsen writes Cryn’s Substack, where she reviews books “on history and philosophy, as well as current events” (Johannsen, n.d., homepage description), and Gather, her food and baking section. She is the founder and editor-in-ch...

Opening

* Frame for today: what women’s empowerment really means when you are the one most often left out of the room, and what changes when Black women are in charge.

* For the men watching: “If you’re a man, think of your wife, your mother, your daughter, your sister as we talk today.”

Bio: Zuri Stevens

Zuri Stevens, “a sociologist without borders” (Stevens, n.d.-a, “Why Subscribe?” section), writes We Need A Black Woman In Charge on Substack for readers who want “another point of view... from a Black woman who has live...

Craig Wahl: Bio

Craig Wahl is a Leadership Architect, CEO Advisor, and Speaker, and the founder and director of Njorth (since 2019), based in Ontario, Canada. He advises founders and executive teams “when growth begins to strain leadership, execution, and trust,” helping them align, decide clearly, and move forward together. [1]

He brings 25+ years of executive experience in SaaS and technology companies, including scaling a team from 8 to 300 people. He has worked as a fractional COO, a growth coach at Communitech, and a customer success coach with Catalyst. He has led through lawsuits, a bankruptcy, and rapid scal...

Will Fullwood: Bio

Will Fullwood writes The Contraband Wagon on Substack, “a prescient antiracism publication, sure to empower, intrigue, and inspire.” [1] He describes himself as a longtime educator, assessment and ed tech specialist, antiracist activist, lawyer, poker player, musician, empath, and polymath, with a BA, an MSEd, and a JD (Fordham Law School). [1][2]. Will’s a career educator who taught mathematics and English to students “ages 3-73.” Will was most recently an Assistant Professor at Wake Technical Community College in North Carolina. [2]

In August 2025, he founded Mission Meliora, a France-based, mission-driven enterprise “dedicated to building an antiracis...

The mask keeps you safe. It also keeps you small.

Let’s be honest. Most of us don’t lie big.

We lie small. All day long.

“I’m fine.” “No problem.” “Whatever works for you.” “It’s not a big deal.”

We laugh off the comment that stung. We nod at the plan we know won’t work. We say yes to the thing we have no room for. And we call it being professional. Being easy to work with. Keeping the peace.

It isn’t peace. It’s a mask.

People wear ma...

Not numb. Not cold. Settled.

You know the moment.

The email copied to your boss. The comment in the meeting, said with a smile. The relative who brings up the thing at dinner, again. Your chest tightens. Your face heats. And the next three hours belong to someone who isn’t even thinking about you.

Let’s be honest. Most of us were never taught to be unbothered. We were taught to look it.

Smile. Swallow it. Don’t make a scene. Then go home and replay it in the shower until...

Robin Motzer: Bio

Robin Motzer writes Wildlands on Substack, a publication exploring the art and science of health, nature, animals, and belonging to the soul of the world. Wildlands blends ecological restoration, nature-based learning, and creative practice to help people and places thrive through habitat and food-garden restoration, land-based workshops and field days, essays and storytelling, and micro-grants for community and school stewardship projects.

Robin is also behind Regeneration Nation, a grassroots campaign to restore and conserve flora and fauna. Her work centers on connection with nature, animals, and belonging, which she describes as helping...

Thank you The Secret Ingredient, Nabanita, Jolie, Ms.Yuse, Leilani Brandon Ellrich and many others for tuning into my live video with Ginny Lynns (Remembring2Laugh)! Join me for my next live video in the app.

You were told to leave your feelings at the door. They never left. They just stopped being read.

The Rule at the Door

Somewhere early in your career, someone gave you the rule. Maybe out loud. Maybe with a look.

Leave it at the door.

The frustration. The hurt. The fear that you were one wrong word away from losing what you’d fought to get. Check it like a coat and pick it up on the way out.

So you did. You got very good at it.

...

What it is, how it shows up, and protecting your mental health, peace, and safety

Let’s talk about something that doesn’t get discussed enough: obsession.

There is a difference between passion, determination, and obsession, and that difference matters.

Passion motivates you. It energizes progress, creativity, and purpose.

Determination keeps you committed when things get difficult.

