Lead Well! with Christine Schickinger

What happens to your judgment when you feel you have to prove that you belong in the room?

Consultant and author Alan Weiss joins me to discuss self-worth, confidence, and leadership under pressure. He shares the story of a decisive meeting with a CEO and explains why he believes fear, stress, and guilt can mask our talent. We also explore how to recover from setbacks, whose feedback to trust, and what accountability looks like when a leader has limited authority. I ask him about the cost of unpopular decisions, and what to do when pressure makes your mind go blank....

Fear of missing out doesn’t always mean wanting something you’ve never considered. Sometimes, someone else’s decision makes what you’re already doing feel like it isn’t enough.

When a friend started studying psychology, I immediately began looking for a degree program myself. I was already learning about psychology through reading and training, but suddenly I wanted the qualification too. A closed enrollment window gave me time to remember something I had wanted for much longer.

In this episode of Lead Well! Yourself and Others, I explore FOMO, social comparison, and the pressure to keep achieving, even when part of you is...

What if the voice telling you that you are not good enough is not the truth, but an old recording?

Nasheer Mohammad grew up with epilepsy and gradually came to believe that he was broken and would always be limited. Years later, during his first corporate presentation, his mind went blank and the familiar message returned: “You are not good enough.” That moment helped him recognize how strongly his inner dialogue was shaping his choices.

Today, Nasheer is an author, speaker and coach, as well as the author of The Silent Saboteur. In this conversation, we explore where the inner...

What are you chasing, and why?

For years, Sonny Garg had an impressive answer to the first part of that question. Harvard, a White House Fellowship, executive leadership and ever greater professional success. But eventually he realized that achievement had become closely tied to his sense of self-worth.

Sonny is the author of *Desi 2.0: My Family’s American Dream and the Cost of Never Being Enough*. In this conversation, we talk about achievement addiction, inherited expectations and what happens when external success no longer feels like success.

We explore the difference between ambition and the need to prove yourself, how...