Edition 2025.08.07
In this issue: The discomfort you avoid doesn’t go away—it goes underground and starts running the show. This week, we unpack how emotional resistance quietly hijacks your leadership—and how facing what you feel puts you back in charge.
Featuring insights from Judith, Bob, and the LiveWright Team.
If you’ve been holding it together by being “nice,” you’re not alone—but it’s costing you. Stop betraying yourself in the name of harmony and learn to lead with the kind of honesty that builds real trust.
Many high-achieving women I work with have one thing in common: they’re good at “being nice.” Polished. Thoughtful. Composed.
But beneath that composure often lives a quiet storm of resentment, grief, or frustration—feelings they’ve been trained to hide, downplay, or avoid.
But here’s the leadership truth: What you don’t express doesn’t go away. It distorts. You lose clarity. Your relationships strain. Your decisions stall. And worst of all—you lose trust in yourself.
Avoidance may feel like control, but it’s actually self-betrayal.
Try This: The “Nice” Filter Reset
1. Notice: where you’ve said “yes” when you meant “no.”
2. Ask: What emotion was I resisting in that moment? Anger? Hurt? Fear?
3. Then ask: What would emotional honesty look like here—without apology.
4. Choose: how to honor that truth, even if it feels risky.
The leaders I admire most aren’t the ones who please everyone. They’re the ones who are willing to feel discomfort in service of truth.
Want to reclaim the power of emotional honesty in your leadership? Schedule your clarity call here.
One More Thought:
Emotional honesty isn’t harsh—it’s healing. When you stop performing “nice” and start honoring what’s true, you don’t just lead better. You live freer.
LiveWright, with grounded truth and fierce grace,
Dr. Judith Wright
Every emotion you resist becomes a hidden tax on your presence, clarity, and decision-making. Reclaim your bandwidth by facing what you feel.
Most people think resistance is invisible. It’s not. It shows up in micromanagement. Delayed decisions. Tension in the room. Short tempers. Missed opportunities.
What’s really happening? Emotional avoidance.
I’ve seen it again and again—leaders who unconsciously resist feeling fear, anger, shame, or grief. Instead of working with those feelings, they push through. Perform. Over-intellectualize. But those unprocessed emotions? They persist—and they hijack the system.
If you want to lead cleanly, you have to lead emotionally. That means facing what you’ve been resisting—internally and relationally.
Try This: The Resistance Reveal Audit
1. Identify: a decision or situation where you feel stuck.
2. Ask: What emotion am I resisting in this situation? Anger? Hurt? Sadness? Fear?
3. Choose: one step that honors that emotion rather than avoids it.
Leadership doesn’t begin when the resistance ends. It begins when you’re willing to walk through it.
Ready to eliminate the emotional tax that’s draining your leadership?
Book a discovery call.
Remember: You don’t need to fight your emotions to lead powerfully—you nered to feel them more clearly. Face what you’ve been resisting, and your leadership will become more grounded, more present, and unshakable.
LiveWright, with presence and principled power,
Dr. Bob Wright
Your emotional avoidance doesn’t just affect you—it sets the tone for your entire team. Change the emotional standard, and you change the culture.
Avoidance might feel personal, but it’s always relational.
At LiveWright, we work with teams who don’t just want performance—they want purpose. But emotional resistance is often the invisible barrier.
A leader avoids discomfort… so their team avoids hard conversations. A manager resists feedback… so the culture resists change. A founder fears conflict… so the mission loses relevance.
What you resist as a leader becomes what your team tiptoes around.
Try This: Team Emotional Pulse Check
Ask your team (or yourself):
1. What emotions or topics feel off-limits in this team?
2. Where are we tiptoeing around tension instead of transforming it?
3. What’s one emotion or truth we need to name—together?
That’s why LiveMORE exists—not just to help leaders grow, but to transform how they lead their people.
Our next LiveMORE cohort starts on August 15. If you’d like to join us, email hello@livewright.com, or visit livewright.com/LiveMORE to learn more.
Final Thought: Avoidance doesn’t protect your leadership—it dilutes it. When you face what you feel, you give your team permission to do the same. That’s how trust grows, cultures shift, and leadership becomes contagious.
LiveWright, where emotional courage meets conscious leadership,
Dr. Bob, Dr. Judith, and the whole LiveWright Team