Hosted by Lynsey Mulder · EN
Welcome to the Lead with Spark Podcast: Authentic Leadership for Women Who Want More.
You're leading a team, building a career, and trying to actually have a life. But somewhere between the title, the to-do list, and everyone else's expectations, you've started wondering: Is this it?
This podcast is for ambitious women leaders, executives, and entrepreneurs who are ready to lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose, without burning out or losing themselves in the process.
I'm Lynsey Mulder, leadership coach, keynote speaker, and former Fortune 100 Senior Vice President turned full-time champion for purpose-driven women. I earned my first coaching certification decades ago, long before leadership development for women became a conversation. Since then, I've built teams, raised a family, navigated the C-suite, and checked every success box, until burnout made me stop and reimagine everything.
Today, I coach high-performing women, business owners, and executives ready to lead from the inside out.
On Lead with Spark, we dig into what authentic leadership actually looks like in real life: executive presence, leadership communication, career confidence, values-driven decision-making, setting boundaries, overcoming imposter syndrome, balancing life, and reclaiming the energy and purpose that got you here in the first place.
Whether you're leading a team, running a company, navigating a career transition, or just trying to lead your life more intentionally, you'll find real conversations, actionable leadership strategies, and personal development insights that meet you where you are.
Because leadership isn't just about what you do. It's about who you are.
Ready to lead with more purpose, presence, and power? Hit subscribe and join a growing community of women in leadership who are done settling for "fine."
Keep showing up. Keep leading with spark. You've got this, and I've got you. Connect through wwwLynseyMulder.com.
Default settings are great for printers and computers. Not for people. In this episode of Lead with Spark, Lynsey Mulder sits down with corporate communication coach Amy Greensmith for one of the most honest and practical conversations on people-pleasing, burnout, and using your voice that you are going to find anywhere. Amy has been working in the personal development space for over twenty years, and her work lives at the intersection of two things: believing in your own inherent worthiness, and then learning to communicate that to the outside world with confidence instead of guilt. This episode will challenge the way you think about people-pleasing. Most high-achieving women do not recognize themselves in that label. Amy's first question to them: are you heavily invested in other people's opinions? If the answer is yes, welcome to the club. You will also hear about fear optimization, a concept Amy coined to replace the impossible standard of fearlessness. About two kinds of burnout and which one you might already be in without knowing it. About the difference between an affirmation and progressive language and why one of them actually works. And about the complaint inventory, the simplest tool Amy knows for figuring out exactly where your boundary work needs to start. This is a conversation full of tools you can use today. Do not miss Amy's free Boundaries Over Burnout private podcast series in the show notes below. Together We Will Talk About Why high-achieving women often do not recognize themselves as people-pleasers and the one question that changes that The two types of people-pleasing: self-preservation versus outsourcing your self-worth, and why both matter The fawn response and where people-pleasing comes from at a biological level How to tell if you are people-pleasing strategically versus betraying yourself to keep someone else comfortable How socialization and upbringing shape the way women speak up (or do not) in professional settings Why fearlessness is not real and the concept of being fear-optimized instead The question that separates real danger from something that is just new Progressive language as a tool for getting around your own inner critic How to use evidence-based self-talk instead of affirmations that your brain will reject The two stages of burnout: engagement burnout and systemic burnout, and the warning signs of each The complaint inventory and how to use it to find your first boundary opportunity A real client story about a nurse practitioner who changed her entire relationship with her workplace in one honest conversation One Line to Take Away with You "Default settings are great for printers and computers. Not for people." Connect with Amy and Lynsey Amy's free Boundaries Over Burnout private podcast series is a mini-course with scripts, frameworks, and workbook pages you can use immediately. It is available right now at the link below. Free Boundaries Over Burnout Series Amy's website: amygreensmith.com Amy on LinkedIn: @heyamygreensmith Amy on Instagram: @heyamygreensmith Amy on Facebook: @heyamygreensmith And if this conversation sparked something about how you show up as a leader, in the boardroom or at home, Lynsey would love to continue that conversation with you. Website: LynseyMulder.com Facebook: @LynseySMulder LinkedIn: @Lynsey-Mulder Instagram: @LynseyMulder Pinterest: @LynseyMulder YouTube: @LynseyMulder
