Welcome to episode twenty one of the podcast where I chat with Brooke Hofsess about self-expressed leadership. This conversation we share is soul-stirring and inspiring and I cannot wait for you to hear it.

Welcome to Gentle Business Sessions, a

podcast hosted by me, Ashley Voted, and

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powered by Marvelous and Willow Space.

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It is such a gift to have

you here with me today.

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I'm excited to be sharing a

conversation with Brooke Hofsis, who

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is a leadership coach and really leads

us into a conversation around the

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concept of self expressed leadership.

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She is a really beautiful and poetic

soul and I think that you will get a lot

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from not only what she shares but the

way in which she shares it and so get

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something cozy settle in and let's listen.

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ashley-_1_05-16-2024_110334: Brooke,

I am so excited and honored to

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have you on the podcast and get to

sit with you for a little bit on

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a conversation around leadership.

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So thank you

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here.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_1_05-16-2024_110334:

Thank you, Ashley.

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I am a devoted listener to the podcast.

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I've received so much from your

generosity and your gentleness

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and that of your guests.

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ashley-_1_05-16-2024_110334: Yeah, it's

going to be, I already have a sense

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that it'll be a rich conversation.

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I know that there will be many listening

that will want to know more about who

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you are before we even dive into this

subject matter and so, could you give us

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a little bit of a window into who you are?

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Who you are, what you

do, anything that might

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feel important to share with us.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_1_05-16-2024_110334:

Absolutely.

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Yeah.

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Thank you.

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So I'm an author, artist and coach.

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I'm also an academic and my really,

my guiding mission is to help

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women, support women to make art.

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Out of their lives so that they can

stay in their style, you know, stay in

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their own energy, express their version

of leadership and bring their body of

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work, whatever that might be to life.

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My clients don't work with me to

fill in gaps in their leadership

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or improve their skills.

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My work is really grounded in

sort of the origin of the word

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lead, which means originally

meant to guide or to bring forth.

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And so our coaching partnerships are

rooted in the sense of leadership as a

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bringing forth of more of themselves.

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More of their creative direction to

their lives and really opting out of

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a narrative around leadership that

is about conforming to principles and

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positions and titles and instead choosing

to make the way we lead ourselves,

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our businesses, our relationships,

a deeper reflection of who we are.

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And I call that kind of leadership,

uh, self expressed leadership.

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ashley-_1_05-16-2024_110334: I am

curious if you have any, experience

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or any thoughts, I suppose,

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that I find those who are more drawn

to gentleness, more drawn to you,

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identifying maybe as sensitive that

the word leadership is not always the

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initial word that will resonate with them.

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And they might even avoid using

that word to describe themselves.

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Have you noticed

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that or what, what are your thoughts on

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that?

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_1_05-16-2024_110334:

I have absolutely noticed that

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actually, and I have lived that.

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I, it wasn't until my mid forties

that I Was even comfortable saying

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the word leadership in regards

to myself at all and I think

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Part of that reticence to embracing

the word leadership was a mix of

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not identifying with the definitions

and examples of leadership that

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we see in patriarchal capitalist

white supremacist society

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ashley-_1_05-16-2024_110334: Yeah.

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Oh,

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_1_05-16-2024_110334:

a growing edge for me to step into

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a sense of fullness within myself

and to not only fully own the shyer,

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more reserved, kinder, gentler pieces

of myself, but also come into right

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relationship with a healthy arrogance.

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And Intellect and, uh, poise.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

So part of my capacity, expanded

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capacity for leadership, really

included taking more responsibility

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and more ownership of the pieces of

myself that I really need to build my

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body of work, my coaching practice.

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Um, but then I had been fearful , um,

you know, a lot of holding back.

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And those, those parts of me were

more about, you know, really claiming

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a healthy sense of arrogance.

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stepping into my version of brilliance

and being able to even say and

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express those things out loud.

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First, that came first before I was able

to really bring the concept of leadership,

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I think more fully into my work.

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And I think your question

really underpins what I'm up to

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If we believe in, if we believe

that we are a community, then

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everyone leads and everyone follows.

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And if we want to create a community

that has a capacity for gentleness and

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softness, we need leaders who embody those

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yeah, yeah.

