The strongest leaders are the ones who can stay grounded long enough to notice what matters, regulate themselves under pressure, and create enough trust that others are willing to move with them through uncertainty. When a crisis comes, panic can follow. And if leaders lose trust, chaos will ensue.

In this conversation on the Leading with Instinct podcast, Katie Navarra-Bradley, Professional Facilitator and Leadership Coach with Katie the Coach, and Ginny Telego, President of Collaboration Partners, share a personal conversation centered around a real wildfire evacuation experience in Colorado. Ginny walks listeners through the emotional reality of seeing smoke near her home, the memories it triggered from previously losing her home in a fire, and the leadership lessons that surfaced as she prepared to evacuate her horses before an official order was ever given.

Together, they connect the experience to business leadership, emotional regulation, trust, decision-making, and how leaders navigate uncertainty in real time. These are real leadership situations businesses face every day, including crises, emergencies, organizational uncertainty, and moments where teams take emotional cues from the leader before they ever hear the words being spoken.

This episode challenges leaders to think about where uncertainty currently exists in their own leadership, how they communicate during pressure, and whether they are creating trust or simply demanding compliance.

Takeaways

– Leadership under pressure begins with regulating yourself before trying to lead others

– Trust built before a crisis determines how people respond during one

– Horses respond to energy before commands. People often do too

– “Notice, decide, move, lead” creates clarity during uncertainty

– Presence and emotional awareness help leaders avoid panic-driven decisions

– Calm direction creates trust far more effectively than forced compliance

– Leaders need a “North Star” they can return to during uncertainty

– Pausing before communicating during a crisis can completely change outcomes

– Emotional congruence matters as people sense what leaders are truly feeling

– Small moments of intentional leadership practice prepare us for bigger challenges later

The Leading With Instinct Podcast is brought to you by Collaboration Partners and KatieTheCoach.com.

Chapters

00:57 Introduction

01:27 Stories from a Colorado Wildfire

07:39 Past Experiences with Loss from Fire

10:18 Presence during Crisis

18:38 Navigating Our Emotions

29:07 Forced Compliance vs Earning Trust

38:29 Closing Thoughts/Channeling Your Inner Ginny

Helpful Links:

Katie Navarra-Bradley, Katie The Coach: https://katiethecoach.com/

Ginny Telego, Collaboration Partners: https://www.thecollaborationpartners.com/

We’ve all noticed it. Maybe we’ve even felt it ourselves. Something feels off…but no one says a word. The meeting moves forward, heads nod, decisions get made. Yet, underneath it all, there’s hesitation, concern, even disagreement that never surfaces. It looks like alignment. But sometimes, it’s something far more dangerous. Strategic silence can cripple an organization.

In this conversation on the Leading with Instinct podcast, Katie Navarra-Bradley, Professional Facilitator and Leadership Coach with Katie the Coach, and Ginny Telego, President of Collaboration Partners, unpack the concept of “strategic silence,” inspired by a Benjamin Laker article in Forbes Magazine on why employees stop speaking up and why leaders often miss it.

Strategic silence is a hidden cost in organizations, from lost trust to wasted time and massive financial impact. And it can happen to leaders as well as employees, in themselves, and in how they encourage their team to share and engage.

Takeaways

– Strategic silence isoften self-protection from risk, judgment, or consequence

– When leaders ignore or dismiss input, people stop speaking up altogether

– Silence in teams creates hidden costs such as lost time, poor decisions, and damaged trust

– People may withhold ideas out of fear, especially in environments of uncertainty (like AI and job security)

– Leaders must actively notice who isn’t speaking as well as who is

– Asking better questions (“What are we missing?”) invites real input vs. surface-level agreement

– Horses model shared awareness, where everyone notices, and every signal matters

– When concerns are acknowledged, confidence and trust in leadership increase

– Internalizing unspoken concerns drains energy and impacts performance

The Leading With Instinct Podcast is brought to you by Collaboration Partners and KatieTheCoach.com.

Chapters

00:48 Introduction

02:47 Horses Speak Their Minds

10:32 AI’s Influence on Strategic Silence

13:02 The Cost of Strategic Silence

21:00 Encouraging Sharing

27:11 Noticing Tensions and Risks

32:40 Listen to the Silence

37:59 Closing Thoughts

Helpful Links:

Katie Navarra-Bradley, Katie The Coach: https://katiethecoach.com/

Ginny Telego, Collaboration Partners: https://www.thecollaborationpartners.com/

When one thing has ended, and another needs to begin, it can be easy to feel stuck. You can feel the pull to move forward, but uncertainty, hesitation, and competing energy make it hard to act. That in-between space can feel uncomfortable. It can also be the place where real momentum begins.

In this conversation on the Leading with Instinct podcast, Katie Navarra-Bradley, Professional Facilitator and Leadership Coach with Katie the Coach, and Ginny Telego, President of Collaboration Partners, explore what the Year of the Fire Horse represents for leaders stepping into 2026. They talk about movement, freedom, and intentional forward motion—and how horses model these qualities every day. It is an invitation to move with clarity instead of pressure.

Change is hard, but usually necessary. Often, leaders know it, but can’t move forward. Katie and Ginny explore how leaders can recognize what gives them energy, what drains it, and how intentional choices create sustainable progress rather than burnout.

Shedding your 2025 “Year of the Snake” skin might be hard to do, but it’s important. The Year of the Horse is about understanding when you’re ready to move, trusting your instincts, and stepping forward with clarity, confidence, focus and purpose.

Takeaways

— Letting go is the first step, while the next step forward requires clarity

— Forward motion is easy to do if you will simply do it

— Uncertainty is part of change. It’s a sign that you’re paying attention to what matters.

— Energy misalignment creates chaos for people and teams

— Horses model how intention regulates momentum

— Leaders must consider what gives energy and what drains it

— Sustainable progress comes from clarity instead of coming from urgency

— Self-permission often unlocks the next step

— Change works best when others are brought along thoughtfully

The Leading With Instinct Podcast is brought to you by Collaboration Partners and KatieTheCoach.com.

Chapters

00:32 — Introduction/Shedding the Old Skin

07:50 — From Snake to Fire Horse

15:31— Ready for Hard Change

22:03 —Creating Forward Motion

34:26— Questions to Ask Yourself if Stuck

Helpful Links:

Katie Navarra-Bradley, Katie The Coach: https://katiethecoach.com/

Ginny Telego, Collaboration Partners: https://www.thecollaborationpartners.com/