We are halfway through the year. How did that even happen? In this solo episode of Lead with Spark, Lynsey Mulder gets honest about where her own year stands, the book she is writing, the retreat she is planning, the course she has not started, and what she has learned about protecting summer before it disappears one unplanned Friday night at a time. And she brings all of it back to a question every professional woman needs to sit with before the second half of the year runs away without her. The time went somewhere. It always goes somewhere. The question is whether you chose where it went. This is not an episode about doing more or hustling harder or fixing your life by Friday. This is about the mid-year reset: pausing long enough to ask what you actually want to carry into the second half, what deserves your best energy, and how to make your calendar tell the truth about what matters most. Lynsey covers what the SparkLife framework means in real life, why your rest is not a reward for finishing everything, how to do a team reset without a seventy-page slide deck, and the simple but powerful act of building a summer bucket list with intention. She closes with the SparkLife Calendar Challenge, a thirty-minute reset you can do right now before the second half of the year gets away from you. Together We Will Talk About What an honest mid-year check-in looks like, including the goals that are moving and the ones sitting quietly in the corner Why the time always goes somewhere and the only real question is whether you chose where How we lose summer not in one big moment but one unplanned week at a time Why blocking PTO before you know the destination is one of the most intentional moves a leader can make What SparkLife really means and how your calendar reveals whether you are actually living your priorities Why your rest is not a reward for finishing everything and your joy is not something you earn after everyone else is taken care of How to do a mid-year team reset that actually creates alignment and does not require a seventy-page deck Why people support what they help create and what that means for how you plan the second half with your team The summer bucket list concept and why anticipation and intention both matter The SparkLife Calendar Challenge: your thirty-minute reset for the second half of the year One Line to Take Away with You "The second half of the year is not about doing more. It is about choosing with intention." SparkLife Calendar Challenge Take 30 minutes this week. Sit down with your calendar. Put your top priorities on it first. Not what is urgent. What matters most. Family, PTO, rest, connection, the milestone you want to celebrate. Make your calendar tell the truth about what you are choosing. That is your reset. Connect with Lynsey If this episode made you think of someone who is carrying a lot and needs permission to choose the second half of her year differently, send it to her. And if you are ready to go deeper on living and leading with intention, reach out and connect: Website: Lynseymulder.com Facebook: @LynseySMulder LinkedIn: @Lynsey-Mulder Instagram: @LynseyMulder Pinterest: @LynseyMulder YouTube: @LynseyMulder
You are the one who delivers. You are excellent at your job, everyone knows it, and yet the promotion keeps going somewhere else. When you ask for feedback you hear a polished version of we need to see you operating at the next level, and inside you think I already am. Here is the part that stings before it sets you free. The problem is not that you are not good enough. The problem is that you are too good at the wrong altitude. In this episode I name the tactical trap, the moment your competence stops being your ladder and quietly becomes your ceiling. We talk about why the very thing you are proudest of can read as the reason you are not ready to lead, and exactly how to climb out. If you are stuck a level below where you know you belong, this one is for you. It is the difference between doing the job and leading the job, and it is the heart of executive presence and real career confidence for women in leadership. Together we will talk about Why the pattern that earned every promotion you have, doing the work and doing it well, flips on you somewhere between manager and senior leader The three quiet reasons it feels so hard to put the doing down, and which one is yours How the tactical trap is a cousin of imposter syndrome, and why that matters The player and the coach, and why the role you want is not better playing Executive presence in plain terms, and the bet your leaders are actually making Why curiosity reads as more senior than certainty in a high stakes room Four moves you can put in your back pocket starting this week One line to take away with you You are not stuck because you are falling short. You are succeeding at the wrong altitude, and the way up is not to do more. It is to lead through other people. Connect with Lynsey Website: LynseyMulder.com Facebook: @LynseySMulder LinkedIn: @Lynsey-Mulder Instagram: @LynseyMulder Pinterest: @LynseyMulder YouTube: @LynseyMulder If this episode stirred something up and you want a partner for the climb, that is the work I do with leaders every day. Come find me at lynseymulder.com and grab a free discovery session. We will figure out your current altitude and how to get you to the next one, together.