But obsession is different. Obsession consumes you. It narrows your focus so much that everything else begins to disappear. Your thinking becomes fixated, emotions intensify, and perspective begins to fade.

In m...

Using Your Voice to Change the World

Your voice is not decoration. It is a transmission, and someone downrange is waiting on your signal.

You rehearsed the sentence four times before the meeting. You knew the number was wrong, you knew why, and you knew how to fix it. Then the discussion moved fast; someone senior talked over the pause you were waiting for, and the moment closed. In the parking lot, the sentence was still sitting in your chest like a stone.

Or maybe it was the email. You wrote it plain...

Insight

Guest Bio: OnyxRose

OnyxRose writes OnyxRose9 – Presence Not Permission on Substack from Atlanta and hosts the podcast OnyxRose9 – A Trans Voice.

Black, trans, nonbinary, and femme, OnyxRose has been out and transitioning for more than a decade and writes openly about visibility, queer love, and building a good life when the world pushes back.

OnyxRose is a regular voice on Another Dry Run, the weekly Substack Live with Samantha Paige, goes live with fellow creators, and will soon be working with Trans Lifeline, a cause OnyxRose has supported from the start. The line Onyx...

Guest Bio: Diane

Diane writes Diane’s Mindful Substack, where she publishes her Mindful Engagement series and essays on the trucking industry, and she hosts the Mindful Podcast.

She has been a professional truck driver since earning her CDL in 2015, and she brings a road-tested view of mindfulness, self-awareness, and staying grounded in a field built mostly by and for men. She is also writing her first book. Her message to every reader, in her words: “Remember you are worthy, and you matter.”

The bio draws on her Substack newsletters and her Mindful Engage...

Guest Bio: Cynthia Jamieson

Cynthia Jamieson is a transformative leadership and growth coach who has spent 37 years in Human Resources and has held more than 4,000 coaching conversations.

She hosts the podcast Who Are You to Lead, Anyway? and writes Cynthia’s Substack, where she explores what happens when capability turns into obligation, and how capable people begin choosing again. She holds the ACPC, PCC, and CBC coaching credentials. Cynthia knows this terrain firsthand: she burned out in her thirties doing everyone else’s job because she believed she had to.

1. Who Is Actually Maki...

What you refuse to look at doesn’t disappear. Trust and believe it just starts running things behind your back.

Now, let me say this up front: I know “shadow work” sounds like something that comes with candles and hashtags. It’s not. Take away the packaging, and it’s one of the most practical disciplines a leader can have. The shadow is just this: every part of yourself you had to hide to be acceptable. The anger that got you labeled “too much.” The ambition that got you called selfish. The need that made you look weak. The soft...

Think about the last time you lost track of time doing your work.

Not because you were behind. Because you were in it. The hours went somewhere, and you didn’t miss them.

Now think about the last time a Sunday night sat on your chest like a weight.

Both of those moments are giving you intelligence. One tells you where your energy lives. The other tells you where it’s being drained.

Most of us were trained to listen to neither.

What It Actually Is

Choosing the...

Let me ask you something.

How much of your pain have you been carrying as evidence against yourself?

Now ask yourself what would become possible if that same pain became the raw material of your leadership.

That is the conversation we are having today.

Pain is one of the most misunderstood forces in leadership. People tell you to push through it. To stay positive. To leave it at the door because feelings are not professional.

But the kind of pain that actually serves you is not suppressed.

...

Guest Bio: Beth Shekinah Terrence

Beth Shekinah Terrence is a shaman, holistic transformation facilitator, and recovery coach based in Annapolis, Maryland.

She has more than 30 years as a holistic and wellness practitioner and 18 years as a practicing shaman, trained through a long traditional apprenticeship with shaman Ross Bishop. Beth holds a Master of Science in Restorative Practices and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, psychology, and art history. She is a certified Feeding Your Demons® facilitator, a nationally certified peer recovery support specialist, and has just earned a certification in Karmic Constellations.

Her wor...

Guest Bio: Erica Voell

Erica Voell is a Human Design guide for women in midlife.

* Career: Children’s librarian for nearly 20 years; left in May 2025. She told you she spent her last five years there working out how to leave, and that COVID surfaced everything she had been denying.

