The Return: What Untamed Leader is Really About

What does it actually mean to untame a leader—and why does it matter right now? In this Season 3 premiere of Untamed Leader, Lauri Smith flips the mic. Longtime collaborator, singer-songwriter, and authentic communication coach Brian Perry steps in as interviewer—and the result is one of the most honest, searching conversations about leadership, voice, and coming home to yourself that Lauri has ever had on this podcast.

Lauri unpacks the real meaning of "untamed leadership" (hint: it's not a rebrand gimmick), the difference between being present and being lost in a spreadsheet, and why the leaders this world actually needs are the ones willing to stop performing certainty. They trace the arc from her first coaching class at the Coactive Training Institute—where she turned to a stranger and said "I think I just found the final piece"—to the creative tension that defines Untamed Leader today.

They also get into Alyssa Liu, toolboxes, eggshell walking, dog whistles of the soul, and what happens when you stop trying to make decisions in your head and start trusting what's alive in your body. This is not a leadership theory episode. This is what leadership actually looks like from the inside.

If you've been waiting for a sign to stop leading the tamed way—this is it.

Key Takeaways

1. Untamed Leader is a homecoming. The seeds were planted in Lauri's very first coaching class, and this chapter is about finally weaving them all together.
2. The world needs leaders who can hold a vision and stay present at the same time. That creative tension—between "I'm here" and "I know what's possible"—is where real leadership lives.
3. You can't make good decisions from inside a spreadsheet. When the body expands, peripheral vision opens, and birds fly by the window—that's when the real answers come.
4. Taming is insidious. Many of us are walking on eggshells in our own lives and don't know it. Spotting the "should" is the first act of untaming.
5. Alyssa Liu didn't win gold by following the playbook. She won by returning to joy. The same move that makes a champion makes an untamed leader.
6. Untaming doesn't mean leaping into chaos. It means opening the second level of the toolbox—returning to your natural way of navigating the world, then letting someone help you use it better.
7. Patience is a practice. The right answer doesn't always arrive on schedul

Soul Sucker Quiz

Take the Soul Sucker Quiz to learn which Soul Sucker screams the loudest in your mind so you can release them from being in charge and set your voice free!

https://voice-matters.com/soul-sucker-quiz/

The Speaker Alter Ego Quiz

Take the Speaker Alter Ego quiz to find out which protective mask hides your natural radiance so you can learn how to get present, connect deeply, and share your vision when it matters most!

https://voice-matters.com/speaker-alter-ego-quiz/

Transcript

Lauri 0:32

Hello and welcome to Untamed Leader. My guest today is the amazing Brian Perry. He is back again, and I'm going to let him introduce himself. And then I'll say one more thing.

Brian 0:46

Hi. I'm so um honored and grateful and privileged to be here, Lori. Yay! Yay! Glad to be back here with you. I'm Brian Perry. Um I uh I I enter the world as a singer-songwriter and authentic communication coach. And and today I get to be here with my friend Um and someone who inspires me very deeply, um, Lori Smith. And I get to be of service. She shifts directions, which she was about to talk to you about. So there you go.

Why The Podcast Rebrands

Lauri 1:14

Me. What up? Welcome. So I'm shifting directions. We announced that this podcast has changed from the soulful speaking show into untamed leader. And about a year ago, I released an episode where we flipped things, and Brian interviewed me, and I got the intuitive untamed hit to do that again to kick off season three. So Brian is going to interview me. Take it away, Brian.

Brian 1:44

Yay. Well, I'm so excited because um, yes, as you have said in your trailer, and as you have said um a little bit here and there, it is a new direction this season. It's not just a new season, it's a new series, it's a new show, it's a new focus. And I've watched that emerge for you in such a rich and beautiful way. And one of the things I was I was thinking about earlier is you talked about this shift into Untamed Leader um as an expansion, but also a return home. And I'm curious about the return home. Can you start there?

