When was the last time you asked, “Any questions?” and heard nothing but crickets? In this solo episode, I’m talking about the S word: silence. Not the peace-and-quiet kind. The kind that settles into organizations when people stop saying what needs to be said. A quiet room is not proof of understanding, and it is definitely not proof of agreement. Sometimes your people are having the real meeting after the meeting, in the parking lot and the group chat, saying everything they wouldn’t say to you.

From there, I look at both sides of the silence: the conversation you, as the leader, keep putting off, and the truth your team has stopped bringing to you. I share a time I almost held back feedback because the last hard conversation didn’t land, and what I had to tell myself to move forward. Then I give you two words that belong together, data and dignity, so you can speak directly without making anyone feel small, along with why it’s time to retire a phrase too many of us lean on. We close with what silence is really costing you, three things to try this week, and a Rise Action that asks you to finally have the conversation you’ve been avoiding.

“You can care about people and still tell them something they don’t want to hear.”

IN THIS EPISODE

• The two silences: the truth you’re not telling, and the truth your team has stopped telling you
• Data and dignity: how to have the hard conversation directly without making anyone feel small
• What silence costs you (trust, information, growth, time and energy) and three moves to make this week

RELATED RESOURCES

• Q2 free tool — The Think·Speak·Act Check
• Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (Jossey-Bass, 2002)

CONNECT WITH DR. KIM RICHARDSON

• Check out her website
• Follow her on Instagram @drkimleadership
• Follow her on TikTok @drkimleadership
• Follow her on X @drkimleadership
• Like her page on Facebook
• Connect with her on LinkedIn

RELATED EPISODES

S3 E30 (Your Words Expose Your EQ) and S3 E33 (Dr. Andrew Lloyd, airs Nov 9)]

MORE ABOUT RISE UP AND LEAD: REAL LESSONS, REAL STORIES, REAL TALK

Welcome to Rise Up and Lead: Real Lessons, Real Stories, Real Talk—a podcast about the true journey of leadership and becoming. Hosted by Dr. Kim—Professional Certified Coach®, leadership strategist, and speaker—this show dives into the moments that shape us, the mindsets that sustain us, and the people who influence us along the way.

Each episode features real conversations with everyday leaders and brief coaching insights that bridge lived experience with research-backed leadership truths. Because leadership isn’t about titles—it’s about identity, emotional intelligence, and the daily decision to RISE.

If you’re ready to grow in who you are and how you lead, you’re in the right place!

BRIEF SUMMARY OF EPISODE

What happens when you stop waiting for permission and start saying yes to the next right thing?

In this episode, I sit down with Kari Espada — a chemistry teacher in Hampton City Schools, an ISTE and ASCD Luminary, and someone who has spent her career leading in her classroom and now leading way beyond it. Kari's path into education wasn't conventional — she started as a network tech in Texas, aced a math test she didn't study for, and got pulled into classrooms doing SOL remediation before she ever set foot in her own. We talk about the "year of yes" that changed the trajectory of her career, the eighteen months she spent building NASA's Virginia Space Grant Consortium programming before an unconventional path led her right back to the classroom she was always destined for, and the ASCD fellowship project that turned the periodic table into a tool for social-emotional learning — and earned her a national Luminary Award she didn't even know she was in the running for.

Kari also gets honest about what it means to say it like you mean it: never making a promise you can't keep, knowing your audience, and thinking about everything she says before she says it. We close with her hard-won wisdom for any leader stepping into something new — that saying yes to growth also means learning when to say yes to yourself.

CONNECT WITH DR. KIM RICHARDSON

• Check out her website

• Follow her on Instagram @drkimleadership

• Follow her on TikTok @drkimleadership

• Follow her on X @drkimleadership

• Like her page on Facebook

• Connect with her on LinkedIn

MORE ABOUT RISE UP AND LEAD: REAL LESSONS, REAL STORIES, REAL TALK

Welcome to Rise Up and Lead: Real Lessons, Real Stories, Real Talk—a podcast about the true journey of leadership and becoming. Hosted by Dr. Kim—Professional Certified Coach®, leadership strategist, and speaker—this show dives into the moments that shape us, the mindsets that sustain us, and the people who influence us along the way.

Each episode features real conversations with everyday leaders and brief coaching insights that bridge lived experience with research-backed leadership truths. Because leadership isn't about titles—it's about identity, emotional intelligence, and the daily decision to RISE.

If you're ready to grow in who you are and how you lead, you're in the right place!

RISE UP AND LEAD℠ · SHOW NOTES

Let Me Say That More Clearly

What Your Words Reveal About Your EQ

Season 3, Episode 30 · Solo · Airs Monday, September 28, 2026

Brief Summary of Episode

What are your people having to guess about because you haven't clearly said it?

In this solo episode, I'm talking about your mouth. Yep. You can take the assessment, read the book, and put “self-aware leader” in your bio, but eventually you're going to open your mouth, and that's where your emotional intelligence shows up. I walk through the hedges, disclaimers, and softeners so many of us reach for when we're uncomfortable, and why your people cannot lead from your intentions. They can only lead from what you actually communicated.

We close out our Engagement That Moves People℠ quarter with the thing that sits underneath all of it: clarity. We talk about why unclear leaders create uncertain teams, how to stop making people dig for the message, why clear does not mean cold, and how over-explaining is still unclear communication. I connect it all to Daniel Goleman's work on self-awareness and self-management, James Pennebaker's research on everyday language, Brené Brown's “clear is kind,” and my own research on how leadership develops through the reps. Then I hand you one sentence you can use this week: “Let me say that more clearly.” And I open the door to what's next: Say It Like You Mean It℠, starting October 8.

In This Episode

• Why your people cannot lead from your intentions, only from what you actually communicated
• How to remove the fog without removing the warmth, with before-and-after rewrites you can use right away
• One Rise Action for the week, and a preview of Say It Like You Mean It℠ beginning October 8

Related Resources

• Engagement That Moves People℠: The Leader's Engagement Tool (free Q1 companion), plus subscribe at drkimleadership.com to get Say It Like You Mean It℠ starting October 8

Connect with Dr. Kim Richardson

• Check out her website
• Follow her on Instagram @drkimleadership
• Follow her on TikTok @drkimleadership
• Follow her on X @drkimleadership
• Like her page on Facebook
• Connect with her on LinkedIn

Related Episodes

• S3E26: Do You Have Attendance… or Engagement?
• S3E28: Presence: Your Most Powerful Leadership Tool

More about Rise Up and Lead: Real Lessons, Real Stories, Real Talk

Welcome to Rise Up and Lead: Real Lessons, Real Stories, Real Talk—a podcast about the true journey of leadership and becoming. Hosted by Dr. Kim—Professional Certified Coach®, leadership strategist, and speaker—this show dives into the moments that shape us, the mindsets that sustain us, and the people who influence us along the way.

Each episode features real conversations with everyday leaders and brief coaching insights that bridge lived experience with research-backed leadership truths. Because leadership isn’t about titles—it’s about identity, emotional intelligence, and the daily decision to RISE.

If you’re ready to grow in who you are and how you lead, you’re in the right place!