Grounded and Aligned™

Stepping into a bigger role can be exciting - but it can also create blind spots that slow your momentum.In this episode of Grounded and Aligned, Karen shares four leadership patterns she repeatedly sees among senior leaders who have recently taken on more responsibility through promotion, growth, acquisition, reorganization, or expanded scope.Drawing from real client experiences, Karen explores why high-performing leaders often struggle to let go of operational work, underestimate the importance of relationships, over-explain their decisions, and overlook the human impact of change.If you're navigating a new leadership role—or preparing for one—this episode will help you avoid common mistakes and accelerate your impact.Key TakeawaysStop doing and start enabling. Bigger roles require more strategic thinking, delegation, and long-term planning—not more execution.Relationships become a leadership priority. As your scope grows, your ability to influence through others becomes more important than your individual contribution.Explaining is different from justifying. Provide context and visibility, but avoid slipping into defensive explanations that undermine your authority.Don't underestimate the human side of leadership. Change affects people emotionally, even when it makes sense on paper.Leadership transitions require intentional adaptation. The habits that made you successful in your previous role may not be the habits that will make you successful in your next one.Register for the Momentum Sprint starting June 18: https://karen-gombault-coaching-ffzda0.subscribepage.ioStakeholder Strategy: Reduce the Learning Curve of Your New Role. We start beginning of July: https://karengombault-stakeholderstrategy.subscribepage.ioConnect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karengombault/

In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault speaks with Leah Goldman, founder of an advisory firm focused on integrating intuition into leadership and strategy. The discussion focuses on how leaders make decisions in environments where there is no clear cause and effect. If you’re working with incomplete or conflicting information, this episode looks at how intuition can be used alongside data to support clearer and faster decision-making.Karen and Leah look at:The limits of relying only on data in complex and uncertain situationsHow misunderstanding control leads to ineffective decision-makingIntuition as experience-based input, not guessworkThe impact of information overload on clarity and judgmentThe use of simple structures to support better decisionsWhen data is not enough, decision quality depends on how well leaders use both analysis and experience to move forward with clarity.-----Leah Goldman is the founder of The Intuition Strategist, an advisory firm helping ambitious leaders and organizations integrate intuition and strategy to achieve aligned success. She is the creator of Intuition Strategy®, teaching leaders to trust their gut to make faster, more confident decisions that lead to transformative results. A globally recognized authority on integrating invisible data – unspoken signals that algorithms can’t measure, like experience, conflict, trust, and interpersonal dynamics – into leadership and strategy, Leah helps visionary executives use innovative tools like Corporate Tarot Cards® to turn their Human AI — Actionable Intuition™ — into a competitive advantage. Her work reframes intuition as the most powerful form of intelligence for navigating a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world.Links: https://intuitionstrategist.com/ https://clarityblueprintwithleah.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahgoldman/ Connect with Karen: Karen Gombault | LinkedIn

In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen Gombault speaks with Kirsten Schmidtke, founder of a revenue leadership consulting firm focused on B2B technology companies. The discussion examines why revenue issues are often treated as sales problems when they come from how leadership is operating. If your growth targets are not converting into consistent results, this episode looks at how leadership structure, priorities, and decisions affect revenue, especially in the context of AI, remote work, and shifting buyer expectations.Karen and Kirsten look at:The gap between individual sales performance and the ability to generate revenue through a teamHow low trust in forecasting leads to inefficient inspection processes and slower deal cyclesThe effect of multiple or unclear priorities on execution quality and consistency across teamsLeadership-created bottlenecks that restrict deal progression and reduce responsiveness in the sales cycleThe shift from managing activity to coaching for judgment and decision-making in complex sales environmentsRevenue variability is usually driven by how leadership operates, not the market. Clear standards, consistent execution, and fewer internal obstacles determine how reliable results are.Kirsten Schmidtke is the founder of Kirsten Schmidtke Coaching & Consulting, a revenue leadership consulting firm serving B2B technology companies. With 15+ years in enterprise tech, including AWS, she has generated over $100M in revenue and carried multimillion-dollar quotas. She works with CEOs and CROs to close the leadership execution gap that stalls pipeline, burns out sellers, and keeps revenue unpredictable — helping them find the one problem that, when solved, unlocks revenue growth.www.linkedin.com/in/kirstenschmidtke/www.instagram.com/kirstenschmidtke/Connect with Karen: Karen Gombault | LinkedIn

In this episode of Grounded and Aligned™, Karen looks at a common tension in senior roles: you are expected to be visible and well-connected, but much of the advice on how to do this feels unnatural. As expectations increase, visibility is no longer optional. It affects how often you are brought into discussions, how your work is recognized, and how decisions move along. The episode focuses on how to approach visibility and relationships in a way that is consistent with your innate personality, rather than adopting behaviours that feel forced.Karen looks atWhy visibility is required if you want your work to be seen, supported, and acted onTwo practical ways visibility shows up: being consistently present and top of mind, or being more selective but clear when something mattersThe downside of forcing visibility tactics that don’t match how you naturally interact, and how quickly that becomes noticeableYou do not need to change your personality to be visible, but you do need to be intentional. The key is to make sure people know you are there, understand your contribution, and hear from you when it matters.Next steps🤝 Connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/karengombault/

Most senior leaders who avoid the informal conversations — the individual check-ins, the quiet conversations before a decision needs to be made— aren't doing it because they're lazy or disorganised.They're doing it because it doesn't feel right.It feels like politics. Like pre-managing the outcome. Like their work should be strong enough to stand on its own.And that instinct, as understandable as it is, is quietly costing them.In this episode, Karen looks at what happens when strong work meets an audience that wasn't brought along and why the leaders who build the most genuine influence are also the most deliberate about their relationships.In this episode:Why a concern raised in private stays manageable — and the same concern raised in public becomes a positionHow your peers are forming a read on you, whether you're actively shaping it or notThe difference between being politically aware and compromising your integrityOne reframe and two practical things to do before your next significant askIf you've ever walked out of a meeting wondering what happened — this episode is worth your time.Next steps:Follow Karen on Substack where she writes about power, politics and influence: https://karengombault.substack.com/Connect with Karen on Linkedin: Karen Gombault | LinkedIn