Stephanie Pollock on Muck Rack

Stephanie Pollock

Calgary
As seen in: Medium
Leadership Coach for progressive, purpose-driven women | Top 40 YYC |
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work. Claim your profile
Back to Stephanie Pollock’s profile

Articles by Stephanie Pollock

What's obvious to you

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
*Prefer to listen to me read this post? Click below. Hello Captain Obvious Four years. Or maybe longer because to be honest, I’ve lost track. Let’s just go with four years. That’s how long I’ve been using Notion to power my…well, everything. Now before you non-Notion users delete this message, I promise it’s not really about Notion. Notion plays a secondary role in my repeat performance of, “Captain Obvious, starring Steph.” You see, the minute I started using Notion, I knew I had found MY system.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

#104 - Nekolina Lau Gives a Leg Up

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
by Stephanie | Everyday Leadership for Smart Women podcast “It’s not about my ambition for my team members; it’s about me supporting them with theirs.” Nekolina is the manager any employee would love to have. As the Director of Communications for ATB Financial, Nekolina leads a team of 10. Unlike many managers who get promoted based on their technical skills, but struggle with leading people, Nekolina has made it her life’s work to be an empathetic, people leader.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Your anger is a guidepost

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
For most women, anger isn’t an emotion we’re particularly comfortable with. Many of us were raised to believe that women should be kind, quiet and acquiesce to the needs of others. And when we did show anger or frustration, we were often told to calm down, relax or to stop being so difficult. Good girls don’t get mad or loud, remember? As a result, anger can feel like a foreign emotion that we don’t entirely recognize when it starts to bubble up inside us.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Celebrating 100 episodes, a name change & what's ahead

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
We’re celebrating 100 episodes! It’s a big day over here as we celebrate our 100th episode. It’s been a a winding road to get here, but I’m proud that we’re still going strong considering most podcasts fade after 7-10 episodes. Thank you to everyone who’s been with me since the beginning, and everyone who has joined along the way. This show originated back in 2014, as a place to have practical, actionable conversations about entrepreneurship and leadership.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

We need a different definition of leadership.

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
Prefer to listen to me share this essay? You can press play below. We don’t have to look far to see examples of bad leadership. The pandemic, if nothing else, has been a wake-up call for many of us that the people in charge – in what we have historically deemed leadership roles – aren’t at best, the right people for the job and at worst, are actively creating more harm, distrust and damage.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

The invisible is important

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery “Who knows where it will go or what will happen.” Those were (roughly) the words a friend said to me yesterday about an incredible opportunity that had recently landed in her lap.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Join the Leadership Reset

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
Hi! Welcome to the Leadership Reset. I'm Stephanie Pollock. I've run a successful leadership coaching business for almost 15 years and before that served in leadership roles in both the corporate and non-profit sector. I've been recognized as a Top 40 Under 40, am a published author, and I'm a professionally trained coach. By day, I'm a podcaster, writer, community builder and the founder of LEAD.Well, a community of practice for women looking to be better, braver leaders.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Communicate Like a PRO

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| gumroad.com
Done-for-you scripts for busy leaders. How to have the hard conversations with grace and ease It's hard to find the right words to have a hard conversation. Whether that's saying no to someone's request, dealing with a client concern, braving a big ask or navigating a tricky conversation with a team member, knowing what to say and how to say it is half the battle.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Two ways we experience discomfort and how it impacts our leadership

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
“Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn’t it? If you’re comfortable while you’re doing it, you’re probably doing it wrong.” ~Ted Lasso One of the most profoundly challenging parts of parenting is holding the tension between wanting to keep your kids safe (physically, but also emotionally, mentally and socially) and wanting them to challenge themselves to build confidence and resilience.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

How to be a leader worth following

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
I’ve been thinking about that question a lot lately as I watch many leaders bumble and stumble and others shine and delight the people who look to them for direction. With a federal election here in Canada now a few weeks past, and a municipal election in less than two weeks, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to get a close-up view of leadership in action. Social media, naturally, also offers in-the-moment commentary to help make sense (or sometimes confuse) what’s happening and what’s at stake.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Leader Spotlight: Kourtney Branagan's Run for Office

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
by Stephanie | Rise without Compromise Podcast On this episode of the podcast, I’m bringing you a thoughtful conversation with my friend and client, Kourtney Branagan- a leader, a mother, a community builder and a current candidate for municipal office. Kourtney is a candidate for Ward 11 here in Calgary, Alberta in our upcoming municipal election on October 18, 2021. She’s smart, funny, engaging and wholeheartedly committed to making the city better.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

For the exhausted.

