Unburdened Leadership, Part 4: Presence as Practice
Why leadership impact is often determined less by what we say and more by how consistently we show up.
This is Part 4 of a short leadership series I have been sharing this year called Unburdened Leadership.
In Part 1, I explored what happens when leaders stop over-functioning through releasing what was never theirs to carry.
In Part 2, I addressed boundaries as an embodied leadership skill.
In Part 3, I explored leaders shifting from fixing to facilitating.
This next layer in leadership is more subtle – and just as essential.
Lately, I’ve been noticing a pattern, both in myself and in the leaders I work with, which is an undercurrent of anxiousness, burnout, and exhaustion.
It’s not always tied to a specific circumstance.
It shows up more as a constant hum in the nervous system.
Part of this experience is personal, involving our own internal narratives, and part of it feels collective, involving the uncertainty many of us are currently navigating.
What I’ve come to recognize is that even when life looks “fine” on the outside, there can be a very real, visceral sense of not fully feeling safe or settled on the inside.
In my client conversations, I often hear two things:
1. An anxious exhaustion
2. Very little capacity for true restoration
This is where presence becomes a leadership practice.
Balancing the nervous system, tending to the vagus nerve, and allowing ourselves to pause are not luxuries.
They are foundational to how we lead.
Those 3 aspects shape our ability to:
• listen deeply
• communicate clearly
• think with intention
• respond rather than react
We frequently get caught up in trying to mentally solve what’s next.
But leadership doesn’t always require more thinking.
Sometimes it requires more space.
When we pause and allow a bit of “white space” in the mind, we create not only the conditions for clarity to emerge, but also we create
A solution.
A knowing.
A next step that feels simple and aligned.
This is presence.
Not as an idea, but as practice.
The practice of noticing what is happening in real time and honoring what the body and mind are asking for.
Even as I write this, I notice tightness in my shoulders after a long day.
And in that awareness, there is a quiet knowing that:
It’s time to pause.
It’s time to step away.
It’s time to return when my body feels more open and in flow.
The shift from constant processing to presence-based awareness is available to all of us.
From this shift, leadership becomes less effortful.
We are no longer forcing our way forward; instead, we are allowing something deeper to guide us.
Closing Reflection:
Where might presence – not more effort – be what’s being asked of you right now?
If this resonates, you’re not alone in it.
These are the kinds of conversations I’m conducting often both in my peer group circles and in 1:1 work.
How we may create space designed to slow down, to listen inward, and to lead from a more aligned place.
You’re always welcome there.