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 | Find the Tension Between Presence and Progress
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Last week we talked about not letting your intent diminish and how the longer we wait to do something we know we should do, the less likely we are to actually follow through.
This week’s leadership tip is a little different.
Have you ever found yourself rushing through a season of life, wishing time would speed up so you could finally get to the “good part”? Or maybe you’ve been so distracted by what’s next that you forgot to notice what’s right in front of you.
In this short episode, Desiree shares two pieces of advice that seem to conflict with each other:
be where your feet are planted… and look to the horizon.
Through stories about childhood, growth, grief, walks down gravel roads, and the reminder to occasionally look up from the noise around us, this episode explores the tension between being fully present and still dreaming about what’s ahead.
By the time you finish listening, you’ll discover:
- Why different moments in life require different mindsets
- How constantly focusing on “what’s next” can cause you to miss your current season
- The importance of slowing down long enough to look up and see the bigger picture
If this episode resonated with you, take a screenshot while listening, share it to your Instagram stories, and tag me @desireepetrich so I can hear your biggest takeaway.
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This podcast for managers is here to help you:
• Grow your leadership development
• Navigate team management with confidence
• Learn how to handle conflict at work
• Apply real, practical leadership tips
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Desiree (00:01.838)
Hey friend, welcome back to your weekly leadership tip from Desiree. One small idea to carry with you into your life and leadership this week. And I actually have two tips for you this week. I have been feeling the conflict, the juxtaposition, the tension between these two messages this last week. And the first one is to be where your feet are planted. This has been a theme since I was 17, working at a physical therapist's office. I was telling my coworker,
about something a couple weekends from now, how excited I was, how I wish the time would go faster so it could just be there already. And she turned to me and she said, don't wish away this time. Don't wish away the weekends between now and then. Don't wish away the conversations and the things that could happen or the growth that you could have between now and then. And that has stayed with me. Every time I find myself wishing away a season of my kid's childhood because the season feels hard or a season of work where
growth feels really hard or going through a cycle of grief or frustration, whatever it looks like, I remind myself to be where my feet are planted, to not wish away this time because it is in those moments of uncomfortable.
Desiree (01:22.402)
because it is in those moments of being uncomfortable where we do grow. We grow under that pressure to be where our feet are planted. But I've also been thinking a lot lately about looking to the horizon, looking more to the future, opening your eyes. I was walking down the same gravel road I've told you about hundred times and I had been playing a game on my phone when I convinced myself I needed to go on a walk and I found myself continuing to reach for my phone.
even while I was walking. And at one point I lost the level I was trying to play at and I looked up and I just, I thought I'm missing it. My eyes had to adjust to this beautiful sunset and this wide open expanse with the fields and the grass was blowing in the wind and I know it sounds super cheesy but in that moment it hit me and I just thought, what am I doing? I am missing it. I'm missing.
the nice day because I'm outside but I'm not seeing it. I'm missing the opportunity to be in silence because I'm in silence and yet my mind is on something else. I'm missing the opportunity to look at the bigger picture because I'm not doing anything differently than I was 10 minutes ago sitting in my house watching TV. I was missing it. I was missing the big picture of it all. And so the reason that I tell you my tip for you this week or my tips if you will,
is to both be where your feet are planted and to look to the horizon is because we have different moments, not only throughout our life or our week, but in our day. We have different moments within our day that require different mindsets from us. If you are with your kids or out to supper with a friend or in a meeting, you need to be where your feet are planted. We need to be able to be in that moment and find appreciation and thankfulness for it, even if it's hard.
to be able to say this is just a season, but I'm going to give it all that I can and find as much value in it as I can. But then we also need to find those moments where we can take a break and turn off the noise and look out to the wide expanse and truly see how small we are. And if I'm being honest, we're insignificant. You ever stood outside on a dark night?
Desiree (03:43.01)
where the stars are shining and you just thought I am so small. That's what I do every single time. I feel like my problems are insurmountable. I think to that moment where I'm looking up and realize how small I am. Sometimes we have to take the time, even if it's only five minutes, to look to the horizon. So I don't know where you need to be right now. I'm actually really curious if this is a mindset that we have as individuals where we kind of tend to
be one or the other, where somebody who lives in the moment and who really focuses on putting being where our feet are and finding that gratefulness and just kind of letting what happens in the future be in the future. Or maybe we're the kind of person who forgets to think in the moment and we're not really nostalgic. We're not finding that be where our feet are gratefulness and we're always looking towards what's next. I don't know if you're one or the other or if there is a way that we can incorporate both into our life. But on the off chance, we can do both.
which I do believe that we can. This is my message to you today. This is my tip for you is to find moments throughout your day where you can be where your feet are planted, but also look to the horizon. You're welcome.
Desiree (05:03.778)
You're welcome for the corniness of today's message and I can't wait to see you back here next week for another tip on life and leadership.