# Episode 68: From Armor to Authentic Power: The Power of Inner Work in Leadership

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/extraordinary-leadership-podcast-7058725/episode-68-from-armor-to-authentic-power-the-power-of-inner-work-in-leadership
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/extraordinary-leadership-podcast-7058725/episode-68-from-armor-to-authentic-power-the-power-of-inner-work-in-leadership.md
Podcast: [Extraordinary Leadership PODCAST](https://stenobird.com/podcast/extraordinary-leadership-podcast-7058725)
Published: 2026-04-16T03:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.theextraordinaryleadership.com/podcasts/extraordinary-leadership-podcast-2/episodes/2149192298
Audio file: https://app.kajabi.com/podcasts/medias/2149192298.mp3
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Duration seconds: 2439

## Resource

The armor that protected you once is now the ceiling of your leadership and business. The most capable & ambitious leaders I work with share one pattern: somewhere between childhood and the C-suite, they built protection mechanisms so effective - they forgot they were wearing them. For most high-performing leaders, it sounded like: → "I need to be exceptional to be worthy." → "I need to control the environment to stay safe." → "I need to make everyone happy, or things fall apart." They worked. They got you here. But they're running your leadership on autopilot. And at the level you're operating at now - the stakes are too high for autopilot. And it creates additional pressure. What's on the other side is a different dimension of leadership. More clarity. More awareness. More aliveness. Less pressure. This is part of the work I do with leaders at this level. And it's not what spoken at the boardroom, or included in most leadership programs. In this episode, Dagmara Asbreuk — Transformational Executive Partner and Founder of Extraordinary Leadership ,  sits down with Nancy Zabaneh, senior Compassionate Inquiry® practitioner and transformational educator bringing 3 decades of experience, to explore what rarely makes it into boardroom conversations. Both bring depth and experience to the topic from their work. By the end of this episode you will: 1 What the coping mechanisms are that every leader has operating below the surface — and where they actually come from. 2 The specific armor patterns showing up in leadership, even at the highest level. 3 Understand what trauma actually is and why every high-achieving leader has a version of it quietly running their leadership on autopilot 4 What "leading from authentic power" actually looks like — beyond the buzzwor…

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