Lauri 2:26

Yeah, I have always loved and been called to the three things that it feels like our untamed leader. Leaders, people wanting to change the world, who see the possibility for things to be different, aka better in some way. And ever since I walked into my very first coaching class at the now coactive training institute, the way of helping people to move through life with choices from the present moment toward the better that they're called to, I've loved it. And I've also had a passion for speaking in a way that is wild, vibrant, and alive from head to toe beyond most people's imagination. And so I feel like these have always been here. And when I walked into my very first ever coaching class, we were about 15 minutes in, and I turned to the person next to me and I said, I think I've just found the final piece of what I'm here to do. And she went, Wow, what is that? And I said, I can't answer you with my left brain yet. It was like coaching and the way the Coactive Training Institute did it in that class was one of my homes. Yeah. Another one was the particular kind of speaking voice training that I had done, which was Fitzmorris voice work. And that seed that happened that day feels like, well, if you look at it, it's like I drifted over into only doing speaking coaching. And really, I'm coming back home to the essence of what it was that had me turn to her and say, I feel like I've just found the final piece of what I'm here to do.

Brian 4:40

So just that, just that small thing.

Lauri 4:43

Yeah.

Brian 4:43

Just the just the final piece. Um many questions. I think that if I'm the listener, I also have questions about you just dropped in the name of a program that's got a couple of programs that are interesting. But but I but I think what I you know, I'm trying to think of the perspective of if I'm a listener right now and I've been enjoying your podcast as it was, and it's shifting into this new direction of untamed leader. Uh, you may recall at one point when you and I were talking one-on-one, I pushed back and I was like, I don't know what the hell untamed leader is. I this doesn't resonate with me. I don't know what that means. And you've told me, you said, actually, this is has never sort of never said anything, done anything in my work really that's resonated as immediately for you, but also for the people as you've shared it out. Tell me more about Untamed Leader. Like I'm somebody who's going, Well, what the heck is that? Is that just some new gimmick? Yeah, is that a shtick? Because I want to be clear to the listener in this moment, I'm not here to help Lori sell something. I'm here because I'm a big fan. And and I'm here to explore more about this shift, which I have seen emerge in you as your friend, as something that has been lighting you up. Tell me about that light.

What Untamed Leader Really Means

Lauri 6:12

Yeah. So I mentioned uh it started with me hearing the phrase in my head and and having a like, ooh, like that's there's an energy there for me. And my mind goes crazy just like everybody else's. And it was like, oh, untamed is a way to explain what I know is possible for people when they're speaking on a stage or in front of a green camera light. So it was like, well, that's aligned, and it's weaving back in the change maker piece. And over time, what has continued to excite me and gotten clearer and clearer for me is we're living in a world where we need actual leaders. And there's a lot of confusion and argument in the world about what does it mean to lead? And what I one of the things I love about Untamed Leader is I believe the leaders that we need are seeing the possibility of things being different. They're committed to moving toward that. And one of the things that makes that even stronger is to let go of any of the ways that the world has tamed us. So things like I was told I should be this way, I should look like this if I'm a leader, I should wear this, I should run my business like this, all of those nasty shoulds and the way it's done. And they're kind of insidious. Like we live in a world where we have help and support of letting those things go. And I am still surprised myself when I've been doing a thing in the way that I think it's supposed to be done, because it can become like, well, that's the only option. Well, it's hard to lead in a tamed world that tells you there are only certain options available. It's and leading is also involves creating something that did not exist before in the in exactly the way that we're creating it, which is harder to do from tamed and guardrails, and it has to fit with it within this box. Those are some of the things that I love about Untamed, from our presence being the wild, alive, primal body meeting some kind of sense of purpose to making choices in our lives where all the options are back on the table because we've untamed or we're untaming. And then we make the choice that is right for us in that moment.

