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[Solocast] Are You the Circus Owner or the Ringleader?
Episode 77 • 21st July 2026 • Dig Deeper • Digby Scott
00:00:00 00:02:43

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Do you know that feeling when you're the one everyone comes to, the one with the answers, the one holding it all together? It can feel like competence. It might actually be a bottleneck with your name on the label.

In this solocast I share a moment from a coaching conversation with a leader who runs a big, messy part of the health system. She described her role as owning the circus, then caught herself and landed on something better: it's everybody's circus, and she's just the ringleader. I unpack why that distinction matters, why leaders who hold onto everything end up exhausted, and why what they build tends to wobble the moment they step back.

You'll get:

  • Why "I own that circus" and "it's everybody's circus" are two completely different ways to lead
  • The difference between the ringleader and someone carrying every act themselves
  • Why being across everything feels like competence, but works against you over time
  • What tends to happen to a team the moment a leader who's been holding everything steps back
  • A question worth sitting with: which parts of your circus were never yours to own in the first place
  • Where to find my free five-minute Collective Brilliance self-assessment

Other references

Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/

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Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/

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trailer Welcome to Dig Deeper with Digby Scott
00:03:15