If you’ve ever wanted to motivate, influence, or inspire another person—consciously or not—you’re a leader in my book.

You don’t need a title. You don’t need a corner office. You don’t even need to feel ready. You just need to be someone in the world who’s modeling something real.

I know many people quietly avoid the word leader—as if claiming it will expose their ego or break the illusion that they have it all figured out. But leadership isn’t about perfection. It’s about presence. If you have a vision you care about—one you hope others might join you in—then you’re already leading.

This piece is for you.

Because the path of leadership isn’t linear. It’s human. It’s messy. It bends with emotion, detours through grief, and still asks you to move forward. That’s what we’re talking about here.

Leadership from an everchanging agenda.

The Myth of the Straight Line

Leadership isn’t a clean arc from vision to execution. It bends. It stumbles. It circles back. Not because you’re lost—but because you’re human.

We’ve been taught that great leadership is unwavering, stoic, consistent. That feelings get in the way. That if your heart changes, your leadership is shaky.

That’s a lie.

Your heart will change. It should. Because leadership is lived in real time, in real relationships, inside real bodies that feel things. Life will move through you, break you open, heal you again. Your energy, your grief, your joy—they all shape how you show up.

The mistake isn’t in shifting. The mistake is believing you have to hide the shift.

The Agenda Will Change—Let It

Some days you’ll feel powerful. Aligned. Focused.

Other days? You’ll feel tender. Tired. Uncertain.

This doesn’t make you inconsistent. It makes you real. Because leadership isn’t about rigidity—it’s about resonance. People don’t follow certainty—they follow someone who’s honest enough to be in process.

Your vision—your core, your values, your why—that is what holds steady. But how you move toward it, the agenda you wake up with each day? That’s going to shift with your humanness.

And that’s not weakness. It’s how your brain works.

Your nervous system scans for emotional and physical safety constantly. When stress hits, your responses shift. Some days your window for bold action is wide open. Other days, your body signals caution, retreat, or care.

This doesn’t make you unreliable. It makes you responsive. Adaptive. Human.

This Isn’t Woo-Woo. It’s Leadership

There’s a judgment that rises any time we talk about the heart: This is soft. Emotional. Woo woo.

The heart give us data.

When you ignore your emotional state, you default to survival mode—reactivity, defensiveness, control. That’s your amygdala hijack. It’s measurable.

When you pause, feel, breathe, name what’s present—you re-engage the prefrontal cortex. That’s where discernment, empathy, and creativity live. Because calm minds lead better. Regulated leaders build safer, higher-performing teams.

Heart-led leadership isn’t about indulgence. It’s about integration.

And the most effective leaders are the ones who integrate—because they can flex between strategy and emotion, results and relationship. They can see the system and feel the moment. And people trust them more because of it.

Leadership That Moves With the Heart

A VP client once told me, “I thought I had to show up strong every day. But it turns out, when I let people see me unsure—and still showed up—it made them trust me more.”

That’s leadership from the heart. It’s not polished. It’s present.

It looks like:

• Cancelling a high-stakes meeting to attend a funeral—and telling your team why. Because grief doesn’t stop for agendas.
• Admitting you’re distracted in a 1:1 because something personal is pulling your attention. Because truth builds trust.
• Saying “today’s not the day for big vision—I just need to know how you’re doing.” Because connection creates momentum.

Not because you’re falling apart. Because you’re connected. And connection moves people far more than performance.

What Do You Stand For, Even When the Weather Shifts?

Values aren’t always how you act when it’s easy. They’re also how you anchor when everything else is shifting.

So ask yourself:

• When I feel overwhelmed, which value do I reach for?
• When my agenda gets hijacked by emotion, what still guides me?
• When nothing’s going to plan, what am I unwilling to compromise?

Because if you don’t know what brings you into your calm center, you’ll lead from whatever’s loudest.

That’s not clarity. That’s reactivity.

Final Word

You don’t have to explain your emotions away.

You don’t have to bury them either.

You know the voice:

“Pull it together.”

“Don’t make it about you.”

“No one else is this soft.”

“You’re the leader—you don’t get to feel this.”

That’s not strength. That’s your inner critic trying to protect you the only way it knows how—by shrinking your heart down to something manageable.

But your heart isn’t the problem. It’s the signal.

You don’t have to justify it. You just need to stay connected to it—and to something steady that reminds you who you are when things get loud.

Let the plan shift. Let your heart feel what it feels.

Just keep moving toward what matters.

That’s what leadership from an everchanging agenda looks like.

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Want to go deeper?

Learn more about my work and how I help leaders integrate vision and heart.

Inspired by Boulder’s mindful energy? Dive into the Faces of Boulder: Yoga Edition article, where mindfulness meets mountain views in a community rooted in balance and presence  .

Curious about leading with heart even when it breaks? Listen to Brené Brown’s podcast episode “Places We Go When the Heart Is Open” from Atlas of the Heart—a raw exploration of what it means to stay open to love, grief, and leadership through it all .

Kate Galt Primal Leadership Business Coaching

Kate Galt coaches and challenges leaders at all levels— from entrepreneurs to seasoned executives— to sharpen their vision, articulate key messages so they connect and inspire, and make decisive, strategic moves that drive real business growth. Based in Boulder, Colorado, she works with individuals and teams to strengthen leadership, improve team dynamics, and achieve measurable results.

Her coaching is rooted in Primal Leadership—because the strongest leaders move with instinct, command presence without force, and create unshakable trust through raw, real connection.

Like any driven person, Kate is always figuring out how to do it all—running a business, raising two kids with her equally involved husband, and still making time for the adventure that brought her to Colorado in 1998. Whether it’s snowboarding, mountain biking, or chasing an ultimate frisbee, she knows the best leadership isn’t just learned—it’s lived.

The bottom line? Kate makes good leaders great.

Curious about what makes her coaching style so impactful? Book a call and experience it for yourself at CoachTheLeaders.com.