Leadership Sovereignty Podcast: Career Growth and Promotion

There is a difference between responding and reacting. One comes from your calm space. The other comes from your emotional self. Most professionals never learn which one they are doing.

In this episode of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, host Ralph Owens and co-host Terry Baylor close out their five-part conversation with Amethyst Roberson β€” author, speaker, and emotional intelligence strategist. This is Part 5 of 5.

Amethyst breaks down the I noticed micro-skill, the emotional wheel framework, and why catching burnout before it starts requires intentional daily awareness β€” not just annual vacations. She also shares why asking a trusted person "what do you see in me that I can't see in myself" may be the most powerful leadership development practice available to any professional.

What you will learn in this episode:
- The difference between responding and reacting β€” and how to catch yourself in real time
- The I noticed micro-skill and how it creates an intentional pause in your day
- How to use an emotional wheel to build deeper self-awareness on your team
- Why burnout is predictable β€” and what to do about it before it starts
- How to invite feedback that shows you your blind spots

This episode is for you if:
- You react under pressure and want to lead from a calmer, more strategic place
- You want practical tools to build emotional intelligence at work
- You lead a team and want to create psychological safety through vulnerability
- You are protecting your capacity heading into a high-pressure season

πŸ‘€ View Amethyst Roberson's guest profile

🧾 Chapters
  • (00:09) - Introduction to Leadership Sovereignty
  • (02:05) - Enhancing Self-Care Through Awareness
  • (04:07) - The Challenge of Emotional Expression
  • (08:20) - Final Thoughts on Capacity and Well-Being
  • (09:32) - Connecting with Amethyst Roberson

***********************************

πŸ“Ί Watch This Episode on YouTube
Click here to watch the full video of this episode.

***********************************

🌐 Visit the Leadership Sovereignty Hub
Everything you need to lead with clarity, confidence, and strategy β€” in one place.

https://www.leadershipsovereignty.com

- Listen to or watch our full episode library
- Download free leadership frameworks, guides, and tools
- Read in-depth show notes and guest takeaways
- Submit your leadership questions or episode topic suggestions

***********************************

πŸ“© Get Every Episode Delivered to Your Inbox
Join the Leadership Sovereignty newsletter and get new episodes, leadership insights, and exclusive resources β€” plus get instant access to our free AI Toolkit: the practical guide smart professionals use to think clearer, communicate better, and make smarter decisions at work.

*Sign up for our newsletter*

***********************************

⭐ Help a Leader Find This Show
If this episode added value to your leadership journey, take 60 seconds to leave a rating or review. Every review puts this content in front of another professional who needs it.

🟣 Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts
🟒 Leave a Rating on Spotify
✍️ Leave a written Review

***********************************

πŸ” Know Someone Who Needs to Hear This?
Share this episode with a colleague, mentor, or team member who would benefit from this conversation. Leadership grows when we invest in the people around us.

***********************************

πŸ“² Follow the Conversation
Stay connected and join the leadership conversation on social media.

▢️ YouTube
πŸ”— LinkedIn
πŸ“Έ Instagram
🎡 TikTok
🧡 Threads
🐦 X
πŸ“˜ Facebook

***********************************

🎀 Work With Ralph & Terry
Looking for dynamic speakers for your next event or leadership summit? Ralph and Terry bring executive-level insight, real-world leadership strategy, and an engaging presence that moves audiences to action.
*Connect with us*

***********************************

πŸ’° Support Independent Leadership Media
This show is independently produced to keep the content unfiltered and audience-first. If these conversations are helping you lead better, your support directly funds the next conversation.
β˜… Support this podcast β˜…

***********************************

πŸ“„ Full Episode Transcript

Creators and Guests

Guest
Amethyst Roberson
As a Licensed Professional Therapist, National Certified Counselor, and a seasoned educator in mental health and personal growth, she helps individuals and organizations navigate emotional wellness challenges. Her approach empowers clients to master their mental health, clarify their goals, and create actionable strategies for sustainable growth.

What is Leadership Sovereignty Podcast: Career Growth and Promotion?

The Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, hosted by Ralph E. Owens II and co-hosted by Terry Baylor, is a career acceleration platform

Leadership isn’t just a skill β€” it’s a career strategy for professionals seeking growth, influence, and promotion.

Hosted by Ralph Owens, Chief Information Officer, and Terry Baylor, CEO of a healthcare technology startup, the podcast delivers practical, real-world leadership strategies you can apply immediately. Each episode focuses on increasing visibility, navigating corporate dynamics, preparing for promotion, and leading beyond your title.