This episode is coming straight from Lynsey Mulder's Iowa backyard, where summer has officially arrived, everything is growing, everything is blooming, and apparently everything has collectively decided to test her leadership skills on the way. In this solo episode of Lead with Spark, Lynsey turns four very real backyard situations, carpenter bees boring into the deck, barn swallows relentlessly rebuilding their nests, rabbits making themselves at home in her strawberry patch, and deer calmly strolling through the yard near her newly planted trees, into four of the most practical leadership lessons she has shared on this podcast. Together they form what Lynsey is calling The Backyard Leadership Filter: a framework of four questions every leader can ask about the situations, people, patterns, and priorities in their life and work. Each question points to a different kind of leadership response: redirect, redesign, set a boundary, or protect early. This is the episode for the woman leader who is absorbing too much, tolerating too much, cleaning up the same thing over and over, or trying to grow something new and wondering why it keeps getting damaged before it has a chance to take root. Together We Will Talk About Why good intention does not erase real impact, and how to have the conversation anyway The difference between handling a problem and leading through it How the things you keep cleaning up might be telling you something about your system instead of your situation Why the small, cute, non-dramatic energy leaks in your leadership are often the most costly ones How over-functioning can masquerade as helpfulness until it becomes burnout Why prevention is stewardship and what it looks like to protect what is still growing The dangerous side of tolerance and how what you tolerate teaches people what is acceptable The Backyard Leadership Filter: four practical questions to assess any situation in your life or leadership Why you do not have to choose between being kind and being clear One Line to Take Away with You "You are not being difficult. You are being clear. And clarity is a gift." The Backyard Leadership Filter Four questions to help you assess any situation in your work or life: Is this valuable but misplaced? (The carpenter bee situation: redirect or reinforce the structure) Is the same problem being repeated? (The barn swallow situation: stop cleaning up and redesign the system) Is this small but quietly costly? (The rabbit situation: set a clear, calm boundary) Is this something new that needs protection? (The deer situation: protect it early before the pressure hits) Connect with Lynsey Website: lynseymulder.com LinkedIn: Lynsey Mulder Instagram: Lynsey Mulder Facebook: Lynsey Mulder If this episode made you think of your own carpenter bee, barn swallow, rabbit, or deer situation, Lynsey would love to hear about it. Share it with her and send this episode to one woman leader in your life who is carrying too much, tolerating too much, or trying to protect something new.
