What Crossing an Ocean Teaches Leaders!

Picture this: a 24-year-old woman alone in a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. No land in sight, no certainty, no shortcuts, just miles of water, unpredictable weather, exhaustion, fear, and a decision to keep rowing anyway. Now pause that image and ask yourself this: How different is that really from leading in today's corporate world? Because most leaders I know are navigating uncertainty without any clear horizon. They're making high-stakes decisions without guarantees. They're managing pressure, doubt, fatigue, and the quiet fear of getting it wrong, all while trying to look like they have it all together. Today's episode is about why a 24-year-old rowing across an ocean might be one of the best leadership case studies you'll ever hear. Because most leaders I know are navigating uncertainty without any clear horizon. They're making high-stakes decisions without guarantees. They're managing pressure, doubt, fatigue, and the quiet fear of getting it wrong. All while trying to look like they have it all together. This is an episode about strength that lasts, courage that's earned, and leadership that moves forward even when the destination disappears. Because leadership, like rowing an ocean, isn't about knowing exactly how it will end. It's about who you become stroke by stroke along the way. By the end of this episode, you will reframe Fear as data, not danger. Replace confidence theater with earned courage. Adopt endurance-based leadership instead of burnout heroics. And put physical, mental, and emotional resilience principles to work. This episode isn't about rowing. It's about what sustained effort under uncertainty teaches us about how we lead, how we handle fear, and how we show up when outcomes are unclear. Let's get into it.

Welcome to Shedding the Corporate Bitch, the podcast that transforms today's managers into tomorrow's powerhouse leaders. Your host, Bernadette Boas, executive coach and author, brings you into a world where the corporate grind meets personal growth and success in each and every episode. Let's do this.

Though it's just you and me in this episode, A core element of this discussion is currently in the middle of the ocean, rowing solo across the Atlantic. Her name is Taryn Smith. Her Instagram brand is Taryn Smith Movement. She's taken the world's toughest rowing challenge of 3,000 miles all alone for 2 to 3 months. I came across her in my feed on roughly like day 21. And was just enthralled and have been following her ever since. She's now on day 43, and it was around day 29 when I realized and I saw how her journey mirrors so much about what leaders deal with every day in their business. The first one being her adventure is actually a metaphor for leadership. Rowing across the ocean is not a heroic sprint. It's It's monotony. It's discomfort. It's showing up when progress is invisible. It's a marathon with the finishing line out of sight. Now that's leadership. But corporate professionals often imagine leadership as decisive moments, big wins, bold announcements, dramatic changes, transformations, or turns. But real leadership is quieter and harder. It's often sustained effort without reassurance. Of accomplishment or success. Then add to that the people element and it becomes so much more complex. If Taryn had rowmates, sure, more manpower would indicate more speed and distance toward the finishing line. But at the same time, if that crew isn't aligned and in sync with each other and the lead rower can't influencing them coming together and working together to get to that finishing line, it can be harder than going it alone. I can remember a senior vice president of a company that was hiring me to do coaching and training. I met with him in his boardroom and I was there first, sat down dabbling in my journal, and he hurries in and he just collapses in the chair. And he said, Bernadette, had I known how challenging and difficult and hard leading would be, I might have remained that individual contributor, that job that I had 20 years ago. And I couldn't help but laugh because that is exactly the raw emotion many leaders feel is it's hard. Being a leader is hard. It's also lonely for a lot, but it provides so many opportunities for someone willing to take on the challenge. And if that's true for you, then how can you approach it like a solo journey that expands how you lead, make decisions, communicate, collaborate, and even influence change and adaptation? We're gonna look at Taryn's journey as a metaphor for leadership, leading through ambiguity. Staying committed when motivation fades, and acting without knowing how the story ends or where the horizon is. Because in the corporate world, leaders face similar oceans: market shifts without precedent, team fatigue due to constant change, and decisions with incomplete data. Can you relate? Leadership isn't proven by certainty. It is revealed by consistency under uncertainty. So I want you to consider this. If your leadership only works when conditions are clear, it isn't leadership, it's management. Let's look at some other ways Taryn's adventure, her solo row across the Atlantic, ties to leadership. Leadership is all about endurance, not intensity. Think about that. Leadership is all about endurance, not intensity. For Taryn, the ocean punishes intensity. After all, you cannot overpower the Atlantic. So her strength in leadership has to come from pacing to complement what the ocean throws at her, the rhythm of the weather, the waves, and the creatures from the sea who come to visit. And even her recovery from the mental, physical, and emotional turbulence she endures throughout. Sadly, far too many corporate cultures