What if you stopped trying to fix yourself, and started leading as you are?

Andrea Wanerstrand has coached hundreds of leaders from T-Mobile to Meta, guiding them through some of the boldest mindset shifts of their careers: from control to connection, performance to presence, and burnout to bold cultural influence.

But her story didn’t start in power suits and corner offices.

It started with a bug report in IT and a boss who saw the fire behind her fatigue.

Today, Andrea is the founder of A3 Culture Lab and creator of the Mindset Maven Method. In this episode, she pulls back the curtain on what human-centric leadership really looks like, and how your flaws might be your fiercest advantage.

Inside, we unpack:

1. What happens when you stop managing and start modeling
2. Why emotions at work aren’t liabilities—they’re leadership tools
3. How to get out of autopilot and into authority (the healthy kind)
4. The real cost of performing perfection in a corporate world that wasn’t built for you

PLUS: Andrea’s take on the neuroscience of self-awareness, how to know when your “comfort zone” is actually toxic, and why the most badass thing a leader can do is show up connected.

What you’ll walk away with:

1. A new lens on emotional intelligence (rooted in biology, not buzzwords)
2. A framework for rewriting the rules of leadership on your own terms
3. Tools to spot your nervous system’s stress signals, before they hijack your day
4. Permission to stop performing and start trusting your own voice
5. A reason to finally throw out the rulebook that never fit in the first place

Progress over perfection, presence over power. Tune in, and if her story cracks something open, pass it on. Someone else might need that spark, too.

Subscribe, share, and stay fearless.

Sara Ferrer: We'll also dive into the science and soul of her work, how neuroscience, behavioral strategy, and raw clarity come together to drive meaningful change and the lessons she's learned about courage, vulnerability, and leading from a place of connection.

Serena Reynolds: I'm Serena and I build systems to make leaders impossible to ignore.

Serena Reynolds: Turning podcasts into pipelines and webinars into cash machines.

Sara Ferrer: And I'm Sara, email Marketing Pro here to convert clicks into cash. Together we're two women in charge, digging into the fearless, the flawed, and the fabulous journeys of female founders rewriting the rules.

Andrea Wanerstrand: So let's dive in. Welcome to our show, Andrea.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Oh, it's fantastic to be here on a Friday morning, starting my day with you two.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Hmm. Well, I, it's a long journey for me to get here, but I actually had a career in IT program management for my first 18 years and, and then I, over the last 20 plus years I've been in leadership development and that came from a leader who saw something in me I was putting in. IT systems for hr, so think performance management, payroll, all those exciting things.

Andrea Wanerstrand: And it was about right around the two thousands, so it was the.com era, but I was working in T-Mobile and I had somebody that really believed in me. She was the vice president of HR at the time, and she. Said she wanted to talk to me one day and I was like, okay, when your stakeholder wants to talk to you, that can't be good.

Andrea Wanerstrand: And that's where I started my journey. But I started off with a lot of imposter syndrome at that time. So part of what instilled in me was seeing leaders around me and then also my numerous flaws that showed up early in my career when I was trying to lead, but I wasn't confident at that point.

Serena Reynolds: Honestly, I still believe flaws are what make, make us so much more interesting.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Um, I. I was stepping in to a major corporation. Now, mind you, I'd worked in small companies before. I hadn't really worked in large corporations with tens of thousands of individuals.

Andrea Wanerstrand: I never even had a performance review two years before that, and then you had given them out. And here I am running it. And I did have a natural affinity for it. I found it fascinating and I studied the science and I looked at it, but I looked at all these people who had org psychology degrees and were standing around me who'd been in this for years, and I didn't believe in it.

Andrea Wanerstrand: In fact, my. My leader, she pulled me aside one day and she's like, you trust me, right? And I was like, absolutely. And she's like, I chose you for a reason and I need you to believe that.

Serena Reynolds: The psychology side of things or, or was that just

Andrea Wanerstrand: a, I didn't believe, I didn't believe in. Me and they, they that I had an affinity for it, that I was capable of. This, I, it was all new to me, but the logic I guess, that I represented in my work and how I worked with my team and how I thought about the people side was unschooled, but evidently leaning in the human-centric way that that leader saw something in me.

Andrea Wanerstrand: We know where our scared, fearful points are, and we're a choice. But when we operate on autopilot, that's when stress and burnout can happen.

Sara Ferrer: When did this, what you just said, right? You talk about stress burnout and, and we've touched on that. There's a bit of, uh, beha neuroscience behavioral strategy woven into your journey.

