The first episode of 2023 my conversation with Karen Joy Hardwick. Karen recently released a new book, The Connected Leader: 7 Strategies to Empower Your True Self and Inspire Others.

And while it is a leadership book aimed particularly at business leaders, as I read The Connected Leader, I found that so much of the uplift Karen advocates for can be extended into our conversations outside of our work lives — whether you consider yourself a leader or not.

Karen and I have a deeply meaningful conversation about the role ego plays in our relationships with ourselves and with others, a way to think about listening to ourselves and to others that doesn’t feel so gimmicky, and her belief that we must shed the desire to want to “save” someone else when we disagree with who they are or what they believe.

You can learn more about Karen's work at https://karenjhardwick.com/ and you can connect with her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenjhardwickinc/.