glorify intensity with long hours, constant urgency, put on not so important tasks and meetings, and burnout as if it's a badge of honor. This creates leaders who flame out or become brittle, even toxic. They become reactive instead of resilient. Taryn's journey teaches us something even more important and contrary to old school corporate. She teaches us that strength that lasts matters more than effort that impresses. Let me repeat that. Strength that lasts matters more than the effort that impresses. So what exactly does that look like and what does it mean in leadership terms? Sustainable performance over time beats out heroic exhaustion, pounding the pavement, burning the midnight oil, you name the old myths. Being a calm and cool leader consistently is far more impactful than an adrenaline junkie. And being focused, clear, and intentional for far outweighs someone constantly moving, changing their minds, or acting through confusion. Consider that. Think about that. Who do you know, if it's not yourself, who do you know that operates in that? So choose to build leadership rhythms, not just deadlines. Model rest as a discipline, not a weakness. And choose long-term effectiveness over short-term optics. Don't confuse urgency with importance, and don't reward burnout and lead as if others are disposable assets. Your leadership takeaway for this part of the, our conversation is strong leaders don't burn brightest. They last longest. And that's what we want for you as a powerhouse leader is for your leadership to last long, for your strength to reveal itself, but not necessarily has to be the brightest one in the room. A third aspect of leadership that comes from Taryn's journey is the fact that if you aren't scared at times, you're not growing. And I've seen the transformation even Taryn has made each and every day of her journey. I, like I said, I checked in or found her around Day 28, but I had to go back and see where this started and what she's endured along those first 28 days, let alone 42, and then eventually 60 plus. And with each video, you could see not only she's a bright light in the middle of the ocean, she's always smiling. She's very vulnerable, which is a great leadership trait. She's always vulnerable about what she's going through and whether it's physical pain, mental, emotional, whether it's fear, whether it's having to jump in the ocean to, to somewhat bathe and yet being scared to death of there being whales or sharks or something else in the ocean. At the same time, that fear has grown into strength. You have to be courageous to be, do what she's doing. And by facing one's fear, you build a resilience to it. Not to say that you're never going to be scared again, but at the same time, you remember, you can recall how you got beyond that fear and still did it anyway, as they all say. And you definitely can see it in Taryn as, as she continues her journey each and every day. So check her out. At her Instagram account, Taryn Smith Movement. It's just, I'm enthralled with the adventure and the personal transformation that she is on. It's very impressive. But back to leadership. Fear is unavoidable in the middle of the ocean. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away and doesn't make you brave. By ignoring it, it makes you reckless. And that is true. It's so true when it comes to leadership. Many corporate cultures treat fear as a flaw. No, you can't admit uncertainty. No, you can't hesitate. No, you can't show doubt. But when fear becomes taboo, innovation dies. Creativity dies. People taking risks and chances die. People stop taking risks. Leaders stop asking really critical questions of themselves and those around them in the team. They default to safety. They default to incremental thinking, let alone low-energy activity. Fear isn't the enemy. Suppression is. Taryn's journey reframes fear as information. Fear highlights growth edges. Where are we growing after each time we face a fear and yet we push through it? Fear signals meaningful stakes. Obviously, if we're scared of something, that means the stakes are high. How high? That's up to you. But at least from a leadership perspective, when you have fear, it indicates that there's something at stake. And that is growth right there. And fear shows where leadership is required. I was having a conversation with a client last week. His particular business is very tough right now, and the outlook doesn't look much better as we get into this new year. And he was describing the pressures and the stress and the overwhelm that not only he was feeling, but his team was feeling. And that he was scared of what that meant for him, the team, and the business. And I said, all right, let's tap into that. Let's drill into that, what you're scared of or what you're scared for others around. And let's figure out how we turn that fear into fuel. Because when you're put up against the wall, as Taryn is each and every day, a wall of water, a wall of sea creatures, a wall of weather. It causes you, it forces you to get very focused on solving this problem. Or if you're not gonna solve it, you're gonna go along with it in order to then work through and overcome the waves and overcome the creatures and overcome the weather. Because pushing through every fear and challenge has strength waiting for you on the other side that you've overcome, that you stayed vigilant. That you were able to solve the problem that you were suddenly faced with. So in leadership, the questions that you need to be asking become things like, what conversations am I avoiding? That'll tell you a lot. What is it that you don't want to hear back should you ask a question? What decision am I delaying? Especially when it comes to people