Julie Harris Oliver welcomes Dr. Kim Stepanski, an executive coach and organizational psychologist, to explore what leadership feels like right now amid rapid change, AI disruption, geopolitical volatility, and polarization. They discuss how leaders face loneliness, pressure to have answers, and the challenge of guiding teams whose perspectives are shaped by narrowing information “echo chambers.” Kim emphasizes building capacity to see beyond one’s own lens, getting comfortable with not knowing, and using reflection, connection, and community to stay grounded and humane. Julie shares practices such as acknowledging heaviness, simple meeting check-ins (e.g., green/yellow/red), and creating space for people to share what they’re carrying without leaders needing to fix it. Kim describes using small experiments, grounding tools, and peer groups—especially for senior women—to build vulnerability, perspective-taking, and support, and closes with ways to connect with her online.

00:00 Welcome to Deep Work

00:33 Meet Kim Stepanski

02:17 Why Kim Chose Coaching

04:16 Leading Right Now

06:56 Filters and Echo Chambers

09:30 Simple Human Check Ins

12:26 Coaching Tools and Experiments

15:07 Practicing the Uncomfortable

15:53 Building Leader Community

20:37 Systems and Human Centered Work

26:42 Staying Grounded and Closing