What if executive presence is not only about how you show up in a room, but how you sound in every email, proposal, message, and comment with your name on it? In this episode of Lead with Spark, Lynsey Mulder sits down with Grace Aldridge Foster to unpack why writing is part of your brand and how leaders can use words more intentionally at work. Grace is the co-founder and principal of Bold Type, a writing training company that has helped professionals at organizations including UPS, Capital One, Johnson & Johnson, Biogen, the Aspen Institute, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Special Operations Command communicate more clearly and effectively. She is also a Forbes Careers and Leadership contributor, a guest lecturer at Georgetown, and a judge for the Center for Plain Language. Together, Lynsey and Grace talk about journaling as a tool for clarity in an AI-heavy world, the ART framework for stronger communication, how to create a personal voice statement, and why style guides can save leaders from rewriting everyone else's messages at 10:30 p.m. Again. This conversation is practical, energizing, and full of tools your audience can start using right away. Together we will talk about why your writing shapes your executive presence, influence, and reputation why journaling is having a moment again and how to make it simple, useful, and not performative the ART framework: Audience, Result, Tone how to create a personal voice statement so your writing sounds like you why style guides and clearer writing standards strengthen teams and culture one practical one-week challenge to improve communication immediately One line to take away with you Your writing speaks for you before you ever walk in the room, so make sure it sounds like the leader you are. Connect with Grace Website: boldtype.us Forbes contributor page: forbes.com/sites/gracefoster LinkedIn: Grace-Aldridge-Foster Instagram: Bold_Type Connect with Lynsey Website: lynseymulder.com LinkedIn: Lynsey Mulder Instagram: Lynsey Mulder Facebook: Lynsey Mulder
She used to walk into work with her shoulders squared and her ideas ready to go. She loved her job. She was good at it. People counted on her to figure it out, hold the line, and deliver. And then something shifted. Not all at once. In small increments over months. A comment in a meeting that landed harder than it should have. A decision made about her without her. A version of events she knew was not quite right but did not know how to challenge. The quiet realization that instincts that had served her brilliantly for years were now being treated as inconvenient. By the time she finally left or started seriously planning to leave, she did not just need a new job. She needed to learn how to trust again. If you know her, this episode is for her. Or maybe it is for the friend you are about to send it to. In this episode of Lead with Spark, Lynsey Mulder names something most career advice completely misses: the trust tax. That invisible erosion that a difficult reporting relationship leaves behind. The second-guessing of instincts that used to come easy. The hedged opinions. The disproportionate reactions in the new role that no one at the new place caused and no one can see. And she gives you the path forward. A three-layer trust rebuild framework that you have to work in a specific order: trust in your own read, trust in discernment over defensiveness, and then trust in another leader. Skip a layer and the next one will not hold. This episode is for any high-achieving woman who has come out of a hard reporting relationship and is doing the quiet, daily, invisible work of getting herself back. Together We Will Talk About What the trust tax actually is and why career advice almost never addresses it Why leaving a difficult boss is the beginning of the rebuild, not the end of it The three layers of trust that a difficult manager erodes and why they must be rebuilt in a specific order The 30-day practice for rebuilding trust in your own instincts The one question that separates healed discernment from protective defensiveness Why high-achieving women tend to skip directly to layer three and why that backfires What rebuilding actually looks like in daily, real life Why you do not have to be fully healed before you move forward The BANK framework and how understanding your communication code is one of the fastest ways to quiet the noise from the last environment One Line to Take Away with You "The rebuild is not a prerequisite for moving forward. The rebuild is something you do while you move forward." Listener Reflection Prompt Of the three layers, trust in your own read, trust in discernment over defensiveness, and trust in another leader, which one is the most fragile for you right now? That is the layer you start with. Not the next one. Connect with Lynsey Before you walk into your next role or your next interview, take the free Crack Your Code BANK assessment. It takes about ninety seconds, and understanding your own communication and decision-making blueprint is one of the fastest ways to start trusting your own read again. The link is in the show notes. And if this episode landed somewhere real for you, send it to one woman in your life who you know is in the middle of a rebuild. She may not have had words for what she has been going through. This episode might give her some. Free Crack Your Code BANK assessment Website: LynseyMulder.com Facebook: @LynseySMulder LinkedIn: @Lynsey-Mulder Instagram: @LynseyMulder
