Leadership Lab: Confidence Skills, Emotional Intelligence, and Career Growth for Women Leaders

Positive Intelligence for Women Leaders: How to Name Your Saboteur and Take Back Control

The voice telling you you're not ready? It has a name. And you can stop it. Positive Intelligence for women leaders is the framework Jamie McKinney wished she had found sooner. She found it at the lowest point of her life, and when it worked where everything else had failed, she knew it had to be part of the Leadership Lab. Through the story of Sydney, a driven and capable woman who spent 11 months rehearsing a conversation with her boss and never had it, Jamie breaks down why the gap is rarely about skill. It's about thought patterns. And thought patterns are completely changeable. She introduces PQ, the mental fitness framework that sits underneath both IQ and EQ, and explains why it's the most malleable of the three. You'll learn how to spot the saboteur voice in your head, how to measure where you stand with a PQ Score Assessment, and how to use a five-step operating system to stop reacting and start responding. Sydney's score went from 23 to 74 in three months. Same woman, same job, same boss. Different mental operating system. This is the episode for anyone who knows they're capable of more but keeps getting in their own way. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Why Your Mindset Is the Real Career Barrier 02:26 How Negative Thoughts Work (And Why You Have More Power Than You Think) 04:53 Sydney's Story: When Self-Doubt Blocks Career Growth 07:19 What Is Positive Intelligence for Women Leaders 09:45 How to Read Your PQ Score 11:53 How Sydney Went from a 23 to a 74 in Three Months 14:19 PQ Reps: Your Mental Fitness Workout 32:56 Saboteur vs. Sage: Hyperachiever and Stickler Compared 37:40 The Five-Step PQ Operating System 41:03 How to Hear Your Saboteur and Steer It 45:25 Take the Free PQ Score Assessment and Saboteur Quiz Connect with Jamie McKinney: Take the PQ assessments [http://www.jamiemckinney.com/pq_assessments] Visit Jamie's website [http://www.jamiemckinney.com/lab] Follow Jamie on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/jamie_empowers/] Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm [http://hivecast.fm]

Emotional Intelligence: The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the gap holding most ambitious women back - not IQ, not strategy, not credentials, not work ethic. Host Jamie McKinney believes EQ is the leadership skill almost no one was taught, and it's quietly keeping talented women from the next step in their careers.  The good news? EQ is a skill. You can learn it and grow it. Through the story of Kate, a high performer who landed a major promotion and then quietly started to unravel, Jamie shares why emotional intelligence is the foundation most leadership programs skip. She breaks down the two pillars of EQ you have the most control over, plus four shifts you can use before your next high-stakes moment. The episode also digs into why EQ beats IQ as a predictor of leadership success, and why that gap keeps widening. As AI takes over more of the cognitive work, emotional intelligence becomes the skill that keeps you relevant and hard to replace. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 What a Weighted Vest Teaches Us About Emotional Intelligence 07:12 Growing Into a Bigger Role and Why Discomfort Is Normal 09:33 What No One Ever Taught Us About Emotions and Leadership 11:52 The Four Pillars of EQ and Where to Start 14:10 Why EQ Outperforms IQ in the Age of AI 16:28 The Difference Between a Real Threat and a Perceived One 21:10 The Hidden Cost of Low EQ on Your Career and Your Team 23:31 Curiosity vs Judgment: The Identity Shift That Changes Everything 25:58 How to Use Your Emotions as Data Points Instead of Liabilities 28:10 Shift 1: Name the Vest Before High-Stakes Moments 30:20 Shift 2 and 3: Separate Fact From Fear and Regulate Before You Respond 32:46 Shift 4: The Curiosity Move That Keeps You in the Driver's Seat 35:13 Kate's Turning Point and the Free EQ Assessment Connect with Jamie McKinney: Visit the Leadership Lab website [http://jamiemckinney.com/lab] Follow Jamie on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/jamie_empowers/] Take the EQ Quiz [http://jamiemckinney.com/EQ_quiz] Listen to the previous episode - Identifying and owning your gifts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/identifying-and-owning-your-gifts/id1834448027?i=1000744446084] Book references: (1) The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher (2) Open to Work: How to Get Ahead in the Age of AI by Aneesh Raman and Ryan Roslansky Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm [http://hivecast.fm]