Brian 10:17

See, this is what I I've heard you talk about. I've heard you talk about with the soulful speaking, the the soulfulness, trying to channel that and tap into that, right? I've heard you talk about people kind of showing up in the radiance and breaking free of some of those the old models for speaking. And with leadership, what I'm hearing you say in this moment is that um is that in fact, this this moment we find ourselves in, where there is a heightened level of chaos and uncertainty by any measure, whether you're a fan of it or deeply opposed to it, um it's a thing, you know, and that uncertainty, that chaos challenges you to find a new path. And and what I hear and what I hear you saying in this moment is that sometimes what we can get stuck in as leaders is the same thing we get stuck in as speakers, which is well, it's supposed to be this. Well, I can't do that. Like that there are certain ideas that emerge for you, but I can't do that because it doesn't fit. These are the tools. It's almost like if you're going to your toolbox and you're going, well, I've never used it for that before. You know, well, what would happen if you did?

SPEAKER_03 11:44

Mm-hmm.

Leadership As Creative Tension

Brian 11:45

I I mean, I'm I remember being a kid and and this was the wrong way to use this tool, so don't do it. Yeah. But but but I but I remember feeling like a damn genius the first time I like used like a uh a Phillips head screwdriver to to drill something a little bit that I needed drilled, you know, it's not what it was designed for. In fact, that's the opposite of what was designed for. In fact, that's that's what it looks like to strip out a screw, really, if you're doing, you know, but but it but it allowed me to play with it when I stepped free of well, I I need I have to accomplish this thing. How can I get there?

Lauri 12:20

Yeah.

Making Decisions From The Body

Brian 12:21

Um, how can I think differently? Here's what I'm trying to get to, I think, is I'm I'm trying to marry in my head. There's you've talked about the tension between that vision, you talked about a leader holding and and being present and having presence. And it sounds to me like, and you've talked, you always talk about the value of sort of claiming your radiance, you know, uh previously as a speaker, but now expanding that to also what that means as a leader. So it is what I'm hearing you say is that that it's yes, you're holding a vision that you've internalized, and then you're being present and trusting your radiance. Is that fair? And in what am I missing?

Lauri 13:18

Yeah. That is fair. Being present, holding the vision. Leadership lives in that kind of creative friction, the creative tension between I'm here and I know there is possible, and I'm not there yet. And trusting our radiance everywhere on a stage when I'm choosing something in my life. Can I listen to my own aliveness and make the choice that feels right in the moment?

Brian 13:53

What does that look like? Like, what is that like practically? What is that? How does that emerge for you?

Lauri 13:58

Yeah. He's asking me, folks, about the part that is the hardest for me. So yeah. Well, that's you know, put me on a stage or there with a client in front of me. And I can't help at this point but trust my own radiance, trust where things are alive. When I'm leading through running a business that is committed to things like being part of or leading a movement of untamed leaders, when I'm sitting alone at my computer making a decision, this is the hardest place for me. It is the place where I have historically become the most tamed. So how it's looking these days is I notice when I'm way up in my head, when I feel like I don't have a body, when I'm making endless spreadsheets about a single fucking choice. Like, should I have a play shop at this time or that time? Which one should I have next for my community? You know, it's I'm a little further past this, but there have been times where I've sat there for like days making spreadsheets weighing the pros and cons, and which one should I do? And the experts say that you should have a this offer that leads to that offer that leads to that offer. So been there, done that.

Brian 15:26

There's the trap, though, right? It's that's where the should lives is in the it it should is is is a placeholder for what's the perfect decision that will result in everything I want.

Lauri 15:36

Yes. In scarcity, what's the perfect decision that will result in everything I want that will save me from the scarcity?

Brian 15:44

Yeah.

