Your Next Clear Move
Welcome to Your Next Clear Move™—the podcast for leaders, professionals, and high-capacity humans who are done “getting ready” and ready to move.
I’m Debbie Peterson, Leadership Readiness Expert, and in each episode I deliver grounded insight, clarity-driven mindset strategies, and one actionable step to help you stop the drift and lead yourself forward.
This isn’t about fixing what’s broken. It’s about reconnecting to what matters—and making decisions that align with who you are and how you want to lead next.
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Your Next Clear Move
Believe First, Lead Second
What's truly standing between you and your next leadership breakthrough? Contrary to popular belief, it's not another certification, more experience, or endless preparation—it's your fundamental belief in yourself.
This episode challenges the conventional wisdom about leadership readiness, revealing how internal barriers create more obstacles than external qualifications ever could. I share striking research from Hewlett Packard showing that women typically wait until they're 100% qualified before applying for positions, while men confidently step forward at just 60%. This confidence gap creates real-world consequences, giving quicker movers a significant competitive advantage regardless of actual preparedness.
Leadership readiness isn't about comparison—it's about evolution and self-permission. Most leaders get trapped in unconscious belief patterns that begin as fleeting doubts but gradually harden into identity-level limitations that dictate their actions. Drawing from my training in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), I introduce powerful reframing techniques that transform limiting thoughts like "I'm not ready" into empowering perspectives such as "What if this helps me grow into ready?" These simple yet profound shifts change not just your thinking but your leadership momentum.
Ready to break free from self-imposed limitations? Try the 10-minute clarity exercise I outline to examine one belief holding you back. Ask yourself: Where did this belief originate? Is it factually true? What belief would better serve your leadership journey? Remember, you don't need another credential—you need clarity about who you're becoming. Visit debbiepetersonspeaks.com for more resources on building your leadership readiness from the inside out, because the truth remains: readiness isn't about knowing more, it's about believing better.
Hey, hello and welcome back. This is Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity, and I am here to help you make your next clear move. And today we are talking about leadership readiness. And let me just say it isn't what you know that readies you as a leader, it's what you believe about yourself. So stay tuned.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the Getting to Clarity podcast the place where busy leaders discover how to create more success in their leadership journey with less sacrifice in their life.
Speaker 2:Here's your host, debbie Peterson, of Getting to Clarity.
Speaker 1:Well, whether you're stepping into your first big role or you are preparing others maybe on your team to step into theirs, readiness for a role begins inside. It's not about checking off more boxes. It is about believing in what's next for you and trusting yourself that you can get there, that you can lead from there, and that is why mindset matters so much more than your resume. So most leaders that I've worked with, they get stalled by what they think they don't know. They get stuck in a loop of trying to learn more, do more, prove more. They're getting ready, to get ready, but that doesn't guarantee that they're gonna move forward, because what holds them back isn't skill, it's a lack of belief. So for emerging leaders it might sound like this I need to be 100% qualified before I make a move. I need to be able to know how to do it before I apply for that job. And this is especially so for women, and it's backed up by a study that Hewlett Packard did. They put out a report showing that women tend to apply only when they meet all, all of the qualifications, while men will apply when they meet about 60%. And that difference in belief it matters because it's giving the people who move quicker a competitive advantage. So in seasoned leadership let's look at that the voice might be. Well, I'm not what I used to be. You know the new generation is more prepared than I was. In reality, a 2021 study, a DDI study, shows that senior leaders often underestimate the support that they need to grow in changing environments. So readiness isn't about comparison. Comparison is not doing you any favors. It is about evolution and giving yourself permission to evolve.
Speaker 1:So here's the truth. These aren't facts, they're beliefs, and if you don't pause to question these beliefs because they're not factual, they can quietly run the show. So what gets in the way? Well, usually it starts small. There is a quiet moment of doubt. You know, there's a shift in responsibilities, maybe it's a comment from someone that just lingers with you a little too long. You know, one thought becomes a pattern of thinking because you revisit it again and again, and then that pattern of thinking becomes a belief. It gets layered in so deep. It is an unconscious belief and it becomes part of your identity. You say this is who I am, you know. And if your identity is saying, okay, I got to have it all figured out, or if it's saying I don't belong here, then that's the lens that you're going to take action through. That is how you're going to lead. That's not good. So leadership isn't about who you've always been, it's about who you're becoming, and becoming requires awareness.
Speaker 1:So the shift is building a readiness mindset. So you don't need more credentials, you need more clarity, and that begins by noticing your thoughts and it's asking really great questions of yourself. You know, when you find yourself becoming aware of a thought, it's like okay, is this thought helping me move forward or is it holding me back? Aware of a thought, it's like okay, is this thought helping me move forward or is it holding me back? You know that's where reframing comes in, and I am trained in NLP, which is Neuro Linguistic Programming. So neuro is the mind, linguistic is language, programming are our habits. So it's like the habits of the mind that help us make moves. Either they support us or they don't. And NLP reframing is something that I teach to almost every leader that I coach, every cohort that I facilitate, and it is the art of looking at your thoughts from a new perspective. It's not to dismiss what's real, but it is to help reveal what is possible.
Speaker 1:And reframing gives you back your options. You stop defaulting to the same old story. You lead from possibility instead of fear. You shift from being hesitant to giving yourself permission to get into action. So if you were to try it, instead of I'm not ready, ask what if this helps me grow into ready, that you know that that move is going to give you new information, it's going to help you to be ready. You're becoming ready. It's not getting ready, it is being ready. And instead of okay, others are better than me, others are more equipped than I am, you know, you reframe your thinking to okay, I'm bringing something different to the table, this is my skill sets and I, you know, I'm going to contribute. Instead of all right, I have to do this, perfectly right, it could be, I'll learn what I need as I go, instead of having it all figured out, you're giving yourself permission to learn. So this is where your clarity begins. When you reframe, you don't just change your mind, you change your momentum. So what is your next clear move? So glad you asked, because I love sharing these with you.
Speaker 1:Set a timer for 10 minutes and just examine one belief that's been holding you back, the one that you caught, and ask yourself these questions All right. Where did this come from? If you were to know, if you were to guess, where did this belief come from? Next, ask yourself is it true? Is it factually true? And then ask yourself all right, what belief would serve me better? What is going to help me become the leader that I want to be? What do you choose to believe? So let's just quit.
Speaker 1:Stop measuring readiness by what you've done in the past. Let's start measuring it by what you're willing to believe about who you're becoming, what you're willing to learn in the future. You don't need to be perfect, you don't need to have it all figured out. You need to trust you, you need to trust yourself. That growth starts when you give yourself permission to lead from within. Okay, it's growing from the inside out, and I have seen what this does when leaders do this, and I have lived it myself Confidence returns the clarity of next moves, sharpens the momentum builds, and if that sounds like it's a next step for you, that's terrific. I am so happy for you. And if you'd like to pick up more tips, tools, techniques to be ready, as a leader, to embrace your leadership readiness, then head on over to my website at wwwdebbypetersonspeakscom, because readiness isn't about knowing more. It's about believing better. So be good to yourself, take care and bye-bye for now.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Getting to Clarity podcast with Debbie.
Speaker 3:So be good to yourself, take care, visit debbyspeakscom.
