When was the last time you truly saw someone, not for what made them different, but for the human being underneath?

In this deeply personal solo episode, Janet shares a childhood story that shaped her lifelong perspective on inclusion, empathy, and what it really means to lead with humanity.

Janet explores how neuroscience forms the lens through which we see others—and how, as adults and leaders, we can either perpetuate exclusion or embody compassion and courage.

This episode is an invitation to remember our shared humanness and to lead not from ego, but from soul.

In this episode:

✅ The childhood story that forever changed how Janet sees difference

✅ How neuroscience explains our instinctive reactions to “otherness”

✅ Why belonging and inclusion begin with empathy

✅ The parallels between a second-grade playground and today’s workplaces

✅ The difference between performative inclusion and soul-level seeing

✅ A powerful reflection to shift how you show up as a leader today

About Janet Ioli:

Janet Ioli is a globally recognized executive advisor, coach, and leadership expert with over 25 years of experience developing leaders in Fortune 100 companies and global organizations.

She created The Inner Edge—a framework, a movement, and a message that flips leadership from mere success performance to presence; from ego to soul. Through her keynotes, podcast, and programs, Janet helps high-achievers find the one thing that changes everything: the mastery within.

Her approach redefines leadership presence—not as polish or tactics, but as the inner steadiness people feel from you and the positive imprint you leave on individuals and organizations.

Chapters for Apple Podcasts

00:00:00 Feeling Like an Outsider

00:05:34 The Neuroscience of Difference

00:07:35 Leading Beyond Difference

Connect with Janet Ioli:
Website: janetioli.com
Linkedin: Janet Ioli
Instagram: @leadershipcoachjanet

If you want to become more grounded, confident, and aligned with your deeper values in just 21 days, check out Janet Ioli’s book Less Ego, More Soul: A Modern Reinvention Guide for Women.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Select “Listen in Apple Podcasts,” then choose the “Ratings & Reviews” tab to share what you think.

Produced by Ideablossoms

In this solo episode, Janet Ioli explores what it really means to lead when everything around you feels like it’s shifting and uncertain. Instead of trying to eliminate the storm, she invites you to learn how to become the beacon—steady, grounded, and intentional—so others can orient themselves by your light.

Drawing from real coaching conversations, leadership psychology, and her signature grounded wisdom, Janet offers a powerful reframe: Change isn’t the exception, it’s the environment we live in.

Through her story-driven guidance, you’ll discover how to stop waiting for “normal” to return and start strengthening your inner foundation to lead with more presence and steadiness in the midst of chaos.

In this episode:

✅ Why change isn’t the exception—it’s the constant reality we live in

✅ How to release the illusion of “normal” and embrace continual evolution

✅ What it truly means to be the beacon in times of uncertainty

✅ Leading with steadiness and trust even without all the answers

✅ The difference between control and genuine self-mastery

✅ Simple grounding practices to stay centered and calm under pressure

✅ The power of vulnerability and transparency to strengthen leadership presence

✅ How to identify and return to your personal anchor during transition

Resources:

In Over Our Heads by Robert Kegan

About Janet Ioli:

Janet Ioli is a globally recognized executive advisor, coach, and leadership expert with over 25 years of experience developing leaders in Fortune 100 companies and global organizations.

She created The Inner Edge—a framework, a movement, and a message that flips leadership from mere success performance to presence; from ego to soul. Through her keynotes, podcast, and programs, Janet helps high-achievers find the one thing that changes everything: the mastery within.

Her approach redefines leadership presence—not as polish or tactics, but as the inner steadiness people feel from you and the positive imprint you leave on individuals and organizations.

Connect with Janet Ioli:
Website: janetioli.com
Linkedin: Janet Ioli
Instagram: @leadershipcoachjanet

If you want to become more grounded, confident, and aligned with your deeper values in just 21 days, check out Janet Ioli’s book Less Ego, More Soul: A Modern Reinvention Guide for Women.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Select “Listen in Apple Podcasts,” then choose the “Ratings & Reviews” tab to share what you think.

Produced by Ideablossoms

When everything around us feels uncertain, divided, and loud, true leadership doesn’t come from reacting; it comes from grounding.

In this solo episode, Janet explores what it really means to cultivate presence and self-mastery when the world feels incomprehensible and brittle.

She shares how our human wiring pulls us toward defensiveness and chaos, and why our greatest act of leadership is to choose steadiness instead. Through practical insights and reflective stories, Janet offers a guide to returning to that “grounded middle” we can all stand on.

This episode is an invitation to become the calmest person in the room and to remember that while we can’t control the turbulence of the world, we can control the steadiness we bring into it.

In this episode:

✅ What it means to live and lead in a BANI world—brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible

✅ Why the ability to “hold steady” is the new power skill of leadership

✅ How to catch yourself in moments of reactivity and self-defense

✅ The paradox of calm as strength, not passivity

✅ How congruence creates real presence

✅ A simple three-part practice to cultivate calm and self-mastery

✅ Why presence is not just a leadership skill, but a profound act of service

About Janet Ioli:

Janet Ioli is a globally recognized executive advisor, coach, and leadership expert with over 25 years of experience developing leaders in Fortune 100 companies and global organizations.

She created The Inner Edge—a framework, a movement, and a message that flips leadership from mere success performance to presence; from ego to soul. Through her keynotes, podcast, and programs, Janet helps high-achievers find the one thing that changes everything: the mastery within.

Her approach redefines leadership presence—not as polish or tactics, but as the inner steadiness people feel from you and the positive imprint you leave on individuals and organizations.

Connect with Janet Ioli:
Website: janetioli.com
Linkedin: Janet Ioli
Instagram: @leadershipcoachjanet

If you want to become more grounded, confident, and aligned with your deeper values in just 21 days, check out Janet Ioli’s book Less Ego, More Soul: A Modern Reinvention Guide for Women.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Select “Listen in Apple Podcasts,” then choose the “Ratings & Reviews” tab to share what you think.

Produced by Ideablossoms