and org changes and business challenges, obviously things have to be done differently. Things have to change. And therefore, a lot of leaders will all of a sudden stop asking the hard questions, will stop or hesitate or avoid or delay making the hard decisions. And then also, what visibility am I resisting? Some leaders, when times get tough, they do anything and everything to isolate themselves and not make themselves visible because, okay, if I keep myself invisible, then people can't ask me about the challenges or the business downturn or the people issues that are happening or the culture challenges that we're having. So I'm just going to avoid it, delay it. I'm just going to resist any type of involvement or engagement or conversation in regards to it. Instead, what you should be doing for yourself and for your team members, especially with my client, I talked to him about the fact that during very challenging, trying times where, especially if the business isn't doing well and therefore there could be risk to the organization structure, to the headcount, to the budget, whatever the case might be, when that starts to happen, trust me, those, your team members are feeling stress, are feeling fear. And yet at the same time, you having conversations with them, you strategizing with them, you collaborating with them, you including them in even those hard conversations, that will bring them more confidence and stability. It doesn't mean that there aren't going to be very hard, very painful decisions and changes that have to occur as a result of the questions being asked. Or the decisions being made. But at the same time, you being as transparent and authentic and vulnerable as possible, it will give them a sense of confidence, stability, maybe not full certainty. At the same time, it will certainly create a foundation of trust between you and your team members. And that's the core of what leadership is. So what you wanna be sure you're doing is you wanna be normalizing fear as just simply data. All right? What are you scared of? What's coming up for you? Why? Where is it coming from? What have you seen or experienced before around this type of fear? What did you do about it then? How did it work?

What worked?

What didn't work? And what can you try and do differently right now? So acknowledging the fear, not exasperating it, not putting a spotlight on it, simply using it to understand it, you can then always find solutions to it. You also wanna ask yourself and even your team members, what is that fear teaching me? What is that fear teaching you? What is that fear saying about you? That you will want to address, fill the gap, do something differently, uh, push through it anyway and do it and prove to yourself that you had no reason to be fearful of whatever that situation might be. And be sure you or they are not holding onto that fear after it's gone, after it disappears, let it go and recognize fears are gonna come up and they're gonna go away. They're going to come up and then they're going to go away. So ensure, especially in a workplace environment, don't shame fear. We all get fearful. I can remember countless times when I'd have to go in and talk to my boss, or I had to go in and present in front of the board, or I had to go and give some hard feedback to an employee, or I had to fire someone. There certainly was fear there. Again, you You use that fear for as data, find solutions, work through those solutions, try 'em on, practice them, act on them. At the same time, you don't want others around you shaming that fear because they've all been through it as well. We all have fears. So you don't wanna shame fear. You don't wanna outsource courage. What do I mean by that? You don't wanna deflect someone being afraid of something. One of your team members or yourself, and therefore you outsource, oh, can you do that? Can you take care of that? Can you make that presentation? Can you have a conversation with that individual? So forth and so on. You definitely don't wanna outsource courage that person should be working on and learning to possess. So don't outsource your courage and don't wait for confidence to already show up. Going back to Taryn, can you only imagine? This girl had never rode in her life. I'm not sure if I mentioned that earlier. Never rode in her life. All of a sudden, she sees this boat, go to Taryn Smith Movement to check it out, that isn't very large. And all of a sudden, she's going to be placed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean at some point. And have all these creatures and the weather and just everything whipping up against her. You better believe she had fear. You better believe she used it for data to understand, all right, what are the preventions I need to put into place? What is the support system I need to put in place? What I need to do for myself emotionally, mentally, spiritually, even physically. So my last point here is she couldn't wait for that confidence to show up. There was a degree of confidence that she could have in herself that she could overcome anything. But at the same time, she doesn't know what she doesn't know when it comes to her being out in the middle of the Atlantic. And she couldn't wait to have the confidence in herself be built up to the degree that she would never face fear while she was on this journey. She just had to go and do it. She just had to put herself in that situation, having all that data with all of those remedies and preventative measures and systems put into place to feel confident enough that should this happen, I'm good. Should this happen, I'm good. Should this happen, I have this. I have these flares to send up in the sky so someone can come and rescue