Lauri 15:45

And the way it works for me when I untame is I do something to get out of my head and down more into my body and into my whole self, where I can feel my whole physical body, I can see peripheral vision. Even if I'm sitting here at this very same desk, it's like everything opens up and I can see what's moving outside, birds flying by the window. And then I notice my own energy as I'm considering options. Quite often, for me, I let the decision go until something happens, and I get something that feels like when Untamed Leader first came in, there was an energy and an excitement. And as I'm saying it to you now, I love responding to my clients, the people in my programs, and the world. So there might be something like I'm leading a class in the Untamed Leader Collective, and three people say something that all might seem different, and it strikes me as oh, those are all related. So here's the next play shop we're gonna do because it's what's needed in this space, or it's what I got a ping on or called to. And it, if I was in my head trying to figure it out with no peripheral vision, you know, I'm leading a class and this is great, and then I'm gonna go back to my spreadsheet and try to figure out what to do next. I wouldn't have been open enough to notice they said three things that seem different, and they all go to one root place.

Deep Listening And Patient Timing

Brian 17:46

What what I hear you describing is is a greater like your presence. Again, you said presence earlier. I think I think that it's a am I interrupting? By the way, I thought I might that there's they felt like there there's it what I hear you saying is it's deeper listening. That like when when you talked about that that your your awareness expands in and you're starting to take in the birds and the things outside the in your space, like everything turns up, it becomes more sensitive. Sound of things turning up, uh you know, that it all becomes more heightened and your awareness just becomes sort of uh more electric. Um, all of which is a sort of deeper listening.

Lauri 18:29

Yeah, and it's a deeper listening to myself and to the world and to the people in my world. So that if I'm on a yoga mat, and I mean, yoga is a great place to open and have deeper listening. Sometimes the answers come when I'm in the shower or on the yoga mat. They don't tend to come when I'm sitting in the spreadsheets. Spreadsheets hold things for me. I don't actually come up with answers in them very often.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

Yeah.

Lauri 19:04

And there's also a patience and a willingness to not have the final answer yet, that I personally at this moment in time have to actively practice. I don't know if that means at some point answers will come more quickly to me. And for right now, like I'll I'll say, for example, we did an untamed leader winter retreat where it came in and eventually in the winter, one thing unfolded to the next thing, unfolded to the next thing. I heard the number seven, we had seven leaders. It was magical, like people are still talking about that.

Brian 19:52

It was a fantastic time. Yeah.

Spotting The Hidden Should

Lauri 19:54

Well, then I was like, I think we're gonna have another one in the spring. And it wasn't coming to me, wasn't coming to me, wasn't coming to me. I started exploring the possibility of doing something else instead of that. Willing to let it go, which has also been a theme that's kind of been up for me in my world lately, like willing to just go, it's not meant to be, I'm letting it go. And it helps for me to get in conversations with people that I trust when I'm in the process, just to talk about what's going on in my life, because then something might come in from me or them. And I had a conversation with someone about two weeks ago, and then the next day I find myself in a group space, and all of a sudden I go, Oh, I know what it is. It's about embodying the person that we are that fulfills the vision. It's like spring embodiment, moving out into the world and very much on transforming ourselves, our body, our presence, our way of showing up in the world to be the one that walks the path to the vision. That's amazing. It's the essence. We're three weeks away from when it's supposed to start. I still don't know if it's supposed to be the same length as the other one was. I have a feeling it's meant to be a little shorter because it's spring. So let's practice some embodiment things and then go out in the world and put them into practice in the real world. Um, I still don't know exactly how many people are meant to lead it. I feel like it's probably me and two other people, one of which is you, by the way. We'll talk about that later.

Brian 21:49

Sounds good.

