The Open Line

Honest conversations. Real presence. Leadership people want to follow.

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The moment a client stopped rehearsing and started leading.

“You gotta help me with this performance review I’m doing tomorrow!”

She was so worried about it. I could see the tension in her shoulders, her face, and hear it in the rushed tone as she launched into just how difficult this employee — this conversation — was going to be.

The employee was passive aggressive. A long-timer resisting a recent reorg and culture shift. Someone trying to rest on their laurels instead of adapting to changes.

My client was stuck in that classic tension:

How do I say the hard things without making it worse?

Ah yes — the ol’ difficult-conversation conversation.

No matter how many performance reviews we’ve done, the tough ones still take over our nervous systems. We rehearse the opening lines instead of counting sheep. We schedule them at the end of the day so we don’t have to see the person afterward, but then struggle to concentrate on anything else leading up to it.

This client was no different. She came in with ideas for what to say, even floated the “feedback sandwich.” And yet before she even finished forming the sentence, she shook her head:

“Nope. That approach just feels wrong.”

I encouraged her to lean into that.

“What about it feels wrong?”

She paused, then said: “It hides the real issue… it feels like manipulating her. I don’t want to be that kind of manager.”

Now we were getting somewhere.

“What kind of manager do you want to be?”

She leaned back. Looked off for a moment. Then described a leader who is unmistakably grounded.

A leader who inspires growth. A leader who supports through clarity and collaboration. A leader who is trusted — not because she avoids the hard things, but because she cares enough to speak truthfully and calmly.

Suddenly, the scripts felt wrong. Not because they were “bad,” but because they didn’t align with the leader she was becoming.

What felt right was her centered, grounded presence.

She gave herself space to explore options. She remembered her own strengths. She honored her meditation practice. Even making time for our coaching call was an act of listening to herself.

By tuning into her intuition, her values, and her vision for who she is becoming as a leader, she found she didn’t need tactics at all.

She found clarity and presence. She found her leadership lens.

We can’t lead others if we’re ignoring ourselves.
We can’t hear others if our own fear is too loud.

I spend a lot of time teaching leaders how to listen so others feel safe, seen, and supported. What’s wild is that the exact same things build safety inside ourselves.

When she trusted her own potential, she created connection — to herself. When she gave herself a powerful pause, she created space to think. When she returned to her meditation practice, she signaled she deserved care.

She listened to herself. She led herself. And that created the capacity for a far more grounded, effective conversation.

If you want to enter 2026 with that same grounded leadership presence — the kind that doesn’t get rattled by tough conversations — I’d love to help.

Start with a Presence Power Session — a 90-minute deep dive that gives you clarity, calm, and the communication lens you’ve been missing.

And in the meantime, the resources below will help you explore this work at your own pace.

Quiet Signals

(Try these as journaling prompts)

• What am I feeling and what is that trying to tell me?
• Where in my leadership do I feel out of alignment?
• If I removed the fear of disappointing others, what choice would I make?
• What's one decision would future-me want to thank me for making now?
• What do i need to feel safe enough to lead today?​
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Signal Boosts

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Hi there! I'm Jackie. I help thoughtful people turn clarity + connection into the kind of leadership others want to follow. ​LinkedIn Website​