profile

Whole Leader Dispatch

Emotional Mastery in Motion: The Leadership Power of Clarity, Agility, and Presence

Published about 13 hours ago • 5 min read

Friends,

Leadership isn’t a concept we think our way into—it’s an experience we live. And it’s emotional. Even when we try to compartmentalize or power through, our inner world eventually catches up with us. I know this firsthand.

I’m so glad to be back and to share this new edition of the Dispatch with you. The past several weeks have been full—in the best possible way. Client work has kept me deeply engaged, and I’ve also been tending to some family needs. In June, I carved out time for a much-needed vacation with Nicole and my stepsons. We spent a week in Mexico, and for the first time in a very long time, I completely unplugged.

No emails. No notifications. Just rest, laughter, sunshine, and reconnection.

That unplugging did more than give me rest—it gave me clarity. I returned home refueled, reset, and reconnected to my purpose. And I’ve been reflecting ever since on what it means to lead with presence in a world that’s constantly pulling us to do more, fix more, carry more.

This edition explores the inner practices that help us reclaim our emotional clarity. Because emotional mastery doesn’t mean having it all together. It means noticing when we’re hooked, getting curious about what’s underneath, and choosing to lead from our values rather than our fears.

In this issue, I’m sharing the emotional frameworks that have transformed my leadership: Susan David’s work on emotional agility, Barbara Fredrickson’s research on positive emotion, and the Enneagram as a map for integration and growth. These tools have helped me—and many of my clients—show up more grounded, expansive, and clear.

So whether you’re easing into vacation mode or gearing up for a busy season ahead, I hope this edition gives you permission to pause, reflect, and realign.

Not for perfection. But for presence.

Clear eyes. Full hearts.

Paula

Field Report: Emotional Mastery in Motion

Leadership today demands more than strategic thinking—it calls for emotional depth, clarity, and resilience. Yet most leaders were never taught how to navigate their inner landscape. In this Field Report, I share what I’ve learned through my own evolution as a system leader, coach, and human being about what it truly means to lead with emotional intelligence in motion.

Drawing from Susan David’s work on emotional agility, Barbara Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory, and the Enneagram’s insights into internal patterns, I explore how leaders can develop emotional mastery not as a fixed trait, but as a daily practice of pausing, reflecting, and choosing alignment over instinct. I open up about my own journey from overfunctioning to integrated leadership—and how emotional clarity has changed not just how I lead, but how I live.

You’ll also hear how my clients are using these same tools to shift long-standing patterns, build psychological safety, and expand their leadership impact in real-time.

This is not about softening standards. It’s about learning how to hold space—for yourself, for others, and for what’s possible.

​
​Read the full article on LinkedIn: Emotional Mastery in Motion
​Once you’ve read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What resonates? Where are you being invited to pause or pivot in your leadership? Share your insights, experiences, or questions in the comments for the article—we grow stronger when we learn together.

Spotlight on Whole Leader Lab Services: Aligned by Design

Aligned by Design: unlock the inner clarity that fuels your most powerful, purposeful leadership

If you’ve been feeling stretched thin, stuck in old patterns, or simply ready to reconnect with your core as a leader, this is your invitation.

Aligned by Design is a high-impact coaching experience that combines the research-backed and leadership-calibrated iEQ9 Enneagram Assessment with three private, strategic coaching sessions. Together, we’ll surface what’s driving your leadership—under stress, in strength, and everywhere in between—and translate that awareness into tangible, sustainable shifts.

This isn’t a personality quiz. It’s a mirror—and a reset.

What’s Included:

✅ Professional iEQ9 Executive Report
​ A 40+ page deep-dive into your core type, instincts, blind spots, leadership patterns, and growth map

✅ Three Private Coaching Sessions (75 minutes each)
​ We’ll explore your results and apply them to your real-world leadership challenges, helping you move from insight to integration

✅ Support Between Sessions
​ Curated resources, prompts, and micro-practices to help your growth stick

“While I was resistant to the Enneagram at first (sorry Paula!), the increased self-awareness has seriously paid off. I saw an immediate impact on how I show up—and how my team engages.”
​ —Emily, Executive Director

Regular price: $995
​Now through August 15: $796 with code CLARITY20

If you’ve been curious about coaching—or you’re ready for a new kind of leadership insight—this is the place to begin.