me, whatever the case might be. She didn't allow anyone to shame the fear that she had from the beginning. She didn't outsource courage to someone else. She couldn't. She's a solo rower in the middle of the ocean, and she certainly didn't want to wait for the confidence or all of the confidence that she was gonna need in order to accomplish this adventure. She just had to go and do it and trust herself. And like many leaders, you You have to do the same. You can't wait around for confidence to fill every cell of your being. You can't feel shame for the fact that you're scared of something. And you, you can't outsource not facing your fear and allowing someone else to be courageous. You have to figure out what you need for yourself in order to push through those fears. And to be the leader that you're expected to be. One key leadership takeaway from this conversation on fear is the fact that corporate cultures who label fear as taboo, they don't produce strong leaders. They produce cautious ones. And cautious ones don't take the risks that are needed in order to grow the business. They don't even take the development and the growth personally, let alone that'll lend itself to the growth of the business. So should you feel fear, recognize it, be okay with it, identify where it's coming from, look back and find examples of how you've overcome it before. So evidence that you've overcome this type of fear before, and then just find the solutions, even go as far as telling yourself a different story about that fear to where it doesn't keep you from taking the risks and pursuing the opportunities that you as a leader need to be pursuing. Now, another aspect of leadership that I have seen in Taryn's story is the fact that, as I mentioned earlier, She did not do this rowing challenge because she was a master at rowing. She had never rowed before. She rowed because she was willing to learn as she goes. She was willing to learn even publicly because she's airing her story and her journey each and every day. And she is willing to learn imperfectly. And there is nothing better than imperfect perfection versus those— maybe it's you, maybe it's individuals on your team who feel that they have to be perfect. So again, they delay, they avoid doing something because of the fact that they want to ensure that they're perfect. Imperfect perfection is a necessity for leadership because you have to be willing to be a beginner again. You have to be willing to be a student again. You have to be willing to recognize and acknowledge that you don't know something, especially these days with the rapid speed of technologies, processes, and systems. You're being forced to have to learn. You're being forced to be a student again. You're being forced to be a beginner again, to understand the nuances, the risks, the how-tos of anything that's new. And until you become a student again and get the training then you're never going to be able to really optimize, let alone leverage, true leadership. I'll share a personal story. So for 25 years in my corporate job, I got to the point where I knew everything I needed to know when it came to doing my job and the work that needed to be done. But I wasn't close to knowing everything I needed to know about people leadership. So I sought the coaching and the training and the support in order to fill that gap. I became a student again. Then when I started my own business back in 2008, I knew nothing about starting, managing, and growing a business. So once again, I got the coaching, I got the training and the mentoring, and I became a student. Then it was time to learn new technologies, new apps, new systems. That were required to acquire and support my clients. That led me to get the training and the coaching and the mentoring needed, become a student again. I was a beginner time and time again. I continue to be a beginner as technologies and those apps and the systems that we talked about as they change. So if you struggle to acknowledge that you don't know something or that you are not equipped or you're not skilled or mastered at any particular thing that is required of you in the workplace. You need to move on from that mindset. You need to take on a beginner's mindset because a beginner's mindset fuels adaptability, innovation, strategic curiosity. Imagine it, picture it. If you have children who are still in school, as they learn new things and their eyes all of a sudden get big and their curiosity grows and the number of questions they're asking you expands. That is growth. That is leadership. And it is scary. Hell yeah. It's frustrating and humiliating and humbling. It's, but it's also exciting and exhilarating, especially when you begin to take on and apply what it is that you're learning. But we're all students. The moment that you stop learning, you might as well be dead. The minute you stopped acknowledging that you have to be a student or that you're a beginner or that you don't know something, then you're just shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to you really accepting selling as a leader. You have to be okay with being humble and acknowledging to those around you that you need help and support and training or coaching or mentoring in order to even support. Maybe you don't need the tactical detailed understanding of the new technology, the new app, the new processes or systems or procedures. You need to know enough to be able to support your team, and you need to be able to tell your team that you need their help in providing you that type of education, if that's what's needed. It's no different than when you were to go into a new role, a new position, a new company. You don't know what you don't know, and you don't know exactly