Sara Ferrer: Can you expand more on that? Because that sounds great. When you just said that. I'm like, yes, I buy into that. What she's saying makes perfect sense, but there's layers to this. This isn't just a nice motto to say, can you expand into your experience with, Hey, this. Affects the brain or this affects how you present yourself or what, what research have you come across or what type of studies or just human behavior have you said?

Andrea Wanerstrand: Absolutely it, it is based in science. For too many years, we were taught that having emotions was not professional. And here's the news.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Flash your nervous system, which carries your emotions, which are energetic. Never got that memo. The fact is you're human and you walk into every situation, and your emotions are based in your history and your experience and your confidence and your lack of confidence, and that's gonna activate or trigger.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Then your thinking brain sends to your heart. So this is why when I'm working with clients and, and in particular just helping. Anyone who's going through a high stress situation is our body sends us signals of the stress before we ever think I'm really stressed. And that is can look like tapping of your feet.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Scrunching your shoulders voice pitch changing your intonation. Yeah. Serena, you're squiring there.

Sara Ferrer: Yeah.

Sara Ferrer: There's all these

Sara Ferrer: things you've said. I'm like, yes. Every day. Yes. Keep going. Just re readjusting myself.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Your heart rate gets up your, you clench your fist. I have a, somebody that like scratches at their nails.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Ever have a good belly laugh? That belly laugh? You can't stop laughing at a certain point. And that's what I'm talking about is that emotion wants to get out. And as it's building up, if we know the signals and we're aware of those signals. We're at choice and we can start to regulate or manage those emotions.

Serena Reynolds: So I'm, I, we're, we're, we're fearless and flawed women in charge. So we focus on, on female entrepreneurs and businesses and owners and professional women and non-professional women. Hell, why not? But something you touched on was, was we're not supposed to show emotion. And I just wanted, and that was right at the very beginning of what you were just talking about.

Serena Reynolds: I dunno, I dunno where I was going with this, but it was just the thought that kind of came into my head that I could really resonate.

Andrea Wanerstrand: I was taught that, and I don't really have a great poker face.

Serena Reynolds: I have a dreadful one. Every, every emotions on my face. Everything.

Sara Ferrer: That's why we like Serena.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Here's the thing.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Vulnerability and empathy is part of being human centric. And we are not robots. And when we try to fully separate, that's where we get toxic environment toxicity within ourselves and we become toxic. In fact, because when we're miserable, we're spreading that miserable out and, and oozing into everyone else around us.

Andrea Wanerstrand: And so yes, we have emotions. Our energy and how we share those emotions is the professional edge that I talk about. I'm a big believer in Brene Brown who says, you know, vulnerability is important in the workplace, but she's the same person who says no foe crying and don't overshare. So what is contextual?

Andrea Wanerstrand: What what is appropriate to share? And we have to get our emotions out. As I said, they're gonna come out whether we wanna or not. So how do we manage that? The key, and yes, there's still a bias that women are more emotionally driven.

Serena Reynolds: Um, so being a mom in the corporate worlds, you know, it was very two separate worlds. You know, mom work. The, the two didn't mix. You know, if I. Brought my child into work because I had childcare issues. It would be dramatic. It would be very unprofessional. You, you shouldn't be doing that. And yeah, during COVID, all you saw were these men on TV with their child walking in the back and everyone laughing and congratulating them on being such a great father.

Serena Reynolds: Now, I, I haven't been in corporate. World so much for, for a few years now.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Well, I haven't been in for about four years, but I still coach in corporate. And here's the thing, women are more in tune with their gut and their heart and the emotions that we have. In my opinion. I can't say that scientifically.

Andrea Wanerstrand: But sir, what you're talking about is, are we moving to a place where we recognize that? All of us have emotions, and all of us have responsibilities that go beyond the job that we've been hired for, because that's just part of our life. That is not our life, per se. And they may include children, cats, dogs, partners that are going through things.

Andrea Wanerstrand: And the indicator for me, when I, I see it getting better. I was coaching an executive at a multinational the other day and they're getting ready to leave on maternity leave. And he's like, well, I'm gonna take a break from my coaching for a few months. Is that okay? And I go, absolutely. And he goes, well, do you have clients that don't do that?

Andrea Wanerstrand: Things changing. When my son was born 22 years ago, it was very rare, if ever that paternity leave was actually taken.

Serena Reynolds: I think here it was only two weeks for a man to have off

Andrea Wanerstrand: in England. Yeah.