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I love that thought that you

just shared there around everyone

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leads and everyone follows and

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the communal like that sort of communal

aspect of also the pressure, you know,

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not being on a select few to lead.

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Like, there's a shared

responsibility to both lead and a

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shared responsibility to follow.

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Mm

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

Yes, I love the words you're wrapping

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around that idea, particularly your

words around shared responsibility.

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And You know, I, I carry a

belief in this world that

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leadership is extremely creative.

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So I see that dynamic as, you

know, as a real dance that we do.

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It's a real choreography.

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Um, and knowing when to, um, move

forward, knowing when to move

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back can, I've just seen it really

support every aspect of my life.

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And I think it's an under represented

conversation when it comes to leadership.

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Dynamics that can fall more to

hierarchy power over, you know, rising

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through the ranks, so to speak, and

I'm really interested in getting

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a different conversation around

leadership started and inviting more

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women to bring who they are to that

conversation instead of asking them to

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go get a training or a new skill set.

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To enter the arena where

leadership is happening.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: What I

really see, too, echoed in what you're

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sharing, what you've even just shared

in these very short minutes, is this.

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Idea of a more cyclical form of

leadership than a linear style or

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approach to leadership, which is probably

much more rampant in our culture.

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It's hard for us to,

um, move rhythmically.

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And so, you know, even how you

have women who get often stuck in

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like a giving role and struggle to.

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Be in postures of receiving that there

is not like the holding that rhythm or

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holding that dance between Giving and

receiving but that there can be like

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people can get really stuck right in that

in that giving in the state with You know

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leading leading and following how it's

like you're a follower or you're a leader

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

Right.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

you can't between both of those

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roles

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

Absolutely.

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And getting kind of boxed in to one of

those roles and how we are, you know,

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our concept can kind of get a little

bit sedimented around that particular.

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Kind of leadership rather than being

in the rhythmic cyclical, um, image

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that you just described, right?

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Just like everything else around us,

the seasons, the weather, um, we have

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periods of leading periods of following

times of venturing out times of

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hunkering down and tending to our wounds.

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And I think that A big part of self

expressed leadership is getting to

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know those unfamiliar places and our

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: So I, I

would love to hear you tell us a little

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bit about your approach or definition

of leadership and what that entails.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

So I think I want to approach your

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question from an example that might

give some I'm thinking about a time

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when I was missing the felt sense of my

leadership in relationship to my newborn

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daughter and missing that felt sense

in relationship to my role as a mother.

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I was a first time book author and

trying to navigate the publishing

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industry and peer review and having

unfamiliar eyes on my body of work.

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I was even missing the felt sense

of leadership in my creative process

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because so much weight up to that

point had been given to other people's

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opinions about what I was creating.

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And what I realized from moving

through that, Challenging time

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and hearing my say myself say out

loud to people really close to me.

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You know, I'm not making it I'm

not making it and they would just

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look at me with such surprise and

say what are you talking about?

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You have this beautiful new baby and you

have a book coming out and yet I think

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one of the reasons I felt So overwhelmed

was just the lack of connection I had

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to a sense of creative direction over my

own existence and I think that story You

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know, when I think back to that time, I

think that was the beginning of this work

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or this work coming into a crisper vision

for me around this idea of, you know,

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in order to make art of our lives and to

live a life that departs from what's seen.

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Maybe expected of us.

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need leadership.

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And I think about a poem by

Quinn Bailey that talks about,

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you know, there's no there's no

right or wrong direction in life.

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There's only two true directions moving

toward yourself or away from yourself and

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think what I have learned through these

hard earned lessons is that Every choice

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we make to move toward ourself is an act

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

That's powerful.

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It's a powerful thought in practice.

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What do you think it looks like to move

towards ourselves as a form of leadership?

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

That's such a beautiful question.

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And I think, you know, it kind of

circles back to where we were just

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looking around, getting to know, You

know, new and unfamiliar places in our

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being and stretching ourselves to bring

a little bit more contrast, you know,

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I'm a visual artist and I think one of

the first art classes I took was in a

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photography dark room and we had these

different filters we could put over the

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enlarger to make, you know, brighter

whites and, and inkier, richer blacks.

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And to bring out.

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a whole range of grayscale.

