Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor. I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, where we help

leaders amplify performance, dial back burnout, and lead through change that never lets us catch our breath.

If your organization or team is in need of skills, tools, or advice on making any of these happen,

please reach out today. Find out more about me at

leadabovenoise.com. And if modern mentor has sparked something for you, helped you show up

differently, or even just helped you feel a little less alone in the workplace, I'd be so

grateful if you left a quick rating or review in your podcast app. It helps others find the

show, and I'd appreciate it.

Okay, on to today's episode. So how are things for you at work these days? If I were to guess,

I'd say you've had something undesirable to deal with in recent months. Maybe you've witnessed

layoffs or hiring freeze, or a re reorg or you've lost important customers.

Things have been a little weird lately.

There's a lot of uncertainty, politically, economically.

And my clients in nearly every industry are just wading through some stuff that gets zero stars on Yelp.

And yet, we've got to keep going.

We've got to keep leading our teams through whatever is coming out us. So today, I want to talk about how we can get through this season of unpleasantness, not with magic, but maybe with

some clarity and a little bit of dignity and grace. Whether you're a leader of a

team or function or even just yourself, there's something in here for you. So first, let's begin

with some confrontation. I'm not talking about fisticuffs here. I mean, confront the reality of

the change head on. Most of the leaders I work

with are pretty excellent people, which is awesome. But the downside is they really hate

disappointing their teams. They don't want to be the bringers of bad news. So with only the best of

...