Identifying and owning your gifts

Welcome back to the Leadership Lab, labcats! In today’s episode, host Jamie McKinney dives into one of her favorite topics—uncovering and owning your unique strengths, gifts, and superpowers. Too often, especially for women, we downplay or overlook what makes us truly exceptional, assuming everyone has the same abilities. But as Jamie McKinney reminds us, the qualities and skills that come naturally to you are exactly what fuel your growth, your happiness, and your indispensability at work. Through inspiring stories, practical prompts, and actionable experiments, Jamie McKinney helps listeners recognize those “hit it to me” skills—the things you do with confidence, joy, and natural flair. Learn how to flex these strengths, build energy and resilience even during tough seasons, and communicate your value to managers and teams. Whether you’re looking to boost your leadership, create more visibility at work, or simply feel more lit up by what you do every day, this episode has the encouragement and tools you need to claim your superpowers and put them into action. Let’s get ready to name it, claim it, and bring your strengths to the forefront—because when you own what makes you brilliant, everyone wins!

Financial well-being

Welcome to episode 15 of the Leadership Lab podcast! In this special conversation, Jamie McKinney sits down with financial experts Kathleen Phillips and Chelsea Kessler to tackle a topic that is often overlooked in leadership circles: financial confidence and security. As women who grew up hearing that money talk was taboo, our hosts and guests break down those old paradigms to show how mastering your finances directly fuels your leadership skills and personal confidence. You’ll hear inspiring stories of women who transformed their financial lives, practical advice on managing debt and savings, the difference between saving and investing, and concrete steps for building a spending plan that feels both empowering and aligned with what matters most. Kathleen Phillips and Chelsea Kessler share the lessons they learned through their own life experiences, and reveal how working with a trusted advisor can offer clarity, confidence, and accountability - without judgment or complexity. Whether you’re single, partnered, just starting your financial journey or looking to refine it, this episode is packed with strategies and mindset shifts to help you take control of your money, and leadership future. Get ready to learn, experiment, and grow in both wealth and well-being! We'd love to hear from you! For comments or to explore opportunities to partner, please contact us at Contact@JamieMcKinney.com.  Download your personal budget template here [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xo1Jr0AmGWmUOEtM3JzxyRvuA3CRU5Ri/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117665671517551351124&rtpof=true&sd=true]

Leadership vs Management: Mindset Shifts Every Aspiring Leader Should Know

Welcome back to the Leadership Lab, the podcast where leadership is approached as an experiment, and growth is the ultimate goal! In this episode, host Jamie McKinney welcomes Ryan Castle, co-founder of Level 10 Leaders - a global leadership development system praised for helping leaders focus on what truly matters. With stories from the front lines of leadership transformation, Ryan shares inspiring case studies of real-life mindset shifts, from turning around a “grumpy” team member to preparing organizations for explosive growth in unpredictable times. Jamie and Ryan dive deep into the crucial distinction between management and leadership mindsets, exploring how leaders can foster self-awareness, create space for others, and master both the strategic “big picture” and the nitty-gritty of execution. Ryan also opens up about his personal routines for managing stress and bringing positive energy to his team, while offering actionable advice for aspiring and experienced leaders alike. Whether you’re moving into a leadership role, wanting to build a stronger team, or just looking for inspiration to lead, this episode is packed with practical wisdom and encouraging stories. So get ready to pause, observe, choose, and take your leadership skills to the next level! https://www.level10leaders.com/ https://www.level10leaders.com/the-active-manager-book