Ready to start 2026 with clarity instead of chaos? Belinda & Shelby lay out a four-move blueprint to make your first quarter productive and sane: choose a small number of strategic bets, audit and activate your influence architecture, fix friction in your systems, and lead at the pace of judgment. Rather than sprinting into January, we unpack how deliberate choices, cleaner processes, and thoughtful outreach create momentum that compounds into Q2 and Q3.

Our four tips shape a practical, leader-ready playbook for Q1. If this episode resonated, follow us, share it with a colleague who’s planning their quarter, and leave a review with your top Q1 move—what will you prioritize first?

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Join us on February 28th, 2026 at the DC Wharf for the Recommit: Winter Retreat. Get your tickets here: https://www.stirringsuccess.com/recommit-a-halfday-retreat

We publish new episodes every other Wednesday.

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In this Leadership Tea Podcast episode, Belinda and Shelby take stock of 2025 with clear eyes, celebrate wins, acknowledge lows, and set 2026 on two pillars: abundance and audacity. We trade scarcity for flow, set targets for brave action, and commit to celebrating progress while we implement at full speed. Here are the highlights:

• review of our 2025 focus words and what they produced
• identity shift after career change and entrepreneurship growth
• choosing abundance over scarcity as a mental model
• audacity as the engine for implementation in 2026
• embracing no’s as data and momentum
• dreaming bigger and designing a life with flexibility
• visualizing New Year’s Eve 2026 as a scoreboard
• practical prompts for listener reflection and planning

Please like and subscribe, and head to our website to find different programs and tools that we have available to hopefully get you ready for 2026!

Send us a comment!

Join us on February 28th, 2026 at the DC Wharf for the Recommit: Winter Retreat. Get your tickets here: https://www.stirringsuccess.com/recommit-a-halfday-retreat

We publish new episodes every other Wednesday.

• Subscribe to the Leadership Tea Podcast
• Subscribe to Leadership Tea on YouTube!

Follow us on Instagram @Leadership_Tea for more inspiration and insights.

In this heartfelt conversation, Shelby and Belinda share their reactions to the 2025 Women in the Workplace report by McKinsey & LeanIn.org. They highlight the deep fatigue and burnout women experience as they rise into senior leadership.

They reflect on the emotional and logistical realities that the data doesn’t always capture:
– women reaching the top of the ladder only to find exhaustion waiting for them
– the cultural pressure in the U.S. to “do it all” without asking for help
– the double standard where men receive quiet support systems while women feel judged for needing them
– the loneliness of leadership, especially for women of color
– the guilt that comes with caregiving and boundary-setting
– the absence of sponsorship and empathetic leadership in many workplaces

Grounded in personal stories—from missing their children’s milestones to carving out time for family despite career demands—they illustrate how women are not less ambitious; they’re simply navigating systems designed without them in mind.

The episode ends with a call for leaders everywhere to build cultures rooted in trust, compassion, humane expectations, and real support—because meaningful leadership is not about suffering in silence; it’s about helping others rise with you.

Referenced in this episode:
McKinsey & Company: “Women in the Workplace Report”
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/women-in-the-workplace

Send us a comment!

Join us on February 28th, 2026 at the DC Wharf for the Recommit: Winter Retreat. Get your tickets here: https://www.stirringsuccess.com/recommit-a-halfday-retreat

We publish new episodes every other Wednesday.

• Subscribe to the Leadership Tea Podcast
• Subscribe to Leadership Tea on YouTube!

Follow us on Instagram @Leadership_Tea for more inspiration and insights.