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And I think about that when I think about

making our life art and moving closer

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toward ourself of, you know, finding the

kind of hidden, putting on new lenses and

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finding those hidden, Pockets of beauty

and expression and conduits between

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our rich inner worlds, which I think

so many of us that have a gentle way of

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being, we have very rich inner lives and

building conduits for, for that richness

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and that vitality to be expressed on the

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yeah, I

think there's something really beautiful

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in the in the way you're describing

this and the permission something that's

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striking me is Specifically, maybe in

the entrepreneurial, uh, context is

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that there can feel a pressure when

we're creating to not go inwards, but

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look outwards, you know, and I, I see

people all the time get really frozen

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and stuck in things like thinking about

their niche or thinking about the,

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the person they're wanting to reach.

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And I think that.

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There's a permission here almost in

like what would happen if you actually

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paid closer attention or took a step

towards yourself paid closer to what

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is stirring within you and within

your work within your leadership

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versus fixating on having the perfect

language or the perfect language.

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Niche or the perfect in through line.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

It's such a gorgeous observation and it

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really, it really inspires me because I

think that for so many of us somewhere

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along the way, we learned that it was

safer to tamp down our creativity and

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our self expression and look outside

of ourselves for exemplars and mentors.

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And I think this idea of inviting

ourselves To give greater permission to

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stay a little while with what is alive

and feeling really vital and energizing,

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you know, that kind of emergent energy

bubbling up in us, um, is, is a bit

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counterintuitive to the way that I think,

um, running a business can sometimes

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

Yeah, I totally agree.

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Which is also why I really resonate with.

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The language or idea around creating

a body of work and all that, that can

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hold in an entrepreneurial setting.

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I think when I hear the phrase

body of work, it speaks to me of

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like, you can take your time

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with this.

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You got your life.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

yes.

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And you get to explore and experiment

and it doesn't have to all.

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Make sense in a linear way.

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So if we think about, you know, like

the work of an artist over a lifetime,

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they, you know, maybe a catalog of

their, their work, you wouldn't see a

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linear progression more than likely you

would see little flurries of inspiration

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over here and then bringing in this

experimental material over there.

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And I think that's part of what speaks

to me about building a body of work is.

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You know, if you run a business, it

might, that body of work might include

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your offerings, but it also speaks to

how your offerings will grow and change.

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With you as you evolve.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yes.

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It feels more holistic in a lot of

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

Mm hmm.

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Yeah.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: I know

that, um, you have this framework

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or, or whichever that you've created

around self expressed leadership.

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Would you give us a little bit of

a, a tour, if you will, of that

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framework?

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

love to.

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I'd love to.

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So, this framework involves five qualities

that may, may, you know, I got a lot

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of feedback that these qualities are

fairly counter cultural to the way we

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typically talk about leadership qualities.

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So, I'll start there.

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Um, But I'll talk about each of the

qualities and then I'd love to kind

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of give your listeners a sense of

what might create safety and working

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with that quality in their business.

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Uh, the first quality is

the quality of presence.

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And in my body of work, presence

is about showing up in ways that

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embody your fullest expression

while also holding space for the

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fullest expression of others.

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And I would include our

businesses as one of those others

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And to fully express

a quality of presence.

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What I've seen in myself and my

clients is that we need safety.

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The safety that comes from The felt

sense of mutuality or reciprocity.

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So for business owners, that could

look like, know, really spending

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a couple moments every day in an

intentional practice of trusting

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yourself, you know, what, you know,

to be true about your business, what

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you need, what your business needs,

trusting the other people involved.

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And trusting the process, I think

that's something that we don't talk

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enough about in building businesses

is trusting the, you know, as you use

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the word cyclical, the cycles and the

rhythms of the process, because it's not

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a straight path for many, many of us.

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In fact, I haven't met anyone

that it was a linear path for.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yes.

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Yeah.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

Another tool that might be useful for

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your listeners is to bring in a metaphor.

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, so I was working with a client

recently who's got a business

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that has three distinct strands.

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And she's really working with this

metaphor of her business as a greenhouse.

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And what are the different

growing conditions that each of

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those strands needs to thrive?

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you know, just something that

really paints the image, the

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vision of her business in a way

that has that sense of mutuality.

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It's a living thing that she is growing.

