Shedding the Corporate Bitch
Welcome to Shedding the Corporate Bitch — the podcast where executive leadership gets real.
Hosted by executive coach, strategist, and unapologetic truth-teller Bernadette Boas, this show is built for senior leaders, CHROs, and HR executives who are done with surface-level leadership advice and ready for the conversations that actually move the needle.
Drawing from 25 years in corporate — including being fired — and over a decade coaching leaders at the highest levels, Bernadette delivers the raw insights, honest dialogue, and practical strategies you won't find in a leadership textbook. Each episode tackles what's really happening in today's organizations: toxic cultures, burned-out teams, leadership gaps, talent retention crises, and the fear, doubt, and imposter syndrome that quietly undermine even the most accomplished executives.
Joined by world-class leaders, HR innovators, and organizational experts, Bernadette doesn't just identify the problems — she hands you the tools to solve them.
This is the podcast for leaders who are ready to shed what's holding them — and their organizations — back, and build something that actually works.
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Shedding the Corporate Bitch
New Series: From Stuck to Leading - Ep 1 Leadership Identity: The Question That Stops Executives Cold
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In this 5-part series premiere of From Stuck to Leading, a five-part self-coaching experience on Shedding the Corporate B!tch, executive coach Bernadette Boas opens with the question at the foundation of every coaching engagement she runs: Who are you as a leader when no one is watching?
Not your title, not your results, not your LinkedIn profile, but the leader who shows up when the pressure is on, the recognition is absent, and the next five minutes are going to reveal everything about who you actually are.
Drawing on 18 years of coaching over 400 executives, Bernadette walks Powerhouses through two diagnostic spotlight questions from her Leadership Gap Diagnostic — a free 25-statement assessment that places leaders in one of four performance tiers. The gap between how you intend to lead and how your leadership actually lands, and the gap between knowing you need to develop and actively closing that gap, are the two fault lines most leaders have never honestly examined.
This is the coaching experience designed to change that — without the price tag of private coaching. Download the free Leadership Gap Diagnostic and start the series with your full baseline in hand.
What You Will Learn Throughout The Series:
• How to close the gap between the leader you perform and the leader you actually are
• Why self-awareness in leadership is about accuracy, not self-indulgence — and how most executives are overestimating theirs
• The difference between intending to close your leadership gaps and actively doing it
• How one executive went from being passed over for VP to landing the role, at a different company, on her own terms, in 18 months
• How to use the free Leadership Gap Diagnostic to establish your baseline for all five episodes in this series
Key Quote: "The leaders who sustain their impact, the ones who lead well under pressure, who earn genuine trust, who grow over decades instead of burning out, they are not the smartest or most talented. They are the ones who know who they are, clearly, honestly, and without the title doing the work for them." — Bernadette Boas
Episode Chapters:
00:00:00 — Series Hook: Who Are You When No One Is Watching?
00:01:00 — Welcome + Series Introduction: From Stuck to Leading
00:02:00 — Bernadette's Story: From Fired to Foundation
00:03:00 — How to Use the Leadership Gap Diagnostic
00:05:00 — Branded Intro / How the Episode Works
00:06:00 — Spotlight Question 1: Do You Know How Your Leadership Actually Lands?
00:08:00 — Spotlight Question 2: Are You Actively Closing the Gap?
00:10:00 — The Four Leadership Tiers + Diagnostic Reminder
00:11:00 — The Identity Question: Returning to Who Are You When No One Is Watching?
00:13:00 — What Shaky Leadership Identity Looks Like
00:14:00 — Bernadette's Firing Story: The Identity Problem
00:16:00 — Client Story: Dana's Path to VP
00:18:00 — The I Dare You Challenge
00:19:00 — Wrap Up: What to Take Away Today
00:20:00 — Series Commitment + Subscribe CTA
00:21:00 — Preview of Episode 2: What Are You Avoiding?
ABOUT THIS SERIES — From Stuck to Leading: The Five-Part Self-Coaching Conversation
Every other Tuesday, Bernadette Boas asks one coaching question — the same question she asks every private client. Five episodes. Five questions. One complete leadership transformation arc.
• Episode 1 — Who Are You as a Leader When No One Is Watching? [YOU ARE HERE]
• Episode 2 — What Are You Avoiding That's Quietly Costing You Everything? [LINK WHEN LIVE]
• Episode 3 — [Coming every other Tuesday]
• Episode 4 — [Coming every other Tuesday]
• Episode 5 — [Coming every other Tuesday]
Subscribe to Shedding the Corporate B!tch on YouTube (@ShedtheCorpBitchTV) or your podcast platform so you never miss an episode in the series.
About Bernadette Boas:
Bernadette Boas is an executive coach, speaker, author, and founder of Ball of Fire Coaching. With 25+ years in corporate America — including VP and Chief Knowledge Officer roles — and 18 years coaching 400+ executives across Fortune 500 and high-growth organizations, she is the host of Shedding the Corporate B!tch. balloffirecoaching.com | coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall
Related Episodes:
• I Got Fired So You Could Lead — The story behind the framework: HERE
• The TIMER Framework Solo Episode: HERE
• Why Your Team Ignores You: HERE
Subscribe & Follow:
New episodes of the From Stuck to Leading series release every other Tuesday at @ShedtheCorpBitchTV on YouTube. Subscribe and hit the bell so you're notified when Episode 2 drops — it goes deeper on the question every executive has been avoiding. All episodes are also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms.
Download the free Leadership Gap Diagnostic: tiny.cc/leadershipgapdiagnostic