What Is a Self-Aware Leader? How to Stop Reacting and Lead Clearly
The Self Aware Leader with Jason Rigby
Release Date: 04/24/2026
Your Higher Self Isn't a Goal. It's a Direction.
The Self Aware Leader with Jason Rigby
You've already met the version of yourself you're trying to become. The conversation where you stopped managing yourself and just told the truth. The decision that cost you something but felt clean all the way down. The morning where nobody needed anything from you and for an hour you were completely, unmistakably yourself. That wasn't a fluke. That was the signal. In this episode, Jason digs into one of the most misunderstood concepts in personal development — the higher self — and strips away the woo-woo to get to what it actually means and how to practically use it. What you'll...
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What Is a Self-Aware Leader? How to Stop Reacting and Lead Clearly
The Self Aware Leader with Jason Rigby
Self-awareness is not thinking about yourself all day. It is the ability to notice what is happening inside you before it leaks into your leadership. In this episode of The Self Aware Leader, Jason Rigby breaks down what self-aware leadership actually means in real life: the meeting where your tone changes, the feedback you do not want to hear, the hard conversation you keep avoiding, the moment your ego gets hit, and the pattern your team has quietly learned to manage around. This episode explores why self-awareness is one of the most practical leadership skills you can build. Not as theory....
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You're Not Leading, You're People-Pleasing: What Every New Manager Gets Wrong
The Self Aware Leader with Jason Rigby
You got promoted. You promised yourself you'd be different — the approachable boss, the one people actually want to work for. But six months in, your team likes you and doesn't respect you. You can feel it. You just don't want to say it out loud yet. This episode breaks down the people-pleasing trap that quietly destroys new managers. Jason Rigby explains why what feels like empathy is actually conflict avoidance — and why your "niceness" is costing you your best people. You'll learn: • The difference between being kind and avoiding conflict as a first-time manager • Why your...
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Harvard Research Found That AI Made Leaders More Confident — And More Wrong
The Self Aware Leader with Jason Rigby
Harvard Business Review ran a study where executives used ChatGPT to make predictions. They came out more confident, more optimistic — and significantly more wrong than the group that just talked to each other. That's the problem this episode is about. Most leaders are using AI as a validation machine — not a thinking tool. And there's a reason for it. Research shows that over 58% of AI interactions are sycophantic. The model is trained to agree with you, validate your framing, and give your existing conclusion better vocabulary. The more convinced you are that you're right, the more AI...
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Why Leaders Can't Think Anymore (And What's Actually Causing It)
The Self Aware Leader with Jason Rigby
You already know you're too reactive. You just haven't named what's causing it. The average leader gets hit with a notification every two minutes during core work hours. That's 275 interruptions a day. Each one fires a cortisol stress response that takes 23 minutes to fully recover from. And the reflex to check — the phone grab, the inbox flip, the Slack tab — is driven by the same dopamine loop that keeps teenagers scrolling TikTok for hours. Different content. Identical mechanism. Identical cost to your leadership. In this episode, Jason Rigby breaks down what chronic digital noise...
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Why Your Trauma Is Your Leadership Superpower: Expert Reveals How
The Self Aware Leader with Jason Rigby
How Childhood Trauma Secretly Fuels Your Success… and How to Turn It Into Real Power (with Michael Shaw) Most high-achieving leaders are running on hidden trauma. It drives them to win — but it also burns them out, leaves them empty, and creates a “hero complex” that keeps them addicted to saving everyone. In this raw episode, Michael Shaw (founder of Mastery Mindset Library) reveals how he survived a violent childhood and his father’s suicide, then spent 30 years turning that pain into a repeatable system that top entrepreneurs and executives now use to build unbreakable emotional...
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Why Economic Policy Destroys Leadership Wealth | $15B Bay Street Insider Reveals All
The Self Aware Leader with Jason Rigby
Most leaders think they’re building wealth. Bay Street veteran Paul Musson says the system is quietly stealing it from them—and from future generations. After managing over $15 billion for one of Canada’s largest investment firms, Paul pulls back the curtain on how central banks, housing policy, and inflation create fake prosperity, immoral wealth transfers, and a rigged game for emerging leaders. In this episode, we unpack the core ideas from his book “Capital Offence: Why Some Benefit at Your Expense” and translate them into practical leadership and investment wisdom you can use...
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How This Introvert Generated $600 Million in Sales | Leadership Secrets Every Entrepreneur Needs
The Self Aware Leader with Jason Rigby
What if everything you’ve been told about sales and leadership is backwards? In this conversation, Jason sits down with Luis Baez – a quiet Puerto Rican introvert from the Bronx who generated over $600 million in sales at Google, LinkedIn, Uber, and Tesla… not by being the loudest person in the room, but by doing the opposite of what most sales gurus teach. Luis shares how he turned his “otherness” into a competitive advantage, built deep trust with clients by asking one simple question – “How badly does that hurt?” – and eventually designed a business that earns 7-figures...
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"I Climbed The Ladder On The Wrong Building": The Executive Who Lost His Soul (And How He Found It Again)
The Self Aware Leader with Jason Rigby
Former top creative executive Rafael McMaster had everything the corporate world promised: A-list celebrity clients, global brand campaigns, and the pinnacle of success. Yet, he describes feeling "emotionally bankrupt." His journey from climbing the wrong ladder to building a mission to empower 1 million conscious youth is the ultimate lesson in turning pain into profound, purpose-driven leadership. In this deep conversation, we explore the inner alchemy required to bridge the gap between external achievement and internal fulfillment, offering a roadmap for any leader, entrepreneur, or trader...
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What 87% of Leaders Get Wrong About Self-Awareness | Cultural Humility & Emotional Intelligence with Dr. Joel Pérez | Leadership Development for Managers & Executives
The Self Aware Leader with Jason Rigby
Most leaders think they're self-aware—but 87% are missing the critical skill that separates good leaders from exceptional ones. Dr. Joel Pérez, leadership development expert and author of "Dear White Leader," reveals how cultural humility and true self-awareness transform your leadership effectiveness. 🎯 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - The listening test that immediately improves team dynamics and communication (11:00) - How to recognize unconscious biases without guilt or defensiveness (15:30) - Earned vs. unearned privilege: why every leader needs to understand this (32:00) - The authenticity...
info_outlineSelf-awareness is not thinking about yourself all day. It is the ability to notice what is happening inside you before it leaks into your leadership.
In this episode of The Self Aware Leader, Jason Rigby breaks down what self-aware leadership actually means in real life: the meeting where your tone changes, the feedback you do not want to hear, the hard conversation you keep avoiding, the moment your ego gets hit, and the pattern your team has quietly learned to manage around.
This episode explores why self-awareness is one of the most practical leadership skills you can build. Not as theory. Not as vague emotional intelligence. As a daily practice for leading with more clarity, honesty, humility, and strength under pressure.
You’ll learn:
What a self-aware leader actually is
Why your intention and your impact are not the same thing
How defensiveness, people-pleasing, control, and avoidance leak into leadership
Why “why am I like this?” often keeps leaders stuck
The better question to ask when you get triggered
A simple daily practice: catch the signal, name the pattern, choose the cleaner move
If you lead people, your inner life does not stay private. It becomes culture. It becomes tone. It becomes trust or tension.
The question is not whether you have patterns.
The question is whether you can see them before everyone else has to manage them.
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