962: La Tonya Roberts: Being Authentic vs Being “Good” as a Woman Leader

Shameless Leadership

Sara Dean

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

4.7 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One of the trickiest parts of leadership for women, and even more so for women of color, is the tension between being authentic and being “good”. When we focus on being “good,” we often self-sacrifice and push ourselves to uphold someone else’s vision of who we “should” be as a leader. This can be exhausting, unsustainable, and even damaging to our sense of self over time. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to discuss this topic with La Tonya Roberts. La Tonya Roberts is the CEO of Harmony Consulting Group, where she transforms growth-focused organizations into high-performing businesses as a Fractional COO and HR Consultant. Drawing from 18+ years of experience across 30 countries, she helps companies scale operations, build inclusive cultures, and develop leadership teams that drive growth. Listen in to hear La Tonya share: Her pivotal moment of inviting women to be vulnerable in order to find their own form of authentic leadership Why leaders need to be “real people” to the people they lead How being vulnerable as a black single mom impacted her ability to be a more authentic leader Why leaders need to be able to see and hear what is and IS NOT being said How she made herself fit the mold of a “good leader” for many years and then broke the mold to find her authentic voice and a higher level of success How to get what you need as a woman leader to thrive in any given role. Links Mentioned: Connect with La Tonya: harmonyconsultinggroup.org La Tonya on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/la-tonya-roberts La Tonya on Instagram: instagram.com/coachlatonyaroberts La Tonya on Facebook: facebook.com/coachlatonyaroberts [TIME SENSITIVE] Join Sara’s Aligned Leadership Incubator: saradean.com/aligned Hire Sara to speak: saradean.com/speaking Coach with Sara: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services Connect with Sara 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	Welcome to shameless leadership. I'm your host, Sarah Dean. 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
0:21.9	stories to help you become a more confident, compassionate, and inclusive leader. The truth is,
0:27.5	you were born to lead. What might happen for you if you were to wholeheartedly embrace that
0:32.2	part of yourself? So let's start now, together. Hello, Shameless Leaders. In this episode of Shameless Leadership, I'm talking to Latanya Roberts about authenticity and vulnerability in leadership.
0:44.4	Latanya Roberts is the CEO of Harmony Consulting Group, where she transforms growth-focused
0:49.5	organizations into high-performing businesses as a fractional COO and HR consultant. Drawing from 18 plus years of experience across 30 countries, she helps companies scale
0:59.7	operations build inclusive cultures and develop leadership teams that drive growth.
1:04.9	I love this conversation with Latanya.
1:07.4	I love talking about authentic leadership and vulnerability and how it can
1:11.2	amplify our leadership rather than hold us back. And so when we think about being more
1:16.3	authentic in our leadership, it really is thinking through, how can I be vulnerable in a way
1:20.3	that makes me better as a leader, that makes people want to walk alongside me, that makes
1:25.4	people feel safe around me, and also that allows people to do
1:28.3	their greatest work because of the authentic way that I show up, because of the way that I can model
1:33.8	vulnerability and a way that allows other people to be vulnerable enough to do their best work,
1:38.3	because we know that vulnerability is required to do our best work. So listen into Latanya
1:43.6	share her pivotal moment of inviting
1:45.5	women to be vulnerable in order to find their own form of authentic leadership. Why leaders need
1:50.4	to be real people to the people that they lead. How being vulnerable as a single black mom
1:55.3	impacted her ability to be a more authentic leader. Why leaders need to be able to see and hear what
2:00.4	is and is not
2:02.2	being said, maybe more importantly the what is not being said part, how she made herself
	...

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