Unlearn & Rewrite Your Inner Script: Leading with Emotional Intelligence

We all carry internal stories, emotional scripts shaped by our past, culture, and workplace norms. These scripts often go unquestioned, yet they drive how we lead, especially under stress. They can lead us to suppress emotion, misread others, or react in ways that erode trust. In this practical and reflective session, leaders will explore emotional intelligence as a process of unlearning. By surfacing outdated emotional habits and rewriting their inner script, participants will begin to lead with greater clarity, empathy, and intention, building stronger relationships and healthier team cultures in the process.

Because when we change the story inside, we change how we show up outside.

The Growth Mindset Shift: Unlearning Our Relationship to Effort, Challenges, Mistakes and Feedback

Mindset isn’t just what we believe,it’s the lens through which we interpret effort, challenges, mistakes, and feedback. And for many of us, that lens needs a reset.

Leaders often carry internalized stories shaped by experiences or workplace cultures, like “If I struggle, I must not be good at it,” or “Mistakes mean I’ve failed.” These fixed mindset beliefs can create fear of being wrong, resistance to feedback, and a reluctance to stretch beyond what feels safe or familiar.

In this session, we’ll explore mindset through the lens of unlearning, shedding inherited narratives that limit our potential. 

Growth isn’t just about what you know, it’s about what you’re willing to unlearn to make space for your next level of success.

Unlearn the Fear: Building Psychological Safety from the Inside Out

Psychological safety isn’t just created by policies or team norms, it starts with how leaders show up. Many leaders carry unspoken beliefs shaped by past experiences or organizational culture: "Don't speak up," "Don’t make mistakes," or "Keep your guard up." These internalized messages, often inherited from past environments, can unintentionally create fear, silence, and disconnection in teams, even when intentions are good.

In this session, we’ll explore how to unlearn fear-based leadership habits and replace them with behaviors that foster openness, trust, and inclusion. Through the lens of psychological safety, participants will examine the stories they tell themselves about risk, vulnerability, and voice and learn how to create environments where others feel safe to do the same.

Because culture shifts when leaders model courage, not just competence.

The Communication Reset: Unlearning to Listen, Speak, and Lead with Intention

We’ve all been taught to “communicate clearly,” but most of us were never taught to connect intentionally.

Emerging leaders often rely on communication habits that served them earlier in their careers, habits like over-explaining, interrupting, or speaking from their own style without considering how others best receive information. These default patterns may feel familiar, but they can create confusion, frustration, and disconnect across teams.

In this practical and reflective session, we’ll explore communication through the lens of unlearning. Participants will examine the internal stories and reflexes that shape how they speak, listen, and engage and begin building more conscious, adaptive habits rooted in empathy, presence, and clarity.

Because the most effective leaders aren’t just skilled communicators, they’re tuned-in connectors who meet others where they are.

Unlearning Conflict: Turning Tension Into Connection

High-performing teams don’t avoid conflict, they learn how to navigate it skillfully.

Yet many emerging leaders fall into default conflict responses shaped by past experiences: avoiding it altogether, reacting emotionally, or doubling down to “win.” 

These ingrained patterns (often unconscious), can limit our ability to lead through tension, collaborate effectively, and foster trust.

In this session, we’ll reframe conflict as a necessary and even valuable part of leadership and team performance. You’ll explore the different modes of conflict (avoidance, accommodation, competition, compromise, and collaboration), and identify the default patterns you tend to overuse, often out of habit or fear. Through the lens of unlearning, participants will begin to shift from reactive to responsive conflict behavior, transforming moments of tension into opportunities for clarity, connection, and growth.

Because conflict, when navigated consciously, isn’t a barrier to performance, it’s a pathway to it.

Unlearning Everyday Bias: Cultivating the Conditions for Inclusion and Impact

Bias isn’t always overt, it often shows up in the everyday decisions, interactions, and assumptions we make without even realizing it.

Leaders frequently operate under the influence of subtle yet powerful biases including those related to protected classes such as race, gender, age, disability, and sexual orientation, as well as cognitive biases like confirmation bias (seeking evidence that supports existing beliefs), affinity bias (favoring those who are similar to us), negativity bias (focusing more on flaws or risks), and status quo bias (preferring the familiar, even when change is needed) and more. These mental shortcuts may feel efficient, but they can quietly reinforce exclusion, erode trust, and limit impact.

In this session, we’ll explore bias through the lens of unlearning, helping participants surface the unconscious patterns and internal stories that shape how they lead. 

Creating a workplace that fosters a culture of belonging is the result of consistent, conscious leadership.