how that particular role or team or company operates. Operates, and therefore you become a beginner again. So your leadership takeaway is the moment leaders stop learning, they start declining. It's that simple. They start declining in what it is that they're able to show up and deliver to their team, to the business, and even to themselves. You need to welcome being a beginner, being a student, and really look at it as an opportunity to grow. And one final leadership trait, I'll call it, that I have learned from Taryn's adventure is the fact that even though, even she's out there rowing solo, even with so many professionals or leaders, I'll say, will often tell me it's lonely at the top. I have no one to talk to, so forth and so on. Every solo journey, including yours, relies on community. Every single one. No one goes it alone. As a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, on our last episode with Alicia Meek, we talked about the burnout trap that no one talks about. And she left us with a gem of a quote that touches on what we're talking about when it comes to Every solo journey relies on a community. And she said breakthroughs rarely happen alone. Relating that to this, if you're at all feeling at any time that you're alone, it might mean that you haven't built a community that will always be there to support you at work or at home, or even a combination. As a matter of fact, if any leader is isolated or alone, it is often self-created. They're creating the state of being on their own. As many leaders actually shoot themselves in the foot by claiming and wearing it like a badge of honor that they have to be strong alone. No, that's why you build a team. That's why you connect and engage with your peers. That's why you go out and you wrap your arms around other colleagues. Throughout the organization, throughout the, your life, throughout the community that can, will support you, that are there for you, that you can then talk to and vent to and strategize with and work through problems. Because strength actually multiplies when leaders welcome support, feedback, and honesty. Because when they connect, engage, and are vulnerable with those around them, that's where strength lives. Be careful not to look at vulnerability as a weakness, or it's an emotional breakdown or collapse. It is credibility to be vulnerable, to be in need of, to ask for support, to reach out. And as we talked about being a beginner or a student, to seek advice and support and learning from those around you. One, that's why you have a team. And two, that will immediately allow you to connect with others because many people feel the same way. If not everyone feels the same way at some point in time. The minute you seek support, all of a sudden you're building a connection and you're relating with each other. And that builds a foundation of trust and openness. Because ultimately, trust is built when leaders are humans without being helpless. And I know if you're a part of this conversation on Shedding the Corporate Bitch, you are a powerhouse and you're not helpless. However, some of you may need to swallow your pride and ask for help, be open, be vulnerable, and gain the support in the community that you deserve to have around you. I want you to keep in mind a couple things. You do not need an ocean to practice courage. You do not need to be rowing across the Atlantic solo like Taryn is. Your ocean just might be a hard conversation, a strategic risk that you need and should take, and a leadership decision with no guarantees on the outcome. Leadership is built Stroke by stroke, through uncertainty, through fear and sustained effort. The horizon will disappear. And that's not failure. That's the work that you need to put in to being the powerhouse leader you're meant to be. And one final thought. Leadership isn't about knowing the way. It's about moving forward anyway, consistently, courageously, and with intention. You need a direction and the willingness to keep moving when the horizon disappears, just as Taryn does each and every day. If this episode hit, don't just nod along and go back to business as usual. I built something called the Powerhouse Communication Assessment for professionals who need to make smarter decisions, communicate clearer, and establish their influence and credibility without blowing themselves up. Or rowing themselves to exhaustion. It's short, direct, and designed to give you the clarity fast on the number one leadership skill many leaders struggle with, elevating the stress and burnout they often feel in their role, and that is communication. You'll find it linked in the show notes and on our Shedding the Corporate Bitch TV YouTube channel, as well as on Instagram, Shed the Corporate Bitch. You can also go to tawny.cc/powerhousecommunication to download that free resource. Use it, then decide your next move, which should be to follow and subscribe to the show. You can do that at ballofirecoaching.com/podcast. Until next time, see ya.

Thank you for tuning into today's episode of Shedding the Corporate Bitch. Every journey taken together is another step towards unleashing the powerhouse leader within you. Don't miss any of our weekly episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you love to listen. And for those who thrive on visual content, catch us on our Shedding the Bitch YouTube channel. Wanna dive deeper with Bernadette on becoming a powerhouse leader? Visit balloffirecoaching.com to learn more about how she helps professionals, HR executives, and team leaders elevate overall team performance. You've been listening to Shedding the Corporate Bitch with Bernadette Boas. Until next time, keep shedding, keep growing, and keep leading.