Today’s guest, Mindy Spigel, is the founder of MG Spigel, LLC, the author of “There’s a Snake on my Head,” and a speaker featured on TedX San Antonio. Mindy is passionate about helping people learn to recognize fear, respond with compassion, and enhance communication with customers and team members to decrease fear and increase outcomes. 

In this conversation, Mindy shares a simple but profound truth that people cannot hear, learn, or perform when fear is present. And yet, most organizations are structured as if fear is irrelevant—or worse, as if it’s a personal weakness instead of a predictable human response.

We're digging into these topics on today's episode:

✔️ The issue isn’t whether fear exists. The issue is whether leaders recognize it—and know what to do with it.

✔️ How fear blocks comprehension, but tactics we can use to help people feel heard, seen, and valued. 

✔️ Being safe is not the same as feeling safe. And people do not perform based on objective reality—they perform based on perception.

✔️ Effective leadership understands anger as an outlet of emotion and how to validate the emotion so we can move beyond it together. 

✔️ Psychological safety, change, and clarity create cohesive action. 

✔️ An anchored purpose will triumph over fear and burnout with confidence and courage. 

Resources Mentioned

• On the Trail Podcast Episodes that talk about the validation elevator:
  • Pain Processing Pathway (Part 1); Episode 53: https://open.spotify.com/episode/29tWV8DeoOpiJurIv387Dk?si=zUFvOrCCS4CqmJZSngeGmQ
  • Pain Processing Pathway (Part 2); Episode 54: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7rRlORlxsXRbDhVZiQJeh0?si=jIXtiO3rSk-d0qekTgwYxQ 
  • Pain Processing Pathway (Part 3); Episode 55: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7zu1X9g9ekHJEnCaqv9wCl?si=RfpwQWl-Soax6l6XncJefA
  • Pain Processing Pathway (Part 4); Episode 56: https://open.spotify.com/episode/41pYPVkcSafWq2VCUGVTwr?si=_bCcjwcZTi2QCtXAJ6DkWg 

Learn more about Emboldened Entrepreneur at emboldenedentrep.com. 

Learn more about Mindy at:

Website: mindyspigel.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mindyspigel/ 

Purchase her book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Strategies-Alleviating-Healthcare-Patients-Families/dp/B0B92L1MKN/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 

View her Tedx Talk: How to Meet Fear With Compassion at https://youtu.be/rIrXZJWs5N0