Accountability Unlocked: Unlearning the Reflex to Blame, Defend, or Disappear

Accountability isn’t about fault, it’s about ownership. And real ownership starts with what you choose to unlearn.

Many leaders default to protective reflexes when things go wrong: blame, defensiveness, justification, or withdrawal. These “below the line” behaviors may feel safe, but they silently erode trust, limit learning, and keep teams stuck. Understanding the difference between responsibility (what’s assigned) and accountability (what’s owned) is key to unlocking stronger leadership.

In this session, participants will explore the phases of accountability, from avoidance to action, and uncover the internal narratives that drive self-protection. With mindset shifts and actionable tools, they’ll begin building a practice of clear, courageous ownership that strengthens culture and earns trust.

From Silo to Synergy: Unlearning What Holds Teams Back

Collaboration isn’t just about working together, it’s about thinking together.

Leaders often step into collaborative roles still holding onto habits shaped by individual performance: doing everything themselves, staying in their lane, or over-functioning to avoid letting others down. These habits may feel productive, but they limit trust, stifle innovation, and create misalignment across teams.

In this session, we’ll explore collaboration as both a mindset to unlearn and a set of tools to implement. Participants will uncover the beliefs that block authentic collaboration and learn how to shift toward co-creation and shared ownership. In addition to mindset work, we’ll introduce practical frameworks, like the RACI model, to bring structure and accountability to collaborative efforts.

Through these efforts, collaboration becomes intentional, inclusive, and built on trust.

Unlearning Decision Making: From Gut Calls to Shared Clarity and Delegation

Leadership isn’t about making every decision, it’s about knowing which ones to make, which to share, and how to delegate with clarity.

Emerging leaders often default to decision-making habits shaped by urgency, pressure, or old beliefs, like relying on gut instincts, making calls in isolation, or trying to maintain control instead of distributing responsibility. These patterns may feel efficient or protective, but they often lead to confusion, bottlenecks, and disempowered teams.

In this session, we’ll explore decision making and delegation as skills rooted in unlearning. Participants will shift from reactive or control-based approaches to a mindset that values shared ownership, transparency, and data-informed action. We’ll introduce practical frameworks like SPADE (Setting, People, Alternatives, Decide, Explain) to guide decision-making conversations, and help leaders clarify who decides what, when, and how to delegate effectively.

The Change Revolution: Unlearning the Urge to Fix, Force, or Fear It

Change doesn’t require control, it requires consciousness.

Leaders are often expected to “drive change,” but most have only seen it modeled through urgency, pressure, or avoidance. The impulse to fix, force, or fear change is rooted in old stories about control, certainty, and perfection. These unconscious patterns not only increase resistance they disconnect us from the people we're trying to lead.

In this session, we’ll explore change leadership as an inner revolution. Participants will identify the mental and emotional habits that make change harder, like rushing to solutions, ignoring tension, or pushing for compliance, and begin to unlearn those patterns in favor of trust-building, shared ownership, and resilience.

Grounded in real-world strategies, this session will help leaders move from reactive change to intentional transformation.

Unlearning the Hustle: Redefining Your Experience of Time

Time mastery isn’t just about calendars and checklists, it starts with unlearning your relationship with time itself.

Many emerging leaders inherit unspoken beliefs about time: “If I’m not busy, I’m not valuable,” “Everything is urgent,” or “Success means saying yes to everything.” These internal narratives often lead to burnout, reactivity, and a constant feeling of being behind, no matter how much gets done.

In this session, we’ll explore time through the lens of unlearning, shifting from hustle-based habits to more intentional, aligned approaches to how we plan, prioritize, and lead. Participants will examine the stories that shape their sense of urgency and self-worth, and learn practical tools to manage time with clarity and sustainability. From time-blocking to prioritization frameworks like the Eisenhower matrix, the goal isn’t to do more, it’s to make space for what matters most.

Fuel First: The Self-Care Commitment Leaders Can’t Afford to Skip

Leadership isn’t just about driving results, it’s about sustaining the energy, clarity, and presence it takes to lead well.

Yet many leaders have internalized the belief that rest is a reward, busyness equals value, and self-care is selfish or optional. These outdated narratives, shaped by hustle culture, perfectionism, and people-pleasing, can quietly lead to burnout, disconnection, and reduced impact.

In this session, we’ll explore self-care as a conscious leadership commitment, not a luxury. Participants will unlearn the mindset that equates exhaustion with excellence and begin reframing self-care as an act of responsibility—one that fuels emotional regulation, strategic thinking, and relational trust. Through reflection and simple tools, they’ll build a personalized, practical approach to self-care that enhances, not competes with, their leadership.

Because when leaders put themselves last, everyone loses. And when they fuel first, they lead better.