* Credentials: Certified Human Design Coach (Ignite Coach School); Certified Human Design Guide, Levels I and II (Erin Claire Jones / Human Design Genius); Certified Life Coach and Illuminator (Dragontree); Reiki Seichim Level 2 (Living Light Energy); Certified Breath Coach (YOGABODY).

* Platforms: Unfolding: Connecting the Do...

The covert narcissist is loud.

They take the room.

They demand the spotlight.

They are easier to spot.

The covert narcissist does not announce themselves.

They arrive humble.

They arrive helpful.

They arrive as the “safe” one in the room.

They tell stories of being misunderstood.

They mention how others have hurt them.

They position themselves as the quiet, sensitive, deeply-feeling person

You are lucky to have on your side.

And by the time you real...

Truth is not volume.

Truth is not aggression.

Truth is not emotional discharge.

Truth is alignment between what I see, what I say, and how I lead.

Most leaders do not struggle with ignorance.

They struggle with avoidance.

They see the misalignment.

They sense the bias.

They recognize the dysfunction.

But they hesitate to name it.

Truth requires courage, but more than that, it requires responsibility.

Liberation: Truth With Yourself

The first truth is internal.<...

Haters are often misunderstood.

Not every critic is a hater.

And not every hater is as detached as they appear.

More often than not, what looks like negativity is attention.

Focused attention.

People rarely invest energy in what is irrelevant to them.

They watch.

They comment.

They react.

That is not indifference.

That is engagement, misdirected.

Liberation: Seeing It Clearly

The first shift is internal.

You stop personalizing every negative response.

...

At some point, you will be misunderstood.

You will make a decision that someone doesn’t like.

You will set a boundary that someone disagrees with.

You will choose a direction that doesn’t benefit everyone.

And in their version of the story,

You become the villain.

Not because you’re wrong.

But because you didn’t align with their expectation.

Liberation: Releasing the Need to Be Liked

Many people hold themselves back, trying to avoid this.

They soften their de...

Insight: Boss Up

Stop waiting. Start leading yourself.

Let’s get straight to it.

“Boss up” gets thrown around a lot.

People say it like it’s motivation.

But most of the time, it’s just words.

Because real “bossing up” has nothing to do with talking.

It has everything to do with how you show up.

What “Boss Up” Actually Means

It’s not about titles.

It’s not about status.

It’s not about acting tough.

Bossing up...

One tells you what’s true. The other tells you when to move.

You walk into the meeting, and something’s off.

Nobody says anything. The agenda hasn’t changed. But the room is quieter than it should be, and the person who always talks first is staring at her laptop.

A few days later, a different moment. An offer lands in your inbox. On paper, it’s everything you asked for. And something in you says, not this one.

You can’t explain it. So you say yes anyway.

Those ar...

Insight

Friendship is often assumed, but it should be understood because what many people call friendship is not friendship at all. The difference matters.

What friendship is.

Friendship is aligned. It is built on trust, consistency, and mutual respect. It shows up without conditions. A real friend tells you the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. Support your growth even when it changes the dynamic.

Respect your boundaries without resistance. Friendship is steady. It does not require performance. It does not shift based on convenience. It does not compete with your progress. It creates sp...

Spotting fake people gets confused with being suspicious.

Being cynical.

With being hard.

So, leaders override the chill in the chest

In the name of being open.

In the name of being generous.

In the name of being a team player.

And then they pay for it.

In time.

In energy.

In opportunities given to people

who never planned to give anything back.

This isn’t paranoia.

This is leadership discernment.

Wh...

Redemption is often misunderstood.

People think it’s about being forgiven.

Or starting over.

It’s not.

Redemption is about what you choose

after you’ve seen clearly.

And once you see clearly

You don’t get to go back to not knowing.

What Redemption Is

Redemption is a decision.

Not a feeling.

Not a moment.

A decision to stop repeating

What you now recognize isn’t aligned.

It shows up when you:<...

Thank you Chris Resists, julie elder, Elder is the New Black Podcast, Carrie Loranger, Jason Gael, julie elder, Millie Jones-Cowles, RLM, Lynette’s Substack Savio P. Clemente and many others for tuning into my live video with Lisa Joy 🏳️‍🌈! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Taking about how reinventing ourselves is essential to becoming our best selves