Alyssa Liu And Leading With Fun

Lauri 21:51

Um, you know, I have a big part of me that's like, I hope I get clarity on things faster from all this deep listening, that answers will just start to come in faster. Um, and those are some of the ways that I'm untaming when I'm by myself. And and I also notice it with clients and people that are program participants. Because I've gotten so into untamed, I'm listening and looking for those things with a renewed, heightened awareness of like, where's the should? Where's the thing they think they have to do? Where's the thing that they're pissed off at because they did it for so long? And how can we honor that they're pissed off at this should? There's a lot of confusion because of a should, while also like shine a light and help them walk where they want to go without being trapped by the should or the pissed off at the should. So there's a heightened way of helping others do that. Because it's sort of like, and this will I'll stop talking after this and let you ask another question. Years and years ago, I saw this Volkswagen Jetta commercial, and I loved that commercial. There was like a music and rain, and it was just so cool. And then I started seeing Volkswagen Jettas everywhere, and I did eventually buy one of my own. Um it's sort of like I'm on the lookout for taming and how. How can I move past the taming? And how can we all move past the taming? And there's just this amazing, wonderful energy in that.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

So many things for me.

Brian 24:58

I th I what I like about the notion of moving past taming is I hear the thing, the thing that can be easy when you're listening to this conversation, I think, when you're listening to the way you talk about leadership, um, is it can be easy to sort of feel like it's squishy or woo or you know, just it it sure, okay. Um but ask any professional athlete or Olympian how much of what they do is about presence. Ask Alyssa Lou or Liu, I'm never sure which is it is, but um, you know, one of the things that I I adored so much about her gold medal uh run there. But first off, I should say that I had planned, I had I had become familiar with her well before the games, and I had every expectation, this is hilarious. I've not said this. I that I had every expectation she wasn't gonna win. And I was all so uh psyched to talk about how it didn't matter, and then she won, and everybody was talking about it, and I didn't want to be talking about it in that moment, which is that's something I'm working on in therapy. Uh, but anyway, uh but but she uh what I loved about her talking about her performances over and over again, they wanted to kind of corner her in the shoulds, corner her in how she was doing this thing and doing that thing and leaning on this other thing, and she's just like I was having fun.

Lauri 26:37

Yeah.

Brian 26:39

That that I was doing all those things before. I did all that work, and then I got really clear that my vision for doing this thing is that I love doing it, and that I love pushing myself to new places because I love that act of pushing myself to new places, um, and it's fun. So I'm going to come out here and I'm going to have fun. Well, what were you thinking when you were warming up? I was thinking it's fun. What were you thinking while you were performing? I was thinking this is fun, you know, like that she was she was dialed into that which lights her up about it. And in so doing, she created this lit container that we all got to join her in, which is itself an act of artistic leadership, yes, um, that can sound woo, but is extraordinarily practical.

Lauri 27:39

Yeah, it's that it's like you know, she was called to ice skate at some point, it was fun for her, and then in 2022, 2016, whatever. It's one at some point she quit because it wasn't fun for her because there was a whole lot of shoulding in the environment. So she walked away, and then she got a calling to go back.

SPEAKER_03 28:10

Exactly.

Lauri 28:11

Maybe I can go back and do it my way every single step of the way from what I wear to what my routine is to how my hair looks, to which moves I do. I'm gonna do what's fun for me. I'm gonna express what I feel like expressing because it feels good to me.

Brian 28:35

Exactly.

Lauri 28:36

And in doing that, she's one of the most popular leaders on our planet right now.

Brian 28:44

Yep.

Lauri 28:45

Because she showed people it's possible to go into one of the most challenging environments like academia, the Silicon Valley, being a woman, being a woman in a sport like ice skating, like all of the sports, for women in particular, though I'm sure men have this as well. You know, your how does your hair look? How does your makeup look? How does your outfit look? Do you look fat? Do you need to starve yourself in order to look bad? Um, are you winning? Are you losing just every single form of like chaos combined with a being judged metric?

Brian 29:30

Yeah.

Lauri 29:32

She went in there.

Brian 29:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lauri 29:35

And went, I'm not listening to any of it. I don't care if I win. I don't care if I make it to the Olympics. Oh, I'm at the Olympics, I'm in third place. Still don't care if I win. I'm going to express what I'm here to express. Yeah. Is what kind of came into my mind. Like, there's a part of her that's like, I love it, and I was born to do it.