Expect short, high-impact conversations designed to help you think, act, and position yourself like a senior leader before you’re given the title.

You’re not just an employee. You’re the CEO of your career.

New episodes are released bi-weekly.

Amethyst Roberson:

For me professionally in my clinical setting, that's probably one of the toughest things for people to do is share how they're feeling in the moments. What do you see in me? What is your awareness of me and how I'm coming off? Like I think I'm coming off one way. Notice when I'm responding versus reacting to very different things.

Amethyst Roberson:

When I'm responding, I'm coming from that calm space. When I'm reacting, I'm coming from my emotional self.

Ralph Owens:

Welcome to the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, where professionals learn to navigate challenges at work through the power of leadership principles. I'm Ralph Owens, Chief Information Officer in the financial services industry alongside my cohost Terry Baylor, the CEO of a healthcare tech startup. Together we've spent decades building teams, transforming organizations and coaching individuals through the moments that define their careers. We unpack the mindset, strategies and habits that help you lead with confidence, expand your influence, get promoted and increase your income. Now let's dive into today's episode.

Amethyst Roberson:

And for men, there may be additional things that men can do. Football, that's a big one. Sports, that's so important. It's a game, but it's part of self care, immersing yourself in that. But while you're doing that, think about your five senses.

Amethyst Roberson:

What am I doing? Not just watching the game, but how am I enhancing my capacity through this game? I'm yelling and screaming and hollering. That's important. But we do that at home, but how can we do that at work?

Amethyst Roberson:

What can we put into place? So those are some ideas on what you can do to enhance that area.

Terry Baylor:

I love that framework. Love that framework. Love that framework. Yes. Yeah, Nick, you got me thinking, I'm like, man, how am I gonna do this?

Amethyst Roberson:

Yeah, yeah. It takes It takes time to relearn, to think about what's needed for yourself individually.

Terry Baylor:

Gotcha. So as we wrap up, let's talk about the leadership mindset for 2026. Can you walk us through the I noticed micro skill that you mentioned in the other conversation? How does that one phrase help a leader stay aware enough to catch burnout before it starts?

Amethyst Roberson:

Some of what we just talked about, it goes into the I noticed part because it's how we intentionally slow down our system. And those five senses are key even when you're noticing, I noticed the bird out on the tree. And I always challenge people, when was the last time you stopped and washed a bird? It's been a long time. Your system is catching that data.

Amethyst Roberson:

It's telling you you're treating yourself well. It's telling you you're taking time for it. Because if you think of the opposite, if you think negatively all day and I think one of you said perception, that perception is built upon the data that we catch every day, right? That's how people build perceptions. So if I'm in an office with a window, I'm upstanding, looking out the window, I'm noticing if it's raining, but I'm actually sharing that with somebody.

Amethyst Roberson:

And that's where the conversation comes in. So noticing creates an intentional pause. It creates an intentional hibernation every day. We're not bears, we don't go hibernating, but it creates the hibernation effect so that we are rejuvenated. Noticing what habits I have that are healthy, that are not healthy.

Amethyst Roberson:

Notice when I'm responding versus reacting very different things. When I'm responding, I'm coming from that calm space. When I'm reacting, I'm coming from my emotional self. I'm coming from happy mass and glad. And that's another thing too.

Amethyst Roberson:

I always say, get an emotional wheel. That's a good way to really understand where you have developed emotionally. Because we talk a lot about happy, mad, sad, glad, angry, those top five, right? But there are thousands of emotions that we have to tap into in the boardroom, athletes, and for me professionally in my clinical setting, that's probably one of the toughest things for people to do is share how they're feeling in the moment. So noticing is, want you to look inside and notice how you're feeling.

Amethyst Roberson:

How are you feeling today? And that's often very difficult for a team, for a client to really voice. Again, versus what I can see, So here's a team setting, here's a team activity. You get this big wheel, emotional wheel, put it in the middle of the table or at the board in front. I want everybody to share how you're feeling and allow them to look at this wheel or give them each one of them a wheel.

Amethyst Roberson:

I want you to share how you're feeling. You're gonna get so many different feelings coming out of people that you didn't see with them just being honest. So that's how I, I guess foster the idea of noticing by what we see in our senses and activities like that emotional wheel so that you can understand in a vulnerability way what's going on internally and with your team.

Terry Baylor:

That is so powerful. You also talked about a situation where you gave the example of ask somebody who's close to you, what do you notice in me? Talk a little bit about Yeah. That

Amethyst Roberson:

Definitely with somebody that you trust.

