You’re the Boss, Now What? with Desiree Petrich | Leadership and Team Development for Managers and Team Leaders
A leadership podcast for managers who want stronger teams, less drama, and more trust at work.
If you are a manager of people, this podcast is your playbook for the real challenges of leadership!
Each week, your host Desiree Petrich shares practical tools and frameworks from Working Genius, DISC, and The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team to help you:
- Hold employees accountable without micromanaging
- Handle conflict at work before it turns into drama
- Build trust and respect as a confident, credible leader
- Fix a toxic culture and create a team that takes ownership
- Lead effective team meetings that inspire engagement and action
Whether you’re leading a small team or an entire department, you’ll learn actionable strategies to create better communication, deeper trust, and a workplace people actually enjoy showing up to.
You’ll also get quick takeaways from bestselling leadership books, so you can skip the fluff and apply what works!
You’re the Boss, Now What? is your weekly dose of coaching for managers who want to do more than manage, they want to lead.
Popular Topics Include:
One-on-one meeting frameworks, handling team conflict, addressing passive-aggressive behavior, rebuilding trust after drama, navigating difficult employees, setting expectations without micromanaging, improving accountability conversations, fixing toxic communication patterns, leading effective team meetings, delegation strategies for overwhelmed managers, increasing team buy-in, coaching underperforming employees, giving feedback that lands, managing impostor syndrome at work, and creating a healthier, more human-centered culture.
You’re the Boss, Now What? with Desiree Petrich | Leadership and Team Development for Managers and Team Leaders
Leadership Tips | Take the Fist Bump
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Have you ever felt like if you can’t give 100%, it’s not worth showing up at all?
As a leader, it’s easy to fall into the trap of all-or-nothing thinking. You think you need to be fully energized, fully prepared, and fully “on” to show up well for your team. But the reality is, some days your energy just isn’t there.
And when that happens, most people either push themselves into burnout… or they don’t show up at all.
In this episode, I’m sharing a simple lesson from a workout that completely shifted how I think about effort, energy, and consistency. Because leadership development isn’t about being perfect every day. It’s about showing up with what you have and building trust with yourself over time.
This is your reminder that you don’t need 100% to make progress. You just need to start.
Key Takeaways
- You don’t need 100% energy to show up and make progress
- Consistency in leadership matters more than perfection
- Being honest about your energy builds trust with yourself and others
Check out Millionaire Hoy on Youtube!
Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead
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Desiree (00:01.816)
Hey friends, welcome back to your weekly leadership tip from Desiree. One small idea to carry with you into your life and leadership this week. And the tip this week is to take the fist bump. I don't know if you like workout videos. Some people think it's very, you know, 1980s with the all the unitards and such. I think back to when my mom used to do these workout videos, but that is not the case anymore. Whether you do beach body or less mills or whatever you choose.
One of my absolute favorite fitness instructors online is Millionaire Hoy. I'll put a link to his videos in the show notes for you on YouTube. But one of the reasons that I love this individual is because he does the workouts with you. He is super upbeat and motivating, and he is vulnerable in telling you when he's struggling. And I just relate to him a lot. But at the end of every single workout.
He does two things. Number one, you finish and he goes, all right, we're going to do a fist bump. We fist bump. And yes, if you're wondering, I do. I don't actually fist bump the TV, but I get up, I do the motion. It's very motivating to get to the end of the workout and have that to look forward to, to know that you push through, that you did a good job. Then he says something else, which I'm going to do in another episode, but
The thing about the fist bump is that you feel like you have to earn it. Like if you don't get through the workout, you did not earn it. And last week, there was just a really hard day. You know those days where mentally you're not with it, your body doesn't wanna cooperate, you feel like your energy, no matter how hard you try, just won't get there. You've already pushed through an entire day.
at work or maybe you're just contemplating the fact that you'll have to push through. And so your morning workout just doesn't feel like it's going to be doable. And I was having one of these days, I got probably 20 minutes into a 30 minute workout and I just thought I can't. I know the last five minutes is a cool down and stretch. I can't even fathom five more minutes. And so I thought about just shutting off the workout. I thought about just turning it off and saying, you know what? It's fine. Whatever. But I thought I really want that fist bump.
Desiree (02:13.033)
It is a motivator to me. I want to get it. But I felt guilty. I felt like if I didn't earn it, if I didn't give my 100 percent, if I didn't push through all the way, I would be cheating and no one would know because it's just me in my little shed working out. But I said, you know what? It's OK. If I don't have 100 percent to give, what do I have? And I said, I have enough energy in this moment to do the cool down.
So I did something I very rarely do and I took my remote remote and I skipped through the rest of the lifts and I just did the three to five minute cool down. And when it came time and he said, all right, we're going to do the fist bump. I was still arguing myself. said, I didn't earn it. I did not do enough to earn this fist bump. But I said, I did something. I did something. I press play, which is the hardest part. I listened to my body when I needed to. So I'm going to take it. And I took the fist bump.
And I felt like I accomplished something that day, even though it wasn't a hundred percent. And I came back the next day, I did the full workout and it was great. The lesson that I want you to take from this is that one of the things I talk about at length is energy and showing up with energy and doing what we need to do to create a positive spiral of energy and others. But some days it's just not there. Some days are hard and some days mentally and physically, you just can't get there. But don't give up.
Don't not show up. Go and be vulnerable and be willing to say out loud that it's hard and be willing to give the energy that you do still have to the thing that you're doing because you're not gonna regret it. I very, very rarely regret a workout. I never regret a networking event even if I don't have the energy to be there. I never regret a conversation or a lunch with friends. As many times as we think, I just don't have the energy for this and I don't wanna go and I'm gonna cancel.
How much energy do you have? Can you be vulnerable enough with yourself to be honest? Can you be vulnerable enough with the people on the other side of you to be honest about where your energy level is at? And then just take the fist bump. Get through it, give it what you can in that moment, and then still feel proud of the energy that you did put in. So as you enter into this week, just remember, take the fist bump. There is no guilt needed. If you start...
Desiree (04:39.437)
the thing. you do the thing and you get through to the end, whether you put in your 100 % or you didn't have 100 % to give, I'm still proud of you. You still get to be proud of you. You still get to take the fist bump. So can't wait to see you back here next week for another tip on life and leadership. Send me a message on LinkedIn. Tell me what you got through this week. Tell me where your
Desiree (05:14.271)
love to hear where you pushed through, where you got to the end, or maybe where you chose not to. And that was the better choice for you and that's amazing too. See you next week.
Desiree (05:27.351)
So as you enter into this week, just remember to take the fist bump. It doesn't need to be perfect. It doesn't even need to be at 100%. If you do the thing and you get to the end, I am proud of you and I hope that you can be proud of you too and feel good about taking that fist bump that you earned. So I'll see you back here next week for another tip on life and leadership. Keep pushing through.