946: LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES: 7 Ways to Rise When Your Boss Holds You Down

Shameless Leadership

Sara Dean

Education, Management, How To, Business, Self-improvement

4.7 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sometimes your boss is the biggest obstacle to your leadership growth. Whether they’re dismissive, manipulative, or flat-out toxic, their behavior or opinion of you does not define your worth. After watching too many women leaders suffer under harmful male leadership recently, it feels crucial to share actionable strategies to help you trust your instincts and keep your intuition grounded in truth. It’s time for you to reclaim your power even in environments designed to diminish it.When your boss won’t advocate for you, it’s time to advocate for yourself—boldly and strategically. In this episode, I share how to get visible beyond your direct boss, surround yourself with mentors and allies, and cultivate your leadership brand regardless of what your boss says (or doesn’t say) about you. You’ll learn how to set unapologetic boundaries, document manipulative behavior, and protect your emotional safety. We talk about how to navigate power dynamics with intention. By understanding your boss’s motivations and insecurities, you can learn to protect your own energy and make more informed, strategic choices about how to engage. This clarity will allow you to choose your battles wisely, preserve your peace, and lead yourself first. In doing so, you will model a more grounded and powerful style of leadership for those around you, even in the absence of support from above.Remember, you always have a choice. Sometimes, navigating a “strategic stay” is the right move for right now. Other times, the best thing you can do is leave. This episode is an invitation for you to consider what growth, alignment, and success look like on your terms. Because even when you’re being held down, you are still leading. Your job is not to shrink in the shadows of someone else’s smallness. Your job is to stand tall in your truth, build your brand, and be the leader of your life. Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at [email protected]. Links Mentioned: Women Business Owners, join me for a free business building workshop on July 16th, Focused & Fierce: Lead with Purpose and Build Your Business in a Noisy World: saradean.com/fierce Hire me to speak: saradean.com/speaking Coach with me: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Enough from the Tragl.
0:02.0	Spiele Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4 and grinds as if it's 2002.
0:08.0	A legendary remake of original games with 9 parks, crasser tricks, platform-overgreifed multiplayer
0:14.0	and ab-gaffirned new game modi.
0:17.0	Holt you the new Tony Harks Pro Skater 3 and 4 and
0:20.0	and the world, the shreds never.
0:23.1	Now, now, on Tony Hawk thegame.com,
0:25.9	Shrekstri, Play Now.
0:27.5	Avfugable from the 11th, July.
0:33.9	Welcome to Shameless Leadership.
0:36.0	I'm your host, Sarah Dean.
0:54.7	This show is for women, transgender people, non-binary folks, as well as allies, who are committed to advancing their leadership while also advancing the leadership of those around them. In each episode, we will offer practical tips, leadership strategies, and inspiring stories to help you become a more confident, compassionate,
1:00.5	and inclusive leader. The truth is, you were born to lead. What might happen for you if you were to wholeheartedly embrace that part of yourself? So let's start now together.
1:05.6	Hello, shameless leaders. I'm thrilled to be here with you today, even though we're talking about
1:09.7	something pretty challenging, but also very necessary. The topic we're going to be talking about today is around
1:15.3	toxic leadership and how to rise, even when your boss is holding you back or holding you down.
1:21.9	And the reason we're talking about this is because I've been in too many calls, coaching call
1:27.2	situations or conversations with people at events where I've been in too many calls, coaching call situations or conversations with people
1:29.4	at events where I've heard women talk about the way that their bosses are holding them back,
1:36.0	the way that their male bosses specifically are holding them back, creating toxic work environments,
1:39.9	creating leadership dynamics that are not just frustrating, but also inappropriate, also harmful,
1:46.2	also abusive. And in these conversations, I feel this immediate mama bear instinct, this immediate
	...

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