Life-Changing Leadership, Lifelong Results
By Enas Fleming, COO of The Power Within Training
There was a time, years ago, when I thought leadership had to look a certain way. You know the type. All sharp blazers and sharp elbows. All bravado and buzzwords. I’d sit in meetings and watch people perform leadership; loud voices, controlling tones, decisions made behind closed doors. They called it strength. I called it exhausting. I’d go home and think, if this is what they call leadership and culture, I’m not sure I want it.
But deep down, I knew there was another way.
So when James and I started The Power Within Training, I made a decision. If we were going to build something, I wanted to build a space where people could breathe. A space where leadership didn’t mean being the loudest or the toughest, it meant being the kindest, the most open, the most consistent.
And I’ll tell you something: that kind of leadership and culture isn’t always loud, but it’s incredibly powerful.
We’ve all heard the phrases: gaslighting, gatekeeping, girlbossing. They’ve become cultural shorthand for performative power. The kind that looks shiny on the outside but leaves people second-guessing themselves inside.
Let me be blunt. That’s not leadership. That’s control dressed as confidence.
Real leadership and culture doesn’t make people shrink. It doesn’t rely on micromanagement or status or throwing people under the bus to protect your own ego. Real leadership is secure enough to say, “I got that wrong.” Brave enough to say, “Tell me what you need.” And wise enough to realise that if your team isn’t thriving, then neither are you.
I believe in softness. In checking in before someone reaches breaking point. In seeing the human behind the title, the person behind the performance. And yes, that means sometimes slowing down to listen properly, not just to respond.
People often mistake kindness for being soft. But let me tell you, it takes a lot of strength to lead with kindness. To hold space when someone’s struggling, to admit when you don’t have all the answers, to lead without needing to control.
In the early days of building our team, we made a choice: we hire for mindset, not CVs. I’m not interested in how well someone can talk about leadership, I want to know how they live it.
That’s leadership and culture in action.
And yes, we’ve had to make tough calls. Letting people go who couldn’t or wouldn’t align with the culture. Because protecting the environment we’ve built matters more than keeping someone who drains it.
You don’t build culture with a mission statement on a wall. You build it in the moments people think no one’s watching. The way you speak to a colleague when they’re overwhelmed. How you handle mistakes. Whether someone feels safe enough to say, “This isn’t working for me.”
At The Power Within, I want our team to feel it in their bones: that they matter. That they can be themselves. That this is a place where honesty isn’t punished, where growth is supported, and where ego has no home.
We don’t get it right all the time. But we learn. We talk about it. And we course-correct.
That’s leadership and culture. Not perfect. But present.
I spent too long in environments where I felt like I had to perform leadership. Where vulnerability was seen as weakness. Where questions were treated like incompetence. And I’ll be honest, it wore me down.
When I let go of that, when I stopped trying to be the polished version of a leader and just showed up as myself, everything changed. I built better relationships. I made better decisions. And most importantly, I felt like I could breathe.
Because being real is contagious. When people see you show up as your full self, it gives them permission to do the same. And that’s where the magic happens.
So if you’re reading this and wondering how to build a better team, a better culture, or even just a better version of how you lead, start here:
Be honest, be kind, be consistent.
And for goodness’ sake, let’s drop the performative leadership act. The world doesn’t need more girlbossing. It needs leaders who are human, honest, and committed to doing the work. Even when it’s messy.
Because yes, leadership is messy. People are messy. But with the right mindset, values, and support, it can be powerful, liberating, and deeply impactful.
And that’s the kind of leadership and culture worth building.
Want support to lead in a way that feels real?
That’s what we do at The Power Within. If this resonated, especially as a woman in leadership, our programmes might be a good fit. Get in touch, we’d love to chat.
Enas Fleming
The Power Within Training,
The Motivational Intelligence Company
enas@tpwtd.com
