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.
Subscribe for weekly clarity drops that fuel your next level—with confidence.
Your Next Clear Move
The Power of Presence in YOUR Leadership
What if the most powerful leadership move you make this week takes only five minutes and zero budget? We’re diving into presence—the simple, human skill of giving someone your full attention—and how it becomes the foundation for trust, clarity, and genuine team readiness. Instead of chasing polish or projecting certainty, we focus on the moments that change culture: eyes up, phone down, questions asked with real curiosity.
Across this conversation, we unpack the hidden costs of distraction and the way drift erodes relationships and results. You’ll hear practical cues to catch yourself when your mind races ahead, a grounding reset you can use anywhere, and clean questions that open context fast: What’s most important right now? What would a good outcome look like? Can you tell me more? These tools shift you from getting ready to being ready, which is where stronger decisions and smarter execution live.
We also talk about modeling—how your presence becomes a quiet form of instruction that gives your team permission to slow down, think clearly, and speak up. You don’t need more meetings to get better ideas; you need five undistracted minutes that prove people matter more than agenda speed. Try the 48‑hour challenge: pick one person, give them full attention, and watch what changes in trust, insight, and energy. If you’re ready to build a culture of connection and clarity, this is your starting point.
If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a leader who needs the reset, and leave a quick review so others can find it. Want to go deeper? Visit debbipeterspeaks.com to explore the Readiness Reset keynote and leadership experiences.
Hey, hello, and welcome back. I am Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity, and this is another episode of The Next Clear Move, your next clear move in your leadership, in your career, perhaps even in your business. And today we are talking about presence. Presence as a leader, being fully present, because this is something that can really get in the way of you being an effective leader. So stay tuned.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome to the Getting to Clarity Podcast.
SPEAKER_00:The place where busy leaders discover how to create more success in their leadership journey with less sacrifice in their life.
SPEAKER_01:Here's your host, Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity.
SPEAKER_02:So when it comes to leadership development, when I have these conversations with leaders, there's there's something that comes up in the conversation and it comes up a lot. And it is just that focus of being focused on so many things, and that they know in the back of their mind that they're not present with their teams, that they are distracted because they are focused on so many things. And, you know, when I say presence, it's not the buzzword kind of presence, you know, not the executive presence and what you wear and how you hold your physiology and how you speak, which is incredibly important, don't get me wrong. But what I'm talking about is something much simpler and something that is much more powerful. And it is the ability to show up fully for the moment that you're in with the person who is right in front of you in this moment. So let me ask you something. When was the last time that someone gave you their full attention? I mean, really gave it to you. Can you recall? No phone? No scanning the room to see who else is in there, no half listening while thinking about the next meeting. I mean, really gave you their undivided attention. They gave you their presence. You know, most people struggle to recall a moment just like that. And that's exactly why this really matters. You know, when I was in corporate, there was a gal who was gifted at this. Uh, she was present with whoever was in front of her. That was the most important conversation that she was having. And uh, she didn't allow anything to distract her. When you had a conversation with her, you knew that you mattered, and the conversation that you were having mattered as well. So, leaders today are surrounded by people. You know, you work in an office with people, maybe you work from a home office, but yet with people, but people are feeling more disconnected than ever. And there are studies around this. Teams are stretched thin, everyone is moving fast and furious, and somewhere along the way, we've lost the habit of seeing each other as humans first. So here's what I've learned over the years through my own mistrials, missteps, and mistakes. And maybe you can relate. When I am not present, not only do I miss what really matters, but I miss who really matters. And I want you to sit with that for a second. Who you might be missing, because your mind is already two steps ahead. You know, um, presence isn't just the nice to have leadership trade. It is the foundation of so much that you're going to build in your leadership. And it is the trust that you're going to have with your team. It is the basis of building relationships with your team. And uh leadership just can't happen without those. But it's the foundation of readiness, of you being ready for what is next. Not getting ready, you already are ready, but being in that presence, that mindset of being ready and helping your team to be ready too. So when I say presence, here's what I mean: it is choosing to show up in the moment, in this conversation with this person, and that's it. It is allowing yourself to be curious, right? Um, to ask good questions, to not be rushed, to not be distracted, you know, even the watch, you know, and the phone and the people walking by the door. It's the not, well, you're half here and you're half thinking about, you know, the other 47 things on your list. Presence is the pause that allows what is most important to catch up with you. Because that sort of clarity doesn't happen when you're scattered. Clarity can't land there. It doesn't come when you are rushing, it comes when you slow down long enough to notice what is actually happening. So, what I would like to try is something together. And wherever you are right now, I want you to just take a breath. You don't have to close your eyes or anything wonky like that. Um, but I just want you to take one breath and notice what is around you. Just be quiet long enough that you notice your body in your