Moving Through Chaos Without Becoming It

Brian 29:58

And that's the thing. And that part that the part, the part that I where leadership emerges in those moments, to my mind, that's really aligned with what you're doing with untamed leadership, is is that well, like which when by it's well well, well, uh, what's the right word right now? I don't know what the right word is. It's been well covered. How, as you just said, when she called up her coaches and was like, I want to do this again. They were like, You can't. Like, this doesn't, people don't come back. She's like, What do you but and and my my imagining of that conversation was at some level she was saying, What do you mean by come back? And what they were like, Well, you can't win. And she was like, I don't care. I didn't say I want to come and win. I want to go back. I I I love doing this thing, right? And and what I want to what I'm I think why this popped up for me, speaking of sort of being present to what's coming up. I I think that I I didn't watch, I we we still have a DVR in this house, and I I was D VRing, we DVR'd the those events, and I I wanted to watch the individuals when I had time to be by myself. Because I wanted to really let my own the way I process things my fly. I wanted my my own neurodivergence and ADHD to really just have free reign and do its thing. And I kept rewinding and rewinding as as when the last skater went up and she skated, the woman who would become the bronze medalist, if I'm not mistaken. And Alyssa was sitting on a on a stand like 25 feet to her left, if you're facing the two of them. And this is also a moment where she's just waiting to hear. Like whatever this woman gets points-wise, means what where she's going to be on the podium. She had room for their what happened was happening for her. When that when the when that when the scores were announced, there were people over here you could say you could see saying to Alyssa, you did it, you won. And she's just like, I'm with her right now. Like, this is her moment, right? And she went up there and took her, and she was like, You did you you won a medal, you did it. And the one and and that the reason that matters to me in this moment is something you talked about, is that you've talked about how you're not a political expert. And and many people still characterize this as a moment in our culture, in our in our history that's political. I would argue it's not. Um, whether we're talking about the mechanisms of our country in our world um that might operate in governmental forms, or we're talking about the dawn of AI, or all those different things, none of which we're about to get into, listener. So hang tight. But you've talked about not being a political expert. But you've talked about that you're deeply attuned to what leadership asks of us in moments of uncertainty. And what leadership asks of us in moments of us uncertainty, as you lay it out with vision creating and inspiration, inspiring, you know, those three tenants. It doesn't ask of us to show up with all the answers. It doesn't ask of us to show up with a 10-point plan. It asks of us be willing to show up rooted in a knowing of what's possible, holding that vision, which then frees you to just be present and let moments emerge, be present and let things be fun, let let it expand, let it reveal itself in that moment, because the problem can't be solved at the level at which it was created.

Lauri 34:22

Yes. Mic drop.

Brian 34:26

Yeah, yeah. I mean, which is not obviously not my wisdom. I don't know who was that originated that, but that that notion, right?

Finding New Tools Under Old Habits

Lauri 34:34

Yeah, yeah. And yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And for me, at times, when we are in a time of chaos, because the old is no longer working, yeah, things become clearer to me in the middle of that intensity. So that the right choice for me or me and the group that I'm leading or a part of it becomes clear, it becomes freeing. That, for example, I'm not going to go into a lot of the details, but leading in a group where there was uh an abusive relationship with the leader of the group and catching myself and everyone in the group, treading, waiting for the moment when the bomb would go off in the person. I didn't even know I was doing it. This is what I mean when I say the taming is everywhere. I have to be nice or eggshell behavior, kind of eggshell behavior. Like at some point in my life, I learned to do that in certain circumstances. And I and I didn't, I would not have described myself as a people pleaser. I didn't think I had it. Um, but clearly I did. And then the shit really hit the fan, and it was painful, and people, including me, were in tears. And one moment I'm sobbing with the other people in the group, and then I pick my head up and said, and it's all going to work out, and it's gonna be even better, with like snot rolling down my face, and then it became reminding everybody else this person is going to react, the bomb is gonna go off, they will get triggered. We cannot predict it, avoid it, tap dance around it. So it makes it really clear that we need to make the right choice. And this is what that is. And then just when the triggering happens, make the right choice then.