Terry Baylor:

Okay.

Amethyst Roberson:

That's definitely a team building activity as well. But that comes from just, I mean, I think that came from me personally and I'm married. So me and my spouse just making sure we do check ins. It's not easy for men in particular to share their emotions. Again, men weren't necessarily conditioned to share their emotions.

Amethyst Roberson:

I feel happy today, that's probably not gonna happen too much. But you see it happening, right? You see it happening. But when it comes to the idea of relationships, marriage, business, you want to hear that, right? So that feedback, that connectedness comes from both parties sharing, what do you see in me?

Amethyst Roberson:

How do you see this? Someone said awareness today. What is your awareness of me and how I'm coming off? Like, I think I'm coming off one way. It's kind of like the Jahar's window effect, meaning there's different views.

Amethyst Roberson:

If I have a window over here, you all can't see that window, right? Why? Because it's out of view. I have a door over here, you can't see that, it's out of view. So I want that person to share what's out of view, out of my view.

Terry Baylor:

Right.

Amethyst Roberson:

Because I don't know what can come from that way and so that's really what I meant by that and how I apply that in my sessions, to apply that in my own life.

Terry Baylor:

Sure.

Amethyst Roberson:

Tell me from the view that you see, how well I'm doing. You get a lot of feedback, you get some good feedback, you get some bad feedback. But you take that data and you can improve who you are. Again, character and capacity both can be improved through that information that you get from that trusted person.

Terry Baylor:

That's awesome. That's awesome. That's so good. That is so good. That is so good.

Terry Baylor:

Man, well, covered a lot today.

Ralph Owens:

It's been a

Terry Baylor:

great Yes, been really good. It's been really good. It's been really good. Well, as a closing reflection, final thought or insight, do you have any final thoughts or insights that you would like to share with leaders that they can carry with them as they go about protecting their mental, emotional, and physical capacity for the year?

Amethyst Roberson:

Yeah, I would just reiterate what we've talked about today and know your capacity, understand your condition better. So if that's going to therapy, if that's getting with a trusted person, if that's you just reading a book, reading a book is still good, audio books, learning more about who you are and how you connect to this world, knowing that it's an inside job as well as an outside job when it comes to emotional intelligence and that that is reflected differently in men and women, that's reflected different in the boardroom versus an athlete versus the clinical room. Burnout is real and it's not going anywhere. So do something about it. You know, it's predictable and it's something that we can currently do something about.

Amethyst Roberson:

So your capacity, your condition and your encourages is just so important in this season.

Terry Baylor:

Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic.

Ralph Owens:

So Amethyst, if someone wanted to get in touch with you, how would they do that?

Amethyst Roberson:

First and last name, amethystroberson dot com. Yep, that will be the best way to go to the website. I have a lot of resources and current events that I'll be doing in the near future.

Terry Baylor:

Awesome. Awesome. And are you taking new clients right now?

Amethyst Roberson:

I'm taking clients. I'm actually starting a group therapy session soon. So all of that information will be on my website as well. But keep in mind also, am licensed in Florida and Missouri. So for clinical purposes, clients are only, they have to live in Florida or Missouri, but for coaching, pretty much every state.

Terry Baylor:

All right, awesome, awesome. Any social media platforms you're on?

Ralph Owens:

You know what, if you just Google my name,

Amethyst Roberson:

you'll see all of them. All of them popped up. Everything's under Amethyst Roberson.

Terry Baylor:

Okay, perfect, perfect. We'll make sure that we put that in the show notes as well so that everybody knows how to get in contact with Shinriqiu. But fantastic, fantastic show. Great way to start off the new year, working on ourselves internally so that we can be the best for other people. So thank you so much for sharing your gift with the world and being a guest on our podcast.

Amethyst Roberson:

Yes. Thank you all. Thank it so

Ralph Owens:

you. All right.

Terry Baylor:

Thank

Amethyst Roberson:

you. McClure. I'm a little mad at you. Go comment.

Ralph Owens:

Thank you for listening to the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast. If today's conversation helped you grow in your leadership, influence, or your career, take a moment to visit leadershipsovereignty.com. There you'll find exclusive resources, free guides, and ways to stay connected to our community of leaders who are building purpose and success. Don't forget to rate, review, and share this episode with someone who's on the rise in their career. Until next time, lead boldly, lead with purpose, and continue to walk in sovereignty.

Ralph Owens:

Take care.