What if your team isn't lacking initiative—what if they've been trained to stop thinking?

Your employees have ideas. They have opinions. They're capable of solving problems. So why do so many team meetings end with everyone waiting for the boss to tell them what to do?

In this episode of Work Besties Who Podcast, Jess and Claude welcome Dr. Katie Trowbridge, award-winning educator, leadership strategist, CEO of Curiosity to Create, and author of Lead Boldly, Think Deeply.

Dr. Katie challenges one of the biggest assumptions in modern leadership: that managing people means providing all the answers.

Together, we explore what happens when leaders unintentionally reward compliance instead of curiosity, why psychological safety matters, and how simple changes in leadership behavior can help employees think independently and take ownership.

We also get personal about difficult managers, awkwardly silent team meetings, the reality of giving feedback, and why a great Work Bestie sometimes needs to tell you when you're being ridiculous.

You'll walk away with:

• A new perspective on why employees stop speaking up
• Practical ways to build trust and encourage independent thinking
• A smarter approach to team meetings and employee feedback
• Strategies for navigating leaders who shut down your ideas
• A reminder that leadership isn't about creating more followers—it's about helping people grow

Our favorite question from this conversation:

Are you the kind of leader you'd want to be led by?

Whether you're managing a team, building your career, or simply trying to survive another corporate meeting, this conversation will make you rethink what great leadership really looks like.

Connect with Dr. Katie Trowbridge:
https://curiositytocreate.org
https://katietrowbridge.com

Connect with your Work Besties:
@workbestieswhopodcast

Corporate employees by day, entrepreneurs by night, and work besties for life.

Keep supporting each other!

#Leadership #CareerDevelopment #WorkplaceCulture

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Work Besties! Theme Song Written by Ralph Lentini @therallyband

If your title disappeared tomorrow, would anyone still listen to you?

Leadership is easy to claim when the org chart says people have to listen. The real test is how people experience you when they do not have to.

In this episode, Jess and Claude break down five everyday moments that reveal what kind of leader you really are: how you respond when someone makes a mistake, when someone disagrees with you, when a quieter voice needs room, when everything is going wrong, and when someone else deserves the win.

They also share three questions to ask yourself before reacting in a difficult workplace moment:

• What am I feeling?
• What might they be experiencing?
• What does this moment need from me?

Because emotional intelligence does not mean avoiding hard conversations. Great leadership can include accountability, constructive feedback and difficult decisions — while still creating psychological safety, trust and respect.

Whether you are already managing a team, moving into leadership or simply trying to be a better coworker, leadership is happening in the little moments long before anyone gives you the title.

#Leadership #EmotionalIntelligence #LeadershipDevelopment

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Work Besties! Theme Song Written by Ralph Lentini @therallyband

We almost didn’t have an episode this week.

Then at Jess's birthday dinner — two people telling the exact same story in completely different ways — reminded us just how much the way you tell your story matters.

Because storytelling at work isn’t just for interviews or presentations. You’re telling stories every time you explain your impact, talk about how you’ve grown, show how you’ve stepped up as a leader, or simply introduce yourself to someone new.

In this episode, we break down the career stories everyone should have ready:

• Your Impact Story — what changed because you were there
• Your Growth Story — what changed in you or your team
• Your Leadership Story — when you started leading before anyone gave you the title
• Your “Meet Me” Story — the memorable story that helps people get to know the human behind the job title

Plus, Jess and Claude prove the point by telling their own Work Bestie origin story very differently — before somehow ending up with Jess the accountant and Claude the butcher.

Because whether you think you’re a storyteller or not, you’re already telling stories.

The question is: what do you want people to remember?

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You can watch the full episode on Youtube
Follow us on IG , TikTok, Threads and LinkedIn
Please rate, comment and provide suggestions for upcoming episodes

Work Besties! Theme Song Written by Ralph Lentini @therallyband