When O Means Outstanding: Rethinking Assumptions, Power, and Listening

When O Means Outstanding: Rethinking Assumptions, Power, and Listening

Share your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2539154/open_sms] A single letter changed everything. I brought home a report card full of “O’s” for Outstanding and watched my dad read them as zeros. That moment became a lifelong lesson about assumptions, authority, and what happens when certainty replaces curiosity. In this episode, I revisit that scene, a bedroom shadowed by illness and alcohol, and trace how misread signals shape the way we parent, lead, and listen. We talk about leaving room to be wrong, asking what a metric truly measures, and why credibility grows from course correction, not perfection. If you’ve ever felt unseen or unheard, this one’s for you. Off My Chest is created and hosted by Anitra St. Hilaire. If you'd like to hear more from me, sign up for my newsletter, Mirror Truth [https://newsletter.myauthentopia.com/].

When Guilt Kept Me Quiet

Share your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2539154/open_sms] A single choice to stay quiet can feel like self-protection…until it builds a wall you never meant to raise. In this episode, I share a story about leaving a role I loved and telling a boss, who was also a friend, far too late. The career move was right. The offer made sense. But the harder lesson lived in what I didn’t say soon enough, and how that silence reshaped a relationship I cared about. We’ll explore why “just what the contract requires” isn’t the whole picture when trust is involved, and how guilt and timing can quietly turn into distance. I reflect on the look that said, “I would have helped you,” and the irony that the support I needed was already there, but my own fear kept me from asking. If you’ve ever replayed the conversation you didn’t have soon enough, this one will sit with you. Off My Chest is a space to let awkward, unfinished talks breathe—because once we name them, they start to loosen their grip. Off My Chest is created and hosted by Anitra St. Hilaire. If you'd like to hear more from me, sign up for my newsletter, Mirror Truth [https://newsletter.myauthentopia.com/].

Foot-in-Mouth Leadership: When "Are You Quitting?" Goes Terribly Wrong

Share your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2539154/open_sms] I thought I was being supportive when I asked a quieter-than-usual coworker, “Are you quitting?” Instead, my attempt at empathy landed as suspicion, and it changed our relationship overnight. In this first episode of Off My Chest, I share how one well-intentioned question went terribly wrong, what it taught me about leadership and assumptions, and why conversations we misread can linger long after they’re over. If you’ve ever replayed a moment you wish you could take back, this one might feel familiar. Off My Chest is created and hosted by Anitra St. Hilaire. If you'd like to hear more from me, sign up for my newsletter, Mirror Truth [https://newsletter.myauthentopia.com/].