Ep208 Leading Without Permission

Most leaders think they need authority to act — but real leadership begins when you give yourself permission to move. In this episode, we explore how to drop imagined judgement, stop waiting for endorsement, and step into decisive, high-impact leadership.

What we cover:

1. Drop the "hairy eyeball"
2. Own your authority instead of waiting for it
3. Anchor in your highest-value contribution
4. Give yourself the green light
5. Experiment and iterate without perfection
6. Reflect on impact — not opinion

Mini-Exercises You Can Use Today:
• Ask: “Is this judgement real or imagined?”
• Declare: “I lead here.”
• Identify the two highest-impact actions this week.
• Affirm: “I have my own back.”
• Take one imperfect action.
• Measure value by outcome, not applause.
Uplevel your answers with Dex AI
Your confidential, expert leadership performance coach. 

Key message:
Permission doesn’t come from outside you.
Authority is something you inhabit.

If you’d like personal guidance applying these practices so your leadership becomes natural, confident, and self-backed — book a conversation with me:

https://mini.dexrandall.com

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:22 Understanding Self-Issued Authority
• 1:08 Exercise 1: Forget the Hairy Eyeball
• 2:07 Exercise 2: Step Into It
• 3:00 Exercise 3: Precision Over Volume
• 3:59 Exercise 4: Lead Not Win
• 4:16 Exercise 5: the B Minus Move
• 5:15 Exercise 6: Measure What Matters Most
• 5:38 Conclusion and Next Steps

Transcript

Ep208 Leading Without Permission
===

[00:00:00] Hi everyone. My name's Dex Randall, and this is the Burnout Recovery Podcast where I teach professionals to recover from burnout and get back to passion and reward at work.

[00:00:22] Hello people, and what we're going to talk about today is leading without permission. Because most leaders don't lack authority, they lack self-issued authority. 

[00:00:33] So here's an example. I was presenting a risk prevention I.T. project to my CEO. Something that needed time, budget, and attention that he would far rather point to sales.

[00:00:46] And in my head, the full Greek chorus of imagined objections "Too expensive", "Not a priority", "it works fine already. Why disrupt it?"

[00:00:57] He hadn't said any of it. I pre-judged what he might think. And it froze me.

[00:01:04] And if you are doing the same, here's your first shift.

[00:01:08] We're going to have some exercises today.

[00:01:09] Exercise number one, Forget the Hairy Eyeball.

[00:01:13] Pause. Ask yourself: "Is this opinion real or invented?", " Is preempting somebody else's response, helping me or not?"

[00:01:24] Then just simply breathe. Breathe deeply, soften your jaws, your shoulder, your neck, your belly, wherever there's tension and feel what happens when that pressure slides off you.

[00:01:38] Who would you be without that imaginary boss watching?

[00:01:42] A client once came to me, bright, capable, respected, yet frozen stiff waiting for endorsement from his CEO before improving his accounting department's workflow.

[00:01:54] He wasn't lacking insight, he wasn't lacking skill.

[00:01:58] He was simply waiting for permission. And waiting isn't leadership, it's self silencing. It's following.

[00:02:07] So here's exercise number two, step Into It.

[00:02:10] Ask yourself, "Where in my work am I waiting for permission, that doesn't exist? " 

[00:02:18] Visualize yourself acting, instead of asking. See yourself stating your plan, not seeking approval for it. And notice that shift, that subtle internal click.

[00:02:32] Authority isn't granted, it's inhabited.

[00:02:35] Another leader I work with spent hours every week perfecting reports no one read. Sitting in meetings he didn't need to be in, just so no one thought badly of him.

[00:02:48] Meanwhile, one 10 minute client call created more revenue than all of that other stuff put together.

[00:02:55] We say we're overwhelmed. Often we're just busy defending perception.

[00:03:00] Exercise number three, Precision Over Volume.

[00:03:04] Ask yourself, what are the one or two actions this week that actually move the needle?

[00:03:12] Then looking at everything else, tell yourself the truth. Do I do this from habit, obligation, fear of not being seen? If so, simply release it, 'cause value isn't created by polishing the low impact.

[00:03:28] Energy goes where impact flows.

[00:03:32] Another client was agonizing over applying for a five year grant. He second guessed every sentence, every comma in his email. We sat down and reflected on his expertise, credibility, reputation. He realized, "Wait, I am the best person for this." And the moment he owned that, he clicked send and in that click was relief, confidence and power.

[00:03:59] So exercise number he didn't need to win the conversation, he needed to lead the conversation.

[00:04:05] Perfection isn't excellence. It's a common misperception. Perfection is in fact, just delay when something's already probably good enough to go.

[00:04:16] So exercise number five, the B Minus Move.

[00:04:20] Ask yourself, what's one imperfect action I can take today, on a task I've been putting off probably.

[00:04:28] And take that action. And when you take it, do you feel the shift? Do you feel there's movement from paralysis to momentum? Just check in on yourself.

[00:04:38] ' Cause your B- is often somebody else's A++. There may be a little difference.

[00:04:46] One physician client was working four roles in a hospital, evenings, weekends, no time for family, sleep or breathing even.

[00:04:56] He believed saying no was career suicide, but when he focused on impact -patient care, mentoring juniors, leading his own team- he saw the truth. Opinion couldn't hold him hostage when outcome mattered more. He immediately dropped one role. Breathing resumed.

[00:05:15] So exercise number six, Measure What Matters Most.

[00:05:20] Ask yourself, "What is the tangible value of my next action, independent of applause or criticism?" 

[00:05:28] Let the outcomes guide you. Not hairy eyeballs, not noise, because success is what you create, not what you fear people might think.

[00:05:38] So notice one place today where you can lead without permission. A place you are holding back, where you are waiting for approval that may never come.

[00:05:47] And then act. Don't think, act. Self approve. Choose to go for the impact. Grant yourself the green light.

[00:05:55] And when you do, thank yourself. You are rewiring leadership with every self-backed decision.

[00:06:03] If you want to go deeper with this work, if you want to feel this shift, not understand it, let's talk at mini.dexrandall.com. You get to build yourself into the leader you want to be. I'll meet you there.