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It's not just words on a laptop.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yeah.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

Another way to bring presence or mutuality

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to create that, that safety is, you know,

taking your, your business or a particular

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project out on an artist date, you know,

where would it like to go where, know,

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where might it be fun to, to sit and think

about that project or that aspect of your

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world and your work for a little while.

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And how would having that energy

flow back into what you're creating.

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So it's not just you pushing

in a single direction.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yeah.

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I love, I love that, that prompt.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

The second quality is one of reverence.

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And this is really the heart of this

is really partnering with forces that

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feel bigger and larger than yourself.

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So forces like creativity or justice

or care or gentleness in ways

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that alleviate the burden of being

visionary and safety and reverence.

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Typically, I've seen this really come

from the felt sense of being in service.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Mm.

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Yeah.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

a felt sense of being held by something

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outside yourself, you know, being held.

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And that could maybe take on

a spiritual realm or being

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held by a mentor or a coach.

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Um, it kind of looks different for

everyone and something that can be

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really practical that we can do to

tap into that safety is, you know,

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maybe just a little bit of grounding

in why does my business matter?

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You know, so, so what?

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What, what, how am I showing up to serve?

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How am I in service of my values?

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Um, that could look like free writing or

meditation or taking a walk with a friend

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and talking about it, but really letting

yourself be in the energetics of why

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your work matters and how you're serving

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Mm.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

also look like designing, you know, um,

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practices or rituals for your business.

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So one for me is that.

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Before visibility opportunities.

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I tried to move my body.

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It helps me kind of shake out

nerves and get into, you know,

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more of a contemplative space.

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That's.

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It's primed for connection

for some of my clients.

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That looks like writing in a specific

notebook for different projects or

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even, you know, just working on their

floor with a huge easel pad, just

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like mapping out ideas, but really

letting that larger force be a thought

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partner for you and your business.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

It's beautiful.

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Mm-Hmm?

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

And then we come to the

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quality of congruence.

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And for me, this looks like recognizing

the cost of not bringing our whole selves

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into our leadership and the ways that

we close the gap between what we know

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internally and our outward expression.

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Safety in the quality of congruence

I think often comes from the

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felt sense of being whole, being

undivided, I think that integrity

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is just another word for wholeness.

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So it's like, how is integrity flowing

through your body of work, your business,

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your relationships, and not being as

willing to easily pay a toll for masking

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up and hiding, like really getting clear

about the cost to your nervous system

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and your, um, Your self concept when

you're toggling back between, you know,

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what your lived experience is and what

you're expressing to the outer world.

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In this example, I think about one of my

clients when she launched, um, a major

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book project and it was based on a body

of work she had done in graduate school.

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And she was really clear that at the

start that she did not want to bring

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that felt sense of like being a student,

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Right?

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

a good student.

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Um, or being a novice to the project

and so one of the, I work a lot with

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imagery and so one of the images that

became a guidepost for her was this

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image of kind of walking along a beach,

she lives in a coastal region, walking

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along a beach, sort of picking up rocks

and creating these like, Impromptu,

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uh, rock sculptures and sitting down

next to them with a notebook and,

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and just letting the words flow.

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And I was just so struck by how, like,

none of that good student, good girl

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energy was in that imagery for her.

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But, Yeah, like really allowing herself

to steep in that image, um, created

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a writing routine and a relationship

with her body of work that felt

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just felt entirely different, right?

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The next quality is the

quality of divergence.

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And for me, this is about evoking

the changes that we want to see.

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Whether that's in our industries, in

our relationship with ourself or our

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business, but with more faith that we

can navigate through the hard parts

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and the fear that inevitably comes up

when we're building any body of work.

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There's no creativity without fear.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Mm-Hmm?

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

And I think building safety

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into this quality can look like.

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That felt sense of permission that

you were talking about, Ashley,

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yeah.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

specifically a permission to experiment

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and to not get it, you know, perfect

right out of the gate, but to bring in,

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you know, a spirit of like tinkering,

um, to be very mindful not to get stuck

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in romanticizing our Potentiality,

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yeah.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

not letting, yeah, not letting the

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dream be so pure that it can never

be brought down and put into action.

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And, you know, we work with this a lot

in, in my practice around, um, so, you

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know, my background is as a scholar.