Serena Reynolds: Yeah. And, and yeah, we, we have better, we have a more open system than I, I know that you guys do over in, in the us

Andrea Wanerstrand: so is it getting.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Better? Yes. Is yet a long way to go? In my opinion? Yes.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Well, my, my point with the paternity leave is most men didn't think that they would take it because that was the female's job, and I'm seeing more of a partnership and I'm hearing words like partner rather than husband and wife.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Sara, you're shaking your head. It's just, I think. Things are better and there are things that are worse. It depends. There's the three of us right now are in three different countries. As we're having this conversation, I know the contextual context of all of those. There's pockets, and I, and I equate that to any company as well.

Serena Reynolds: couldn't get a mortgage.

Serena Reynolds: I was, I was just blown away by that. Couldn't own a, couldn't get a mortgage without a husband

Andrea Wanerstrand: or a father. And so I think it's all perspective. Is it getting better?

Serena Reynolds: Okay. Yes. Is it, that's a, that's a great point. It's getting better.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Is it? Is it ideal? Is it fair? Is it equal? Probably not.

Sara Ferrer: Yeah. I shake my head yes.

Sara Ferrer: But, but maternity leave is something I'm seeing a lot more of in these startups, you know, encourage and sometimes mandatory you have to take at least this much up. So I, I hear what you're saying, Andrea. And so just so you know, in your experience personally as well as professionally at, at this moment, you, you know, you've, you.

Sara Ferrer: And it sounds like a lot of what you're talking about, correct me if I'm wrong, are maybe conversations that would intertwine with people who come to you and what do they say? Like if I was like, okay, she's a CEO of this, um, you know, she, she makes leaders. She helps leaders take bold shifts. What does that mean?

Sara Ferrer: Can you walk us through? What you do? Are you holding people's hands? Are you coaching them? But also kind of being the cheerleader? Are you being more of the mindset guru? What does that look like? Because I'm a, I'm a simple lady. Let's break it down.

Andrea Wanerstrand: So workplaces today, I can go back 10 years ago, and the idea of authenticity or even the word, how do you feel was not on employee surveys.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Have authenticity in their leadership and are able to show up as themselves, not wearing a mask, not playing a role, but actually being authentic. And that's where my mindset Maven ties in. I'll talk about that in a moment. 'cause it enables authenticity. And then there's autonomy. You can't scale without autonomy, and it goes hand in hand with having accountability if you're micromanaging or being commanding control.

Andrea Wanerstrand: But Cnce is a, is an ongoing journey, and it's this ability for you to be confident that you can navigate the unknown and you're gonna be okay. Right, and it when we're wearing a mask and not authentic, when we fail, not if we fail 'cause we are all flawed, but when we fail, we can damage trust because folks are seeing a different aspect of you and how you're managing that.

Andrea Wanerstrand: And so that needs a leader, that has a mindset that they're able to navigate. And that's where I came up with the mindset Maven method. And so. It's this aspect of we break down Maven in mindfulness awareness, visualization, energy, and navigating and mindfulness. Is that grounding? It can be meditation, which is the.

Andrea Wanerstrand: You're always gonna learn something new about yourself and just 'cause you learn it doesn't mean you're gonna master it. You're gonna just catch yourself doing it faster, which is really frustrating sometimes because I've been doing it for a while. And then visualization.

Sara Ferrer: Not to interrupt, but it sounds like you're a business therapist, right?

Sara Ferrer: Because you're talking about a lot of these things and like, but business, it's like you're part therapist. I know. Not technically a therapist, but therapist business co. I mean, this is like more than just, Hey, let's get a timeline and get cash flow going, or Hey, let's schedule that. This is like really deep.

Sara Ferrer: This is really layered.

Andrea Wanerstrand: And we cannot, literally, our brains will not be innovative if we are stressed out in, in flight or fight. And. We don't like uncertainty as humans, and every day has a change or uncertainty in it, whether it's the, you know, traffic light takes longer or your kid throws a tantrum, or the boss changes the direction, maybe you're the boss and you're changing the direction.

Andrea Wanerstrand: We're actually programming ourselves to do it. And so if you can see it, you can actually step into it. And then the end of the it, the Maven, is really navigating an ambiguity. Being able to navigate and know with confidence and confidence is just part of getting out of our comfort zone and getting a new confidence and getting a new comfort zone over and over as we journey through life.

Serena Reynolds: So when somebody first comes to you, what's the first steps? What, what happens?

Andrea Wanerstrand: Depends where they are. So I have to meet them where they're at in their journey. And so if I am, if I'm speaking at an organization, I'm generally talking about activating across the organization and what they can do generally as a leader.

