The leadership conversation nobody else is having.
Most leadership content tells you what to do.
This show asks you to look at who’s doing it.
Every week Jen Ostrich goes beneath the surface of leadership — into the patterns, the blind spots, the unconscious strategies, and the stories leaders tell themselves — to explore what it actually takes to lead well from the inside out.
With honesty, humor, and a sharp dose of emotional clarity, each episode brings you insights from coaching, the Enneagram, and lived experience that you can apply immediately to how you lead, how you show up, and how you understand yourself.
This isn’t about fixing yourself. It’s about finally understanding yourself.
New episodes drop every Wednesday at 6am EST.
Find The Work of You wherever you listen to podcasts.
Start here. Or start anywhere. Just start.
All episodes below
Ep 22: Understanding Your Team via the Enneagram
Without system awareness, the person who is the most self aware often feels the most exhausted.
In this episode, we explore how the Enneagram can be used not just for self awareness and growth but also for system awareness -- to understand and support the dynamics of your team. We’ll look at how different core motivations, communication patterns, and instinctual priorities shape how each person shows up at work. You’ll learn how to recognize common tension points, how to create more psychological safety, and how to build a team culture where people feel seen, valued, and able to contribute in their own way.
Ep 21: Seeing What’s Working via Appreciative Inquiry
What if the key to leading change wasn’t fixing what’s broken, but amplifying what’s already working?
In this episode Jen explores how leaders can create a culture of growth by focusing on what’s already working — not just what’s broken. Using the Appreciative Inquiry framework, she walks through the 4D process: Discover, Dream, Design, and Destiny/Deliver, showing how each phase helps teams tap into their strengths, build collective vision, and sustain meaningful change. You’ll learn how shifting from problem-solving to possibility-thinking transforms engagement, connection, and trust — one appreciative question at a time.
Ep 20: Leading with Humanity - Rediscovering the Heart of Leadership
What if the most powerful thing a leader could do wasn't to have all the answers -- but to stay deeply human and authentic in the process?
Leadership isn’t about being perfect—it’s about being real. In this heartfelt conversation, Jen shares stories and lessons on how to lead with empathy, curiosity, and courage, even when the world feels uncertain. Learn how human-centered leadership can transform not only your team but the culture you create together.
Ep 17: Exploring Your Life Chapters | The Cycle of Renewal
What if we looked at our life in full chapters instead of by age or decade? How might that shift how we see our current chapter or ready us for our next?
In this episode I discuss a model that's near and dear to my heart, created by the Hudson Institute of Coaching, and it's called The Cycle of Renewal. Understanding that this cycle is a full life chapter and it's made up of 4 different phases. We can toggle between Phase 1 and 2 for many years before dropping into Phase 3-4. Sometimes we may only complete this cycle once in a lifetime, for others, twice. This is a wonderful episode to listen and tune inward to identify where you are on the cycle.
Ep 16: Navigating Stress + Growth Through The Enneagram [Part 2]
What if you knew how to travel along the Enneagram map to manage your stress and to integrate new ways of being?
Picking up where we left off in Ep 15 - Part 1, we are talking about looking at the Enneagram map and learning how to leverage both your Lines for growth and stress management. Your main type is only a prison if you choose not to grow and leverage the pathways of the map. The entire model is designed to help you grow and integrate beyond what your core motivation wants you to do so you are managing your motivation and it's not managing you. This episode, Part 2, you'll learn how the Enneagram map works and then we'll look closely at the Head (5,6,7) and Body (8,9,1) types [refer to Episode 15, Part 1 for the Heart Types (2,3,4).
Ep 15: Navigating Stress + Growth Through The Enneagram [Part 1]
Have you ever been in a meeting and suddenly felt tense, misunderstood, or even shut down without really knowing why? This will make sense of that moment.
When uncertainty or conflict puts us in “threat mode,” our brains can sabotage trust and connection. In this episode, we’ll explore the SCARF model and learn simple strategies to shift out of threat and into reward—so you can lead, communicate, and respond with clarity instead of reactivity. SCARF = Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness. These are 5 domains that influence human social interactions and can trigger a threat or reward response in the brain.
Ep 14: Moving Your Brain From Threat to Reward State
Have you ever been in a meeting and suddenly felt tense, misunderstood, or even shut down without really knowing why? This will make sense of that moment.
When uncertainty or conflict puts us in “threat mode,” our brains can sabotage trust and connection. In this episode, we’ll explore the SCARF model and learn simple strategies to shift out of threat and into reward—so you can lead, communicate, and respond with clarity instead of reactivity. SCARF = Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness. These are 5 domains that influence human social interactions and can trigger a threat or reward response in the brain.
Ep 13: The Communication Patterns You Don’t Even Notice.
What if the way we speak, listen, and interpret has less to do with intention and more to do with our wiring?
This episode is an invitation to become more dialed in to how you move through communication, how you listen, and what your tendencies are for interpreting others words or actions. Understanding your own communication lens is part of building that awareness and doing the work of you. Noticing when and why communication breaks down is also important. We can also assume the way we are wired to communicate is how others are wired. This can lead to misunderstandings – when I subconsciously assume that you are motivated by the same things that I am. OR that you instinctually listen for the same things that I do to ensure clarity, control, safety, or connection. This episode is about understanding your own communication patterns so they don't derail your message or your relationships.