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So this idea of a pilot study, you know,

you would never engage on a, a long

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grant project or, you know, 5, 10 year

research project without running a pilot.

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So just.

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That sense of playfulness with

your question, like what question

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would be really supportive and

really grounding to answer.

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And for me, looking at ways to

bake in a lot of gentleness and

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enjoyment into that process.

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And then the final five, the

final of the five qualities is

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the quality of interdependence and

For me, interdependence is about

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how we honor our callings without

burning out on self reliance.

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Or sacrificing intimacy and community

as we build our body of work.

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And so safety in this quality often

comes from a felt sense of belonging,

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partnership and community, you know,

and practical ways that I think we can,

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particularly for like solopreneurs,

ways that we can create that sense of

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belonging is to, you know, surround

ourselves with like spirited colleagues.

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Um, It doesn't always have to be humans.

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You know, it can be colleagues

from the more than human world, you

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know, a tree that you like to go

sit under and, and dream up offers

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or blog posts or what have you.

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Um, and, you know, just really recognizing

that when this quality is out of balance,

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it can show up as, you know, if it's

something that you have to do alone.

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It just doesn't get done, no matter

how many times you put it on your

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list, it's just not going to move.

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Um, or the other kind of end of the

spectrum that you're holding so tight to

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control, you're not allowing anyone in and

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You know, practicing delegation can be

really impactful if that's showing up.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Right.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

When I first started my coaching

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newsletter, I hired an editor and my

closest friends were kind of horrified

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about that because they're like,

you're, you're a published author.

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Why do you need to hire an editor?

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But for me, it was about like,

supporting myself to have that

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person on the other end of my writing

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yeah.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

who would receive it give it a little DLC.

397

And then, you know, it, it, it helped

me show up for myself in that way.

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And it also helped me show

up in a different kind of

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writing that I wasn't used to.

400

And it was enormously helpful and it,

I didn't need that person forever, but

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I was humble enough to recognize that.

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No matter how strong of a writer I

was, this was something that I needed

403

some partnership around in order to

really show up for it with what I

404

knew I, what I knew I had to say.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yeah.

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There's something really beautiful

in there too, around, even like

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around the co-regulation aspect of.

408

Of simply having someone in it with you.

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

Yeah.

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I think it can make all the difference.

411

You know, I, I experienced the

world through my neurodivergence and

412

one of the most healing and gentle

practices that I can offer myself is.

413

You know, having a coworking date or a

body doubling date or showing up to a

414

writing group or being part of a community

that, you know, where I feel like I can

415

play an experiment with other people,

it's just incredibly supportive for me.

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yeah.

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I feel that deeply

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

Mm

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ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: This is

just a curiosity out of all of the

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five aspects that you just shared.

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Is there one that you find

yourself within the most?

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brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

I've thought about this a lot and

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it's so interesting because I feel

like when I tug or lean into one,

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it, it spills over into the others.

425

So I think for me, divergence is a

big piece of who I am in the world.

426

And it's, you know, going back to our,

um, the beginning of our conversation,

427

it's one of the reasons why I needed

To embody my own version of leadership

428

because I am really wholeheartedly

convinced that I'm here on this planet

429

to make change for the greater good.

430

And I also know that I tend to be a very,

um, inward, thoughtful, careful person.

431

And.

432

Leadership, you know, bringing

leadership into my life has just, um,

433

allowed me to partner with myself in

a completely different way towards

434

the work that I care the most about.

435

ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: In, uh,

listening to those and, you know, both

436

for me and then I think anyone listening.

437

I think that there's a mixture of

like a lot of grounding and a lot of

438

practice that people can sort of listen

to those and find themselves within

439

I think those listening to notice.

440

As Brooke shared, like what are the things

that really came forward is resonant

441

for you and starting there and seeing if

there might be a practice or a thought

442

or a ritual of some kind that you can

begin to play with to sort of with this

443

idea of leadership and what that could

look like and what that can mean for you.

444

So I want to offer that to

445

you.

446

Anyone.

447

brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

it's

448

ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Yeah.

449

brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

really beautifully said.

450

And, and also just to kind of

underscore that none of these things

451

require you to go outside of yourself.

452

There may be, you know, ways to bring

in more safety and more capacity,

453

but they're, they're already,

they've always already been with you.

454

ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: Right.

455

Yeah.