What if the most powerful leadership move you could make right now had nothing to do with adding something new to your life, and everything to do with quitting something that has quietly been draining it? Lynsey Mulder just finished a book about a group of friends who made a pact. They called themselves the Quitters Club. And the concept stopped her cold, because every single woman she has ever coached has needed one. She just did not know she was allowed to join. In this episode of Lead with Spark, Lynsey makes the case for quitting on purpose, not your job, not your marriage, not anything dramatic, but the smaller, quieter things you have been doing on autopilot that are slowly draining the life out of you while you pretend they are important. She shares six things she personally quit after reading the book, three signs it is time to quit something in your own life, and a surprisingly simple tool from the end of the book that will tell you how you already feel about any decision you have been agonizing over. Because quitting did not shrink Lynsey's life. It expanded it. And it might do the same for yours. Together We Will Talk About Why high-achieving women are often the last to give themselves permission to quit anything The difference between quitting as giving up and quitting as giving in to who you actually are now Six things Lynsey personally quit and what each one made room for instead The three signs that something is ready to be let go of, even if it used to matter deeply The sunk cost trap and why continuing to drain yourself never earns back what you already spent The emotional labor women carry for everyone else and what happens when you finally put it down The coin flip tool that bypasses your overthinking and exposes what you already know Your homework: three things to write down and what to do with them How to get support if you know you are ready to quit something but have no idea what comes next One Line to Take Away with You "Every quit is a yes to something else. When I quit that networking group, I said yes to ninety minutes back in my week. When I quit comparing myself, I said yes to my own life. Every quit is a yes." Connect with Lynsey If this episode landed for you and you are ready to figure out what is on your list and what comes after it, book a collaboration hour with Lynsey. It is one conversation, just you and her, to sort through what you are ready to put down and what to build next. The link is in the show notes at lynseymulder.com. Book a collaboration hour Website: LynseyMulder.com Facebook: @LynseySMulder LinkedIn: @Lynsey-Mulder Instagram: @LynseyMulder And if this episode resonated with you, send it to one friend you would invite into your own Quitters Club. She has a list too. She just has not written it down yet.
Every woman Lynsey Mulder has coached in the last sixty days who is in the middle of a pivot has said the same thing, almost apologetically: I just feel like I should have figured this out sooner. Sooner than what? Sooner than the body breaking down? Sooner than eighteen months of broken trust with a manager? Sooner than the blood pressure reading that finally told the truth about the calendar? In this episode of Lead with Spark, Lynsey unpacks what the word pivot actually means, and why the way most professional women have been using it is keeping them stuck. A pivot is not a sign that you got it wrong. A pivot is a sign that you finally got honest. And there is a massive difference between those two things. Lynsey walks through the foundation she uses with every coaching client in the middle of a pivot, including three specific signs that it is time to make a real move (not a panic move), two clarifying questions to separate discomfort from genuine misalignment, and why sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is stop, take a break, and let clarity find you. If you are sitting in the middle of a pivot right now and feeling like you should have seen it coming sooner, this episode is for you. Together We Will Talk About Why the story we were all told about changing direction is quietly keeping brilliant women stuck The difference between a reversal and a recalibration, and why that distinction changes everything Three signs that it is time for a real pivot (not a panic move) Why your body will pivot before your professional identity is ready to admit it The question to ask when you are defending a decision you would not make today What it means when the version of you that is emerging can no longer fit into the container you built How to tell the difference between running from discomfort and honoring a truth Two questions that have changed the paths of more of Lynsey's clients than almost anything else she has asked Why taking a break is sometimes the most strategic thing you can do in the middle of a pivot How to make micro-movements toward what is next without having to know the whole plan One Line to Take Away with You "A pivot is not a sign that you got it wrong. A pivot is a sign that you finally got honest." Connect with Lynsey If this episode sparked something in you, Lynsey wants to hear about it. Share your pivot with her so she can celebrate with you. And if you are ready for a real conversation about what your next season looks like, reach out at lynseymulder.com. Website: LynseyMulder.com Facebook: @LynseySMulder LinkedIn: @Lynsey-Mulder Instagram: @LynseyMulder