Andrea Wanerstrand: People feel you. They don't remember your words as much as they remember how it felt to be in your presence. And so that's where we start. What do you want?

Sara Ferrer: And do people open up? I mean, I, I have to, Ima like, do people get it? Or like, what's the, what's the challenge? That you've seen kind of by and large is people don't under, can't tap into that.

Sara Ferrer: People don't buy into it. What's the hurdle? Or else everyone would say, I get it. I get it. New comfort zone. This is great. This is easy. So what do you see as from your lens is like, Ooh, this typically is the internal question. People can't. Or they're, they're stuck on what they did 10 years ago at that job that they got demoted for whatever.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Yeah. So if they don't buy anything that I'm saying, they generally are not. One of my clients, unless I'm working for a company and they've been voluntold to get a coach and work with me, and that happens rarely.

Andrea Wanerstrand: And so again, I try to meet them where they're at. But the biggest challenge that we all have is our inner voice. And I've got a client I just met with yesterday really has a top goal and she knows she's getting in her own way. And when I ask What do you, what do you wanna do about that? She goes, I dunno.

Andrea Wanerstrand: What's not allowing me to step into it? And it's a very personal space and it's a way of reflecting. And then how do we talk to ourselves and coach ourselves forward? So I'm there as a coach and accountability partner, someone to help ask the hard questions. Because I'm pretty straight shooting. I'm not gonna like sit there just like, oh, be nice like me.

Andrea Wanerstrand: It's more of, you've hired me to ask you the questions, so we're gonna ask the questions and I'm gonna help you explore, but the answers all reside within you. I don't have the answers for you.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Drivers? My ideal client is any human that wants to go from where they are now to living in success and alignment for themselves and defining success on their own terms. Most of our stresses, most of our masks come from some playbook that we've inherited, and whether that's societal. Community, cultural family, and I say you gotta write your own playbook if you're really gonna wanna live a life that you enjoy and you help others enjoy around you.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Identity is founded ourselves, not in the titles that we have. And so when people say, you know, how do you introduce yourself? And I say, well, I'm me. And sometimes I'll say, if you want a title, it's entrepreneur. But I live a portfolio life. Four years ago, I wouldn't have said that. I would've said my title and I would've lived behind it.

Andrea Wanerstrand: So somebody that's wanting to find the space to be success on their own terms.

Serena Reynolds: What they can have, you know, the, the better car, the, the bigger whatever and stuff. And, and how, and, and how difficult it is to hone in on what success looks like for you and not comparing that to those that are around you. So I really love, I really love what you, where you focus there on, on where success is for you personally.

Sara Ferrer: I was gonna say, it also sounds like there's. Empowerment, empower, kind of built into this, right? You, you mentioned like the story that we've all told ourselves, and usually that story, at least when I hear that phrase, that story's never a story that's like super uplifting and gets you to the net, at least in the beginning, that story usually is something that holds you back.

Sara Ferrer: Is that kind of what, you know, when people go, what do I get out of it? That's the 2.0 version.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Absolutely. And what's really interesting is I try to create. Awareness in my clients that they should be in a comfort zone that's actually comfortable. So many of us stay in a comfort zone, and it can be, you know, living hell because it's better than the unknown.

Andrea Wanerstrand: It's, it's a definition. It's not, and it's of a state. It's not like I'm always happy, it's just I wake up and I have joy and it means, it doesn't mean I don't feel all the other emotions, but I've had a client, they're like. So caught in with themselves and, and not moving forward because they don't have the confidence or they fear that they're gonna f flub up and, and make a mistake.

Serena Reynolds: Do you also think it could also be partially, um, to do with the fact that they, they haven't defined what success looks like for themselves?

Andrea Wanerstrand: Sometimes. Sometimes, absolutely. And the, or they've over defined it. They've got the perfect list. It needs to look this way, this way, this way. That's why when you see people achieve those things on the list and they're still not satisfied 'cause they had undefined it.

Andrea Wanerstrand: I was so afraid that my kid was gonna throw up in it. I was like, it, it, it was, it didn't ride as smooth as the lesser car. It was expensive to fix. It was expensive to maintain. And I thought I'd be happy. It was what I was supposed to want. It was what I was supposed to have. And, um, I learned. Not cheaply, by the way, that was a very expensive lesson that that wasn't gonna bring it to me.

Andrea Wanerstrand: So be careful how we define things and get clear on your wants.

Sara Ferrer: This question for you, but this one actually is very relevant.