456

Yeah.

457

There's a relief in that.

458

brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

I'm so glad.

459

ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: With, uh, the

one kind of final question I wanted to, to

460

ask you about is when it comes to the work

of self leadership and leading ourselves,

461

both with the qualities of like gentleness

and also the qualities of, boldness,

462

do you have any thoughts on

what that, what it can look

463

like to, to lead yourself?

464

in a way that kind of allows you to feel

held and taken care of but also helps

465

you do the things that matter to you.

466

.

467

And the thing that immediately sparked

for me was, um, when I was in a leadership

468

role at my academic institution, leading

a team of about 70 Folks, my assistant

469

director would say to me, like, I've never

met someone who was so soft yet so strong.

470

And it always made me chuckle because

I think that in our culture, those

471

ways of being have been positioned

in opposition to one another.

472

And I don't necessarily

think that that is true.

473

I think that, you know, when we think

about, you know, maybe like the softness

474

of water falling over time, you know,

carving away rock, or if we, you know,

475

just think about other examples of where

Soft and bold can live together, then

476

that is great encouragement for me, I

think for those of us, for those of us

477

who, who don't want to compromise either

one, either part of ourself, but to

478

use one to really strengthen the other.

479

I think that's something that

I think about a lot for myself.

480

ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: I agree.

481

They're in a much deeper partnership,

softness and strength than we've

482

been told that they can be.

483

I think it's about exploring

that within ourselves.

484

Like how does that

485

operate within us?

486

How does softness and strength

exist in partnership within us?

487

Your work really encourages that noticing.

488

brooke-hofsess--she-her-_2_05-16-2024_111148:

You.

489

Thank you for reflecting that.

490

And, and I think also, you know,

what's coming up for me in this,

491

um, thread of our conversation

is that neither one is better.

492

More useful, but it's more about creating

this synergy, you know, creating the

493

strength that gives rise to the softness

and creating the softness that gives rise

494

to the strength and so on and so forth.

495

That is maybe where the The

real mystery in the power lives.

496

ashley-_2_05-16-2024_111148: You

know, throughout this conversation,

497

I think that, there's a lot

that people can pull from.

498

Is there any type of prompt or anything

that you'd like to leave people with?

499

brooke-hofsess--she-her-_3_05-16-2024_115211:

So I'll just offer that my approach

500

to leadership is grounded in a

really deep recognition that women

501

are out of breath, not courage.

502

And so the prompt I would

love to offer your listeners.

503

Is around what makes it easier to breathe

in your business and in your life and what

504

starves the oxygen, what makes it harder

to breathe or diminishes your capacity.

505

And

506

I think that's just a really maybe,

um, helpful reframe that even when

507

we're tired or it's feeling like a

heavy lift for us to keep going in our

508

practices and in our businesses, that

there are ways to pause and just, you

509

know, Center and ground ourselves back

into what supports us and gives, you

510

know, that oxygen and that vitality and

aliveness to the work that we're here

511

to do and the bodies of work that we're

512

ashley-_3_05-16-2024_115211: So it's

a beautiful place and prompt to leave

513

all of us with, including ourselves.

514

I am so grateful that you shared

your wisdom with us, Brooke.

515

Thank you so much for

516

being here.

517

brooke-hofsess--she-her-_3_05-16-2024_115211:

Oh, thank you, Ashley.

518

It was really a really heart

opening conversation, and I'm

519

really grateful to have the chance

to connect with you in this way.

520

Thank you so much for tuning into this

conversation that I shared with Brooke.

521

I hope that.

522

It nourished you and

inspired you to think.

523

Differently about leadership.

524

And discover some.

525

Practices and prompts to really play with.

526

I want to you.

527

Really feature and shout out

both of the amazing sponsors.

528

For this podcast.

529

Marvelous and Willow space, both of

these softwares, you've heard lots about,

530

depending on how often you have listened

to the episodes on these podcasts.

531

But if you have not yet checked them

out, I really encourage you to do so.

532

They are.

533

Supportive gentle.

534

And really center.

535

The.

536

Human experience within them.

537

And that is.

538

The something that must be celebrated.

539

No matter where you are,

no matter what today holds.

540

I hope that you can be gentle with you.

541

Because you are so very deserving.

542

Of a man's care.