There is a gap in leadership development that almost no one is talking about. The higher you climb, the less support you get. Senior managers, directors, and VPs are running multimillion-dollar budgets, leading complex teams, and navigating organizational politics, all while figuring it out largely on their own. Sound familiar? In this episode, I sit down with Lori Lalonde, a leadership development expert with 30 years in the tech industry, including senior roles at Microsoft partner organizations. Lori noticed the same gap I did: the training gets thinner the higher you go, and women in the messy middle of management are often the ones carrying the most weight with the least runway. So she built a program to fix it. We talk about her 12-week leadership development program for women, how she is weaving AI fluency into every module, and why she believes women are positioned to be the most credible thought leaders in AI right now, not despite their hesitation, but because of it. We also get into the real talk: how to actually start using AI without feeling overwhelmed, where hallucinations can burn you if you are not paying attention, and why the fear that AI will take your job is the wrong thing to be afraid of. This one moves fast and it goes deep. Let us get into it. Together We Will Talk About Why leadership development disappears at the senior manager and director level, and what that costs organizations The messy middle of management: what it is, why women feel it hardest, and what to do about it Lori's 12-week leadership program designed for women in senior manager to VP roles The skills the program builds: strategic leadership, financial acumen, AI strategy, board readiness, and crisis leadership Why women are slower to adopt AI, and why that actually positions them to lead responsibly How to start using AI today without technical expertise, starting with the tasks you hate most AI hallucinations, fact-checking, and how to evaluate AI outputs instead of accepting them The environmental cost of AI infrastructure and why it matters for how we use it How to use AI to communicate better across different personality types and cultural backgrounds One Line to Take Away with You "If this program doesn't exist for us, I'm just gonna build it." Connect with Lori Lalonde Web: herexecutiveascent.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lorilalonde Substack: https://herexecutiveascent.substack.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/her_executive_ascent Leadership Recalibrated Podcast Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/73cQNaSjQdDTAKC5fiEf0D Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-recalibrated/id1869939398 Connect with Lynsey Go check out everything Lori is doing using the links in these show notes, and listen to her podcast. Then come back here and get your spark on. Pick one thing from this episode, one task you would love to hand off, and go play with it. I mean it. Start today. Ready to build your own leadership strategy? Connect with Lynsey at lynseymulder.com. Website: LynseyMulder.com Facebook: @LynseySMulder LinkedIn: @Lynsey-Mulder Instagram: @LynseyMulder
Picture your week. Not the highlight reel, not the version you would put on social media, but the real one. The walk you skipped because someone moved a meeting. The lunch you ate at your desk for the third day in a row. The text from a friend you keep meaning to answer and still have not. Now ask yourself one question: was the reason all of that happened actually urgent? Or was it just loud? In this solo episode of Lead with Spark, Lynsey Mulder tackles one of the most common patterns she sees in the women she coaches right now: we have gotten really good at responding to loud and really bad at protecting what actually matters to us. And she is not here to sell you a calendar overhaul, a new app, or a five o'clock morning routine. She is here to help you find the fifteen-minute pockets that already exist in your life and start making different choices in them. This episode walks you through a practical three-part framework: a simple audit to see where your time, money, and energy are actually going, a comparison to your real top priorities so you can find the gaps, and a way to protect what you reclaim with small, specific, durable decisions that do not require permission or flexibility from anyone else. Plus, Lynsey breaks down the one question you need to ask every time something comes buzzing at you, and what the honest answer to that question actually means for how you respond. Together We Will Talk About Why the gap between what you say matters and how you actually live is not laziness or poor planning, and what it actually is The three-part audit that shows you exactly where your time, money, and energy are going right now How to compare your real priorities to your actual calendar and find the pockets you did not know existed What a genuine decision looks like versus a wish, and how to tell the difference The two things that must both be true for something to actually qualify as urgent Why small, consistent decisions are more durable than dramatic overhauls How to communicate what you are protecting before the collision happens, and what to actually say The one question to ask yourself every time something makes your shoulders rise toward your ears One Line to Take Away with You "The life you say matters most to you is built in the 15-minute pockets that you choose to protect." Connect with Lynsey If you are sitting there thinking you do not even know where to start anymore, there is a free coaching conversation waiting for you at lynseymulder.com. No pitch, no pressure, just a real hour to get clear on what is loud, what is urgent, and what is actually yours. Website: LynseyMulder.com Facebook: @LynseySMulder LinkedIn: @Lynsey-Mulder Instagram: @LynseyMulder And if this episode hit close to home, send it to one woman you know who needs to hear it. The friend who keeps saying she is fine, but you can tell she is not. She will know what to do with it.