Serena Reynolds: This, uh, this previous guest was a bit cheeky. She got asked to ask one question, and the way Sara's gonna word it right now, you're gonna realize that she, she did a sneaky little. She, she added a few extra here.

Sara Ferrer: Yeah. There's 10 questions in one, but we'll ask.

Sara Ferrer: Sure. Did. I'll give it my shot. Now. She had talked a lot about her own journey and resilience and, you know, learning through the hardship. And so her, she said for the next guest, I'm really curious what are, what have been the top three challenges she's faced. You can narrow that down to one challenge. Um, if you.

Sara Ferrer: And how did it build resilience in your life? So yeah, top three, top defining challenge and how did it build resilience. We'd love to know whether personally or professionally, it's an open question.

Andrea Wanerstrand: He's an oceanographer. He's 91 years old these days, and he named me after the Andrea Doria that sunk off the coast of Cape Cod as a child. And so, um. I was teased for the longest time that I was named after a sunken vessel, and my dad said to me when I asked him, I was like, dad, why'd you name me that?

Andrea Wanerstrand: And he's like, I went. I wanted to teach you resilience. He goes, because there's a great story for that. She didn't fully think people were saved and you know, I wanted you to have a name of distinction. I was like, well, thanks dad. Sunken vessel. That was number one. Second of all for me is my career. Change.

Andrea Wanerstrand: So that's part of the resilience. And then the third is my son was born with a. Neuroscience perspective. He has motor processing, dyslexia and he had some challenges, but in his learning, he overcame it. And I had to learn to be an advocate for him and I couldn't fix it for him. And I'm happy to say, and proud to say he just graduated with honors from the University of Washington.

Sara Ferrer: I love that. The I can't couldn't fix.

Sara Ferrer: I just wanna resonate on that for a hot sec. I couldn't fix it. And it sounds like the minute you really accepted that. You were able to, that that's where the resilience, that's where, but like I, you can't fix it, but you can support, you can guide, you can advocate. I love. Uh, and, and, and you nailed all three.

Sara Ferrer: That's a little bit of a side fun fact. So there, so, so you're very, there's layers. I just wanna put that out there. We, we've talked in pre-chat. There's so many different, I think lives you've lived, it kind of almost feels like, um, but if someone's really interested in like, okay, how do I connect with her?

Sara Ferrer: Like I, is it only in person that you do? Is it virtual? What's the process of like setting up a chat? What does that look.

Andrea Wanerstrand: So it's all done online unless I'm coming to your organization or your location to speak because I not only live in the Seattle area, but I live on an island that's very served only off the coast of Seattle.

Andrea Wanerstrand: And if you're interested in just getting a chat, you can DM me on LinkedIn and if you're really interested in the Mindset Maven method, we'll be launching another cohort at the start of the year and you can go to mindset maven.com.

Sara Ferrer: Love it. This has been awesome. I feel like you've given us great tidbits about, again, mindset, your own journey, kind of a, a holistic view of what you're seeing, but also a little bit of like some personal experience there.

Sara Ferrer: So thank you. We, we certainly, um, I'd say, you know, Hey, uh, we'll, we'll, we'll meet you at the lavender farm, you know, just send us the invite, but it sounds like a journey to get to the island, so we'll just, we'll just buy carrot for you.

Sara Ferrer: Sounds like

Serena Reynolds: I'm up for it.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Just pick me up. Hey, throws you guys through Sara.

Sara Ferrer: I just imagine you have to take a tugboat and then a robot. I, I imagine just you just with, I just imagine this very remote, beautiful island and I'm sure it is. But you're right. What am I thinking? Take the 20 minute ferry and you'll be in Andrea,

Andrea Wanerstrand: at least here in the States am Amazon and FedEx do deliver on a daily basis.

Andrea Wanerstrand: That's all enough people do today.

Sara Ferrer: It's it's able to get here. Yes, you're in civilization, you're, you absolutely are, but you take a client's virtually and all that good stuff. Wonderful. Well, listen, Andrew,

Andrea Wanerstrand: globally too.

Sara Ferrer: Globally too. Perfect. Well, we, as per this podcast, we are in three different time zones and we, you make it work when there's enough interest and enough, again, motivation.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Absolutely.

Serena Reynolds: It's been, it's been wonderful, uh, sharing your story today, Andrea, uh, thank you very much for your time and coming on our podcast.

Andrea Wanerstrand: Thank you both. I love the work that you're doing.

Andrea Wanerstrand: We need more voices on this.