Brian 37:01

Is this what I'm sorry to interject, but but is this what you're talking about when I've heard you talk about that that untamed leadership frees you to move through the chaos without becoming the chaos? That in those moments of uncertainty testing you, it's where the leadership is revealed. Is that what you're talking about?

Lauri 37:21

Yeah, that if we choose to stop whatever the tamed habit, adaptation, survival strategy, it's sort of like that was probably the right choice at some point in time for us. And when we become really present in this moment, that is no longer the right choice for this moment, given my knowing what I believe is possible, what I've set the intention to move toward, however, we want to call that vision piece.

SPEAKER_03 37:58

Yeah.

Lauri 37:58

Um it's not the right choice anymore. So when you were talking about the toolbox earlier, the thing that I saw in my head is not only can you take a tool and use it in a different way, yeah, but it's also like a toolbox that has two levels, like you open it up, yeah, and there's the top level, and we can actually take the top level and go, if I put those aside, what other tools are down there?

Brian 38:27

Right, right, right, right. Yeah.

Lauri 38:29

And start using those other tools down there, or using the Phillips head screwdriver driver to drill a hole in the wall.

Brian 38:38

Yeah, yeah. You start to reveal new tools that had been that thus far overlooked.

Lauri 38:45

Yeah.

Coming Home To Your Natural Way

Brian 38:46

Um, and and you start to well, a lot. I mean, tools are a fun metaphor because because so much of I mean, I learned a lot from about tools in a variety of ways growing up, but but a lot of what I learned was more like I'd hit a problem and I'd do exactly what you're talking about. Dig through the toolbox and be like, I wonder, I mean, I don't, is this what this does? Like, would this help? You know, and and very often I'd be using the thing wrong, and then somebody would come along, but I'd be using in the in the ballpark, you know, and then somebody come along and go, you know, if you did this, and and it was a little bit, I'm gonna mix metaphors now. It was a little bit like um I had I was picked up a baseball bat and was hitting reasonably well with a baseball bat, right? And then somebody came up and said, Well, you know what would help us if you're just choked up a little bit on the bat. Um, and then suddenly I'm doing what I was doing, but much better. Yeah, you know, so that that's but what I I'm I mean, I I pulled us off track a little bit, but I but what I loved about what you were sharing that I think is really powerful and important about offering a path to tapping into your own sense of untamed leadership, is I think again, in this moment, in this particular timeline that we find ourselves in, uh, I don't know what pill it was it took, but I ended up on this timeline. And and um and and it's I I don't I I don't know anybody who's paying attention, who doesn't wish to at the very least alleviate the sense of chaos in their own lives. But most people that I know that that we know are people that are looking to have impact. And therefore, whether they are in formal leadership roles or not, they are leaders. Um, we are all leaders. You are a leader when you go to the grocery store, you are a leader when you drive home tonight in your car, in some capacity, you are a leader in your home. Um you are a leader with your pets. Good lord. I mean, if there's any other place that that you learn how, hey, there's chaos happening here, how can I uh uh avoid becoming the chaos? And how does that itself become the solution? You know, ask the dog whisperer about that. You know, when you show up in the chaos and you hold space and you hold it solid and you tap into your own common essence and peace, what happens? It creates that.