Dispatch Toolkit

Book

Emotional Agility by Susan David (Yes, again!)
​

I’ve recommended this book before, and I’m doing it again—for good reason. I recently re-read it by listening to Susan David narrate the audiobook on Audible, and I was struck all over again by how insightful, science-backed, and deeply practical it is.
​

Even more exciting: this Fall, I’ll be training directly with Susan David in Santa Fe as part of a five-day intensive. I’ll be certified as an Emotional Agility coach and equipped to offer even more robust tools and support for leaders navigating complexity and change. Stay tuned for what’s ahead!

​
​Tool:
​ The Pause–Name–Choose Framework
​ Use this foundational tool to anchor emotional agility in real time:

  • Pause: Interrupt the reactive loop
  • Name: Identify the emotion or internal story at play
  • Choose: Act in alignment with your core values

This is especially helpful in high-stakes meetings or moments when your inner critic gets loud.

Podcasts

Unlocking Us with Brené Brown – “Brené on Strong Backs, Soft Fronts, and Wild Hearts”
​

This episode explores what it means to lead with grounded confidence and open-hearted presence—right in line with this edition’s theme.
​

Listen to the episode here.

​
​The Power of Positive Emotions​
Dr. Barbara Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory shows that positive emotions like curiosity, gratitude, and joy do more than feel good—they expand our awareness, unlock creativity, and build psychological resources that help us thrive over time. In this short video, she explains how cultivating positive emotion isn’t soft—it’s strategic.

🎥 Watch the video​

The Inner Work Behind Outer Impact​
​Why I Use the Enneagram in Leadership Coaching

Leadership isn’t just about what you do—it’s about how and why you show up the way you do.

Under pressure, even the most capable leaders default to automatic patterns that can quietly derail clarity, connection, and impact.

That’s where the Enneagram becomes more than a personality framework. It gives language to what drives us: our strengths, blind spots, and stress reactions. As a certified Enneagram practitioner and executive coach, I use this framework to help leaders deepen their self-awareness, interrupt unhelpful habits, and lead with greater presence and resilience.

Whether you’re navigating complexity, change, burnout, or team misalignment, the Enneagram offers a path that’s not just skillful—but sustainable.

I recently created a resource to support leaders through high-stakes seasons:
​Leading When It’s Hard: An Enneagram Guide to Staying Grounded, Clear, and Courageous Under Pressure​
​

This free tool helps you recognize how each Enneagram type tends to react under stress—and how to shift toward grounded leadership. Click below to get the tool.

​

​

Closing Thought

In a world that constantly pulls us toward more—more answers, more urgency, more performance—your most powerful leadership move might just be a pause. A breath. A return to what matters most.

Emotional mastery isn’t about having it all figured out. It’s about making space—for honesty, for growth, for your full self to show up. Every moment is a chance to lead with clarity and care.

Start small. Start here.

Want to explore how you elevate your leadership?

If you’d like to explore elevating in your leadership, book a complimentary consultation.

I would welcome the opportunity to help you overcome the challenges that are holding you back from greater success and impact.

Whole Leader Dispatch

by Paula Shannon

The Whole Leader Dispatch is ideal for leaders seeking to develop their emotional intelligence and leadership skills. Subscribers gain actionable insights, tools, and resources to lead with resilience, foster connection, and drive impact.

Read more from Whole Leader Dispatch

Friends, We find ourselves in challenging times, when leadership is tested not by easy choices, but by moments demanding courage and clarity grounded in our deepest values. Observing the erosion of democratic norms, especially here in Oklahoma under leaders like Ryan Walters, I’m reminded daily of my responsibility—not to remain comfortably silent, but to actively champion the ideals that sustain a thriving society. This isn't about partisanship; it's a moral imperative of leadership. Join me...

about 2 months ago • 3 min read

Dear Reader, The best team I’ve ever been a part of was built on trust, not control. We pushed each other, grew together, and accomplished more than most thought possible. We took risks. We told the truth. We owned the mission like it was ours—because it was. That didn’t happen by accident. It happened because of Deborah Gist. Deborah created the kind of leadership culture that made you want to bring your best. She modeled humility and backbone at the same time—giving us space to lead while...

2 months ago • 9 min read

Dear Reader, There’s a moment I come back to often—a memory that reminds me why emotional agility isn’t a “nice to have” in leadership. I was facilitating a high-stakes leadership meeting during my time as Deputy Superintendent. The data was clear, the stakes were high, and I came in ready to lead with logic. But something was off. I could feel it—tightness in my chest, urgency in my voice, a charged silence in the room. In the past, I might’ve pushed through. Data in hand, agenda set. But...

3 months ago • 6 min read