Supporting Your Leadership Voice in Community: An Honest Guide
We’ve all experienced living and working within systems of corruption.
Looking at our lives, we may acknowledge that in order to stay and survive within these systems, we have had to cut off and suppress parts of who we really are.
Existing, achieving, and “succeeding” inside the systems we all live with requires us to water ourselves down; to hold back from expressing our liberated voice.
If you’ve been in the online entrepreneur space, you’ve probably heard business coaches talking about how telling your personal story in your authentic voice can help you grow your audience, attract more clients, and increase your income.
But not all approaches to authentic self-expression are created equal.
There are a few key differences between what is typically taught in this space, and what a healthy, ethical, and liberated process of expressing your story and voice looks like.
Next time you have the opportunity to be in a coaching space that teaches authentic voice and visibility, I invite you to ask yourself a few careful questions to determine whether those teachings will really be able to help you access your liberated voice.
Three Questions to Help You Identify Your Best Space for
Liberation and Growth
1. How safe do I feel in this container?
Revealing your liberated voice requires the presence and support of others. A safe community will allow you the capacity to tell your own story first, privately and intimately.
But what if that community doesn’t feel safe?
What if there are people in there who you’re afraid might judge you for your experiences and vulnerabilities?
What if you can’t trust that others in the group will respect the sensitivity and privacy of the stories you share?
For those of us who are gifted, autistic, neurodivergent, mystic, or super sensitive, our needs for safety are often ignored in coaching spaces shared with people who don’t fully understand our experience.
But because we’re so used to donning a mask in order to participate in the world, we often ignore our own needs.
This could lead to us either isolating ourselves, or re-traumatizing ourselves as we try to negotiate acceptance in an environment that doesn’t truly accept us for who we are.
If you don’t truly and wholly feel safe in a community, you’ll be more likely to hold back part of your full expression in order to preserve your sense of safety.
You won’t be able to achieve that promised sense of full liberation when you try to tell your story.
In a truly supportive community, you must have all of your needs met to feel safe in the moment.
And more than that, you’ll also be allowed to move at the speed of your nervous system, so you can generate wealth that is not just fast cash in the moment, but long-term, sustainable ROI.
2. How quickly am I being asked to move?
In a world that often pressures us to move fast, I’m a strong believer in moving at the rate of your nervous system.
What does this mean?
When we are focused on using logical thinking to justify our actions, but are not fully in touch with our bodies, we tend to move fast.
The ego moves fast, but the soul moves slowly.
It may appeal to our ego to act on an idea or directive right away, but our soul may not be on board with that timeline.
When a new opportunity arises to act, our nervous system gives us indicators as to how our soul wants to move, and when we are truly ready to take that leap.
Our nervous system shows us what we’re ready to digest.
For example, instead of making a purchase or jumping into a new project right away, you might wait and ask for a dream to help you better integrate your experience and come to a more full-bodied decision.
When we listen, our nervous system guides us to titrate our experience, get support from those we trust, and take intentional steps along the way.
If we ignore our nervous system’s guidance for how fast we need to move, we miss out on the greatest opportunity our soul has in store for us…
To express our voice and write the story of our success in a way that creates a deeper, more sustainable kind of wealth that creates not just an immediate material reward… but real cultural change.
3. What kind of leader am I being taught to be?
I’ve spoken before about the oppressive norms we must navigate around patriarchy, and the patriarchal definition of leadership.
Although there are more and more women now stepping into leadership roles, many oppressive elements of leadership still remain in practice, including by women leaders.
I call this phenomenon “Patriarchy In Heels”.
The invitation and calling for all of us who have experienced patriarchal oppression is to integrate and embody an understanding of matriarchal leadership.
Matriarchal leadership is wildly divergent from patriarchal leadership. It’s not as simple as just flipping the hierarchy, with the women being on top and the men being on the bottom.
Matriarchal leadership is ultimately about the energy of the elder, the crone, the grandmother: a leader who provides insight and reflection based on their lived experience of nurturing, caregiving, noticing, and creating.
Many of us do this naturally.
We’re wired to notice who needs what, who's being left behind, who's being forgotten. It’s likely that in your life, you practice this kind of leadership all the time.
If you're wired this way, you're actually wired for leadership.
You’re wired to help determine how each person in the culture can get their actual needs and desires met, tune in with each person’s unique gifts and talents, and help others feel safe to express themselves as they truly are.
This approach to leadership can align beautifully with entrepreneurship, allowing you to shine in your unique role as a business leader, while also empowering others in the community to step up and provide support in the areas where they uniquely shine.
Integrate & Liberate a New Way of Being
There are many parallels between somatic entrepreneurship, ancestral leadership, and matriarchal leadership.
Together, we can integrate these processes into a new expression of leadership and business that reflects the change we would like to see in our culture.
And yes, embodying your liberated voice in the world will enable you to attract more of your ideal clients, make more ideal offers, and create sustainable wealth and impact.
You can do all of these things by writing yourself into a new way of being that you don't have to be afraid of.
It’s not about trying to mask, cut parts of yourself off, or try to fit into a world where you don’t belong. It’s about giving each person their place, acknowledging that everybody has a place, a way to shine, and a way to belong.
You have a place in this new reality. Can you imagine how brightly you will shine?
Do you want to be supported as you grow into a new way of being, embodying your liberated voice in the world so you can fearlessly create lasting wealth and impact in the culture?
Join Ancestral Leadership Lab, our flagship paid membership program, where you will receive community support to redefine and grow in your leadership, working with the Ancestors and Descendants to guide your most relevant and meaningful way forward.