# The Way of the Rubber Ducky

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-buoyant-leader-7043386/the-way-of-the-rubber-ducky
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-buoyant-leader-7043386/the-way-of-the-rubber-ducky.md
Podcast: [The Buoyant Leader](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-buoyant-leader-7043386)
Published: 2026-05-26T06:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://howiejacobson.india-explore.in/captivate-podcast/the-way-of-the-rubber-ducky
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/491793eb-ad08-4a07-b773-b1b4b8183ab5.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-buoyant-leader-7043386/episodes/the-way-of-the-rubber-ducky
Duration seconds: 304

## Resource

As a coach, trainer, and facilitator, one of my great strengths is empathy. I’ve learned how to tune in to other people’s emotions, which means that I can help guide them to better places. When I’m working, I can stay attuned to others while maintaining my own power. But as a civilian, living my life every day, I can easily get swamped by other people’s energy. My superpower turns into my kryptonite. When I’m around happy people — energetic, bright, optimistic — I match their vibe. When folks are negative, cynical, depressed, worried, and dissociated; same thing. I feel myself hollowing out, draining, deflating. I come home from an entrepreneurial meetup or lunch with a prospect feeling hopeful and excited, possibilities buzzing — and if someone in the family is in a bad mood, within 30 seconds I can’t even remember what I’d been excited about. In short, the opposite of buoyancy. How to Balance Empathy and Buoyancy One way to be immune to other people’s emotions is to ignore or override them. That’s not what I’m going for. The cover of my new book, The Buoyant Leader , features a rubber ducky. I’ve loved the image since my daughter first suggested it as a visual theme for the concept of buoyancy, but I love it even more when I apply it to my own life. Because it shows me how to protect my boundaries. It has an impermeable membrane, so it won’t pop like a balloon. It won’t take on water, and won’t become the water. At the same time, it doesn’t ignore the water. It moves, bobs, submerges, and pops back up. That is to say, it’s sensitive to its environment without merging with it. Shallow and Deep Work So how do we do this? Sometimes, it’s enough to simply decide to. To imagine yourself encased in an energetic membrane (for me, obviously, a giant rubber ducky suit), prote…

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## Transcript

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