Lauri 41:28

Yeah, and some of what I noticed in your metaphor is which one? The well, the toolbox to the bat that like some of the tool, the tools in the second level are it's the coming home that we started with. It's like an expansion. So I'm using all the tools, I've expanded back into all the tools, and I'm coming home to something that I actually knew that the world told me to forget about. Um, those are great places to look. Like, what were we like when we were younger? How did we navigate the world? There are some people who don't touch the tools, they look at the tools from all the different angles, yeah, and then like get up and use the tool, and that's their way. For you and I, it's a little bit more of like, what does this thing do? You know, that is how we navigated the world when we were younger in order to learn and move forward. Yeah, so when we go back to the way we did it when we were younger, there are signs there, and then someone's saying, Great, you're having a certain amount of effect with your natural urge, which is to do this with a bat and see what happens, you know, the butt of the bat. And then someone comes along and says, What if you choked up on the bat and tried again? And we're in our natural state, so we go, okay, I'll try that.

Brian 42:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lauri 42:54

We're feeling playful, yeah, fast willing.

Brian 42:56

Yeah.

Voice Presence And Creative Impact

Lauri 42:57

That's kind of our state for untamed leadership. That we go back to like, what was our innate way of navigating the world, moving from the present moment toward the thing we want, which is like to get that thing that we're hitting with the bat to do whatever we want it to do, with some fine-tuning as an adult, where people are looking at our natural state and helping us to use our natural state even better to move toward the thing we're called to do with more impact, with more ease, but there's a natural state and this ease and this movement at the same time.

Share The Show And Stay Connected

Brian 43:40

See, what I adore about that, and it feels like we're sticking the landing here. I feel like it's it's a that that there's that that that what you're saying is, hey, come with me on this journey toward untamed leadership, and in fact, journey to yourself. Yes. And and it it's not a an intense work thing, though there's work involved. It's this returning home to a what feel what will then feel like a more a greater ease of movement, um, a greater flow. Um, and I think it's part of what honestly you bring to this work that's unique because of your work um in your art, in what you do uh as an actor and director and such, is is that that work calls one to be present and to listen and to hold space for that. What is our primary intention here? And how can I hear where the audience is going or not going? How can I hear what's what the room is doing or not doing, and how can I show up to that? And so you're calling people this to return home to themselves through untamed leadership fundamentally, yeah, and to birth with a midwife, their work of art into the world in their way, just like Alyssa Liu Liu did.

Lauri 45:06

And it's you know, the work of art that you have within you right now, particularly when it involves speaking. So I'm not gonna coach someone like Alyssa Liu to win the next gold medal.

SPEAKER_03 45:23

Right, right.

Lauri 45:24

Um, I'm not, if someone only wants to write a book, I'm not really gonna help them with that. There's a something when you're gonna stand in community with others and use your voice to create the thing in the world that you want to create that just lights me up everywhere. I don't care if it's a podcast interview like we're doing, or an actor on a stage, or a speaker getting on a red carpet. I do care about helping them to take their voice to the places that light them up, and then be untamed in their presence when they're sharing the work of art that they've brought.

Brian 46:14

So it's the the the the you the way you solve for the chaos, the way you solve for the uncertainty, the way you become part of the solution that you long for as a leader and as a person is by becoming more of your radiant self.

Lauri 46:29

Yes.

Brian 46:29

And and and letting that light shine brighter. Uh that's yeah, yes, please. And and Lori, I think. That's a great place to leave it. Lose, ladies and gentlemen, this has been uh the Untamed Leader podcast. Uh, and now and if there's anything there's nothing else you'd like to add, I really do think that's a great place to leave.

Lauri 46:47

Yeah, I think so too. Wait, so both of us are pretty good at feeling arcs, which certain artists are born with, um, or learned or untamed. I don't know. Uh, the only other thing that I want to say, which I started doing really well in season two, and I want to stick to, is if this conversation struck you, if you loved it, if it made you think of a friend, do all the things like review the show, rate the show, share the show with the friend that it made you think of, so that we can amplify the pulse of this for the people that are out there looking for it. And I'll see you back here next time.

Brian 47:27

Thank you, Lori. This has been a real privilege. Thanks for letting me uh get to mine your untamed leadership a bit and uh and get to share that more with the listeners before you start mining other people's hearts and souls.

Lauri 47:40

Thank you. Thank you very much.