chair. Notice how the air feels on your skin. Notice what you hear. Maybe just one thing that you hear. That right there is presence. It's not hard. We all know how to do it. It is simple, it is human, it's available to you anytime. So you can choose to be present, but at some level, when you're not present, you're also making a choice. And when we're not present, we lose so much. We lose opportunities to build relationships, we lose a chance to understand what is important to the people that we lead, what motivates them. We lose access to our best thinking. And maybe you've had a moment like this. I know that I have, and I still do, where you are so focused on what needs to be done. You know, maybe you're in a space where you're new to leadership and you're trying to prove yourself or, you know, trying to get something done. And then you forget that there are people around you who want you to contribute. You know, I've done that early in my career. I was moving so fast. I was trying to, as a new leader, get everything right. Nobody could know that I didn't have it all figured out, that I missed opportunities for connection more than once. So people feel it. Your team feels it when you're not there with them. I mean, when you're distracted, when you're emotionally not there, when you're mentally not there. And then, you know, they can think, why bother? I mean, think about the last time you had a conversation with someone and they're droning on and they're not asking you anything. It's like, why do you even have to be there? Think about the last time you had a conversation where you wanted to convey something really important, and it was very obvious that the person in front of you was horribly distracted. How does that make you feel? Well, that can happen with your team too. But when you are present, I mean fully present, you know, go back to that exercise of feeling what your chair is and how that what you hear and how the air feels on your skin, everything shifts. When you're fully present, people open up, they share more, they trust you more, they contribute ideas that they wouldn't have shared otherwise. And and here's the the bigger thing, you know, you don't have to know it all. Your people can help you. There are things that they know that you don't. Presence helps you prepare, it helps you prepare your team, it helps you prepare for the next level of your leadership. It helps you to be ready. So, presence is how you develop people because you see them as people, you connect with them as people. You don't just direct them through a process. Presence is how you see strengths that you never noticed. Presence is how you create a culture where people want to stay and they want to grow and they want to do that with you. So let me ask you another question. Who on your team needs more of your presence? Not more of your time, because you can give them your time. Not more of you know, your tasks, but more of you, more of your attention, your curiosity, your belief in them. So just hold that name in your mind for a little bit. And how is it that you can connect with them, intentionally be present with them this week? Just once and do it within the next 48 hours. So, how do you do this when life feels loud and everything is tugging at you? Well, I want to share something that works for me. First, I notice when I'm drifting. I don't notice at the moment it happens, but somewhere in the drift, I am aware that I have drifted. And self-awareness is such a gift. If I'm checked out, my mind is racing, then I'm already in the next conversation. And that is a trigger for me. That's my cue. Second, I get curious. Curiosity brings you right back into the moment. You can ask questions like, what's most important to you right now? What's most important to you, your team member, about this situation? Um, what would a good outcome look like here? Can you tell me some more about it? These questions that you ask with curiosity help you to connect and get deeper information than you would get otherwise. They open the door for deeper clarity. And from my HUNA training, I ground myself. Sometimes I simply plant my feet firmly on the ground, and I imagine all of the noise draining out. I actually anchor my energy to the earth, and then I take a breath and I'm back. Presence doesn't take time, it just takes a choice. It takes your choice. And here's the best part that you may not even realize. Presence isn't just something that you do for yourself, it is something that you model. You know, when you do this, your team sees you doing this, and you get to model that for them. So when you show up as present, every time that you do, you give people visual instruction and permission to do the same thing, permission to slow down, um, space to think. When do we give ourselves the space and the grace to think strategically? You give the room in, you know, the people in the meeting an opportunity to speak up and allow them to know that they matter. So presence is contagious, and you can help your team find theirs. And your readiness helps them to do that. It helps them to grow to be able to do the same thing. It helps them to grow into their next level. So here's an invitation for you. Again, um, in the next day or so, who are you going to choose? Just one person, and give them five minutes of your full presence in a conversation. I'm sure there's someone on your mind, whether it's professionally or maybe personally, even, that there is no multitasking, there is no rushing, you just ground yourself and have a five-minute conversation with them and be present and notice what happens. Notice how you feel, notice how it changes the conversation and how it changes you. And hey, if your organization is ready to take this deeper, or if you want leaders who show up with connection, with more clarity and readiness, then that's the heart of my work. I would love if you'd head over to my website at www.debipeterspeaks.com and check out my readiness reset keynote and the leadership development experiences that I offer. So until the next time, you are ready. Here's wishing you the clarity you deserve. Take care. Bye-bye for now.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Getting to Clarity Podcast with Debbie Peterson.
SPEAKER_00:If you enjoyed this show, please rate and recommend it on iTunes or wherever you enjoy your podcast.
SPEAKER_01:To learn more about how you can bring Debbie and her transformational clarity leadership strategies to your organization, visit Debbie Peterson Speaks.com.