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
Hello friend. Today I want to acknowledge anyone reading this who’s feeling exhausted, depleted or just plain tired. I know that’s not all of you – and for those of you with a pep in your step or for whom your geographic location is currently experiencing minor COVID impacts – skip this section and move down to the links. I don’t want to put a damper on your good, productive vibes, as I know they’re hard to come by these days. 😉 But I also know that many of you are just so very done.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Basecamp, Rachel Hollis, Human-Centered Leadership, and Vulnerability Hangovers

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
“Am I sharing too much? Am I being too vulnerable?” These were the questions I voxed a couple of close friends this week. I was having a vulnerability hangover of some description, and I started to question whether my content, specifically these Leadership Letters, was running a little too close to the vest.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Are you over-connected, but under-nourished? Me too.

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
Over-connected, under-nourished Many years ago, a group of friends and colleagues gathered together at a local coffee shop to talk shop. We had set up a regular cadence of every two weeks, and we’d use each gathering to share ideas, brainstorm challenges and make connections for each other around our businesses. I loved those meetings and always left feeling inspired and ready to take on the world.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Ambition? Meet reality.

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
It’s been my experience that when one person shares a challenge they’re facing, five more will follow in short succession to share the same challenge. Nobody knows of the other person’s struggle, and inevitably, each person feels like they’re all alone in it. What I know for sure, is that they never are. Over the past few weeks, the pattern that’s emerged again and again is this: How do I manage the tension between my ambitions and my reality?
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

A leader in every chair

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
“Steph, listen – sometimes you just have to fly it up the flagpole, alright?” These words came from a vice president at the non-profit I was working for at the time. My direct boss, along with my co-worker and I were sitting in a tiny meeting room, advising this VP as to some communications decisions we’d made and moved forward with. He was not pleased. In his mind, we had broken the chain of command and overstepped our bounds by making this decision without his input.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Ditch your to-do list in favour of this instead

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
Less just maybe is more Yesterday, a group of LEAD.Well members and I gathered for a Leader Roundtable to discuss this month’s theme of Nourish. Within a few minutes, heads were nodding along as one member said a version of, “The challenge I’m having with the idea of nourish is that I can’t add another to do to my list.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

"Adaptability is the simple secret of survival."

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
“Adaptability is the simple secret of survival.” ~Jessica Hagedorn It’s been too long my friends! How are you? I’m writing this to you on day four of my kids being back at school after close to a year of online learning. I’ll save you the details, but it has been HARD five months and I’m so grateful (nervous) they are back. And, we’re now adjusting to the mid-year return-to-school, which has felt a bit bumpy for everyone as we all adapt to this new way.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Why bum-in-chair time is overrated.

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
Before we begin, I’d love to invite you inside LEAD.Well – a community of smart, thoughtful leaders. If you love my Leadership Letters, LEAD.Well offers you deeper analysis, behind-the-scenes insights, a private podcast feed, monthly events and a growing Leadership Resource Hub filled with my best tools and recommendations. For the month of October, save 20% using the code FALL20 at checkout. Learn more and join us here.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

What a week.

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
What a week. I write this to you after wrapping up our first full week of online learning. I’m exhausted. I’m frayed. I’m thrilled tomorrow is a PD day even though they’ve barely started school. We chose this path to be sure, and I don’t regret it. But that doesn’t mean, nor does it minimize, how very hard it is. Since Monday, I’ve navigated 25 tech challenges while listening in to a gaggle of fifth graders interrupt the teacher to talk about Roblox.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

What do I think about that?

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
*Before we begin, may I take a moment to acknowledge the injustice and hardship this past week has brought including the horrifying shooting of Jacob Blake (and lack of accountability thus far for the officer who shot him) and ensuing protests that have left two dead, the wildfires in California and Hurricane Laura in Louisiana. And this amongst a pandemic, a fraught back-to-school season and a high-stakes election ahead. My heart has been heavy this week. What do I think about that?
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Decision fatigue is real. And I have it.

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
I feel compelled to always offer the caveat that in the grand scheme of things, these are privileged problems to have. My kids can stay home from school and while it will be hard, we will manage just fine. Worrying about whether to make a decent meal or to tell my family to FFY (fend for yourself) is not a high-stakes decision. I get that. And yet, there are so many more decisions to make these days, and while some are relatively inconsequential and simply annoying, others are heavy and hard.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

I'm not made for this.

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
Welcome to a slightly refreshed Leadership Letters! Tomorrow I’ll be celebrating my 43rd birthday. It’s a pretty anti-climatic one, given that it’s neither a milestone birthday nor one I can celebrate in ways I typically would. And that’s fine with me. As is custom, I’m spending time thinking about what I want to create over the year ahead. I’m not naive enough to fully plan it all out – if