Leading After the Fall: Trauma-Informed Leadership
In conference rooms where decisions get made, the topic of trauma rarely arises. But it’s there—echoing in the silences, shaping our responses, and quietly influencing everything from risk tolerance to trust, communication, and power dynamics.
As my wonderful friend Amy Elizabeth Fox said on the March 19, 2025 episode of Shobukai Shift:
“If we don't help receive them, hold them, nurture them and care for what scares them, they will continue to make unconscious and dysfunctional and destructive behaviors and choices. And we can see that on the world stage quite grandly and painfully at the moment.”
Said another way: go search LinkedIn content and replace the word “culture” with “trauma.” They are inexorably entwined.
The Link Between Trauma and Leadership
This week, I’ll be releasing one of the most powerful episodes of Shobukai Shift yet—my conversation with Jerome Elam, a survivor of child sex trafficking turned global anti-trafficking leader.
His story is one of unimaginable pain—and unimaginable courage. Preparing for the episode left me thinking deeply about:
what it means to lead after trauma
how to lead others who carry it and
how to transmute deep personal pain into meaning, action, and a life of purpose
On Buzzwords
I don't remember when exactly it happened—but suddenly the term “trauma-informed” jumped from education and healthcare into the corporate sphere.
Scroll LinkedIn and you'll find it everywhere. Well... in marketing—not always in practice.
As a former corporate executive, trauma-informed coach, and yes, trauma survivor, I can tell you:
We still have a lot of work to do. And the world we’re living in today? It's telling us—urgently—that we can’t wait.
What Is Trauma-Informed Leadership?
Trauma-informed leadership doesn’t mean becoming a therapist. It means understanding that:
People’s reactions may be rooted in their nervous systems—not their character.
Power dynamics can retraumatize—or heal.
Trust is built through consistency, transparency, and agency—not performative empathy.
But it also means turning the lens inward.
What Unprocessed Trauma in Leadership Looks Like...
Micromanagement.
Unconscious bias.
Avoidance.
Perfectionism.
Emotional detachment.
Backstabbing.
Desperately seeking external validation.
Left unchecked, this trauma gets hired. Promoted. It clusters. And it corrodes.
Shadow Integration and Self-in-Action
In my Being–Becoming™ and Embodied Executive™ coaching programs, two core phases address this:
Shadow Integration
Where leaders face the exiled parts of themselves—shame, grief, rage, fear, and the inner child that did what they had to do to survive.
Left unacknowledged, these parts act out in leadership. Integrated? They become sources of wisdom and empathy.
Self-in-Action
This is where values, trauma insight, and strategic clarity converge. It’s not just managing change—it’s modeling transformation.
These leaders alchemize trauma into purpose. They become what they once needed. They lead from lived truth—and in doing so, they lead others to theirs.
The Future Belongs to the Trauma-Informed
The leaders of the next decade won’t be the ones hustling the hardest. They’ll be the ones doing the hardest work of all:
Understanding themselves.
Holding space for others.
Choosing clarity, care, and integrity—over control, convenience, or collapse.
We are living in a time of great unraveling—and great becoming. Are you ready for the journey?
Because trauma doesn’t leave when we enter the workplace. And if we want our organizations to evolve, we must evolve too.
🔔Coming Wednesday on the Shobukai Shift podcast🔔
Join me for a raw and courageous conversation with Jerome Elam—President and CEO of the Trafficking in America Task Force, U.S. Marine veteran, global advocate—and child trafficking survivor.
His story is not just one of survival—but of radical leadership born through trauma.
You’ll walk away changed.
