Self-awareness is often listed as a core leadership skill — but how many leaders truly understand what it involves, and how many are unintentionally overestimating it?

In this episode of Influence & Impact, I am joined by Dr Julia Carden, former Royal Navy officer, leadership coach, and author of You Are Not As Self-Aware As You Think You Are. Drawing on her PhD research and years of coaching senior leaders, Julia shares why self-awareness is harder — and more confronting — than most people expect.

Together, we explore how self-awareness goes far beyond surface-level feedback, why it’s essential for healthy team dynamics, and how leaders can start uncovering their blind spots without becoming defensive.

In this episode, we cover:

1. Why self-awareness is often a blind spot for leaders
2. The moment you say “I’m very self-aware” — and why that’s a warning sign
3. How a lack of self-awareness shows up as team tension, conflict, and disengagement
4. Julia’s practical definition of self-awareness using interpersonal and intrapersonal “ingredients”
5. Why feedback can feel threatening — and how to work with it constructively
6. How leaders can build self-awareness without a coach or 360-degree feedback
7. The role of beliefs, values, emotions, and even physiological responses in leadership behaviour
8. Why the people who irritate us most can be powerful mirrors
9. Simple reflective practices that highly self-aware leaders use consistently
10. The one question leaders can ask themselves daily to deepen self-awareness
11. How greater self-awareness can lead to more compassion, acceptance, and connection at work

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder.

Work with Carla:

1. 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery call

About Dr Julia Carden PhD MSc PCC FCIPD

Julia was born and raised in Cornwall and “made in the Royal Navy” and now lives in Hampshire. She has been and continues to be on a lifelong journey in developing her own self-awareness. She works as a relational coach and coach supervisor practitioner, with an academic underpinning. Her work focuses on working with the whole person (both individuals and teams) to expand and deepen self-awareness, so that individuals can connect deeply with others and develop the capacity to sit with uncertainty. Julia has a deep interest in...

Many people find themselves in roles that look great on paper but feel misaligned or unfulfilling in reality. In this week’s episode I’m joined by Angela Rixon, founder of The Centre for Meaningful Work and author of Meaning Over Purpose to explore what meaningful work really is, why so many of us lack it, and how both individuals and leaders can create more meaning at work day-to-day.

Angela shares the five pillars of meaningful work—from autonomy to impact—and we dive into simple, practical steps you can take if you’ve fallen out of love with your role. We also look at the powerful role managers play in helping others find meaning, and how meaning can protect us from burnout when it’s balanced in a healthy way.

We talk about:

• What meaning is and how it differs from purpose

• The five pillars of meaningful work

• Practical ways to create more meaning in your current role

• How leaders can build meaning within their teams

• Why meaning boosts engagement—and how it can sometimes lead to burnout

• A powerful real-life example of how autonomy transformed performance

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder.

Work with Carla:

1. 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery call

About Angela Rixon

Angela Rixon is an award-winning leadership strategist, executive coach, and culture-transformation specialist with over 25 years’ experience spanning technology, professional services, and financial sectors. A former Partner at EY and Director at CGI and Mercer, she is recognised internationally for pioneering research and frameworks that close the Purpose-to-Meaning Gap™ enabling organisations to embed meaning into leadership, culture, and performance.

As Founder and CEO of The Centre for Meaningful Work Ltd, Angela helps CEOs and executive teams design human-centred cultures that perform. Her Amazon-bestselling book Meaning Over Purpose: The CEO’s Strategic Blueprint for Growth and Lasting Engagement (2025) combines behavioural science and applied positive psychology to redefine how leaders drive growth through meaning.

Angela’s work blends corporate rigour with psychological depth. An accredited executive coach (MSc, Distinction) and Fellow of the CIPD, she integrates Transactional Analysis, Adaptive Leadership, and Systems Thinking to help leaders achieve measurable business results while fostering inclusion, wellbeing, and authenticity. Clients describe her approach as “supportive, challenging, and transformative.”

A regular keynote speaker on meaningful work, inclusion, and the future of leadership, Angela is the creator of the Lead with Meaning™, Own Your Meaning™, and Meaning Metrics™ frameworks.

She lives in London with her partner Tony and believes that when work works for people, people work better, and organisations thrive.

Email: angela@angelarixon.com

Website: thecentreformeaningfulwork.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/angelarixon

📢 If This...

Psychological safety is the foundation of every high-performing team—yet many leaders unintentionally undermine it without realising. This week my Impactful Teams Co-Founder Lara Cullen and I explore psychological safety, why comfort isn’t the goal, and the small (but powerful) leadership behaviours that create a culture where people feel safe to contribute, challenge and innovate.

💡 We talk about:

• What psychological safety really means
• The difference between psychological safety and trust
• Why mistakes aren’t a bad thing
• What destroys psychological safety
• Why comfort isn’t the goal

This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder.

Work with us:

• Impactful Teams Scorecard – It takes just 2 minutes to discover where your team is strong and where you might want to focus next. You’ll get personalised results—and for a limited time, you can also book a free 30-minute call to talk through them.
• Visit our new Impactful Teams website

Work with Carla:

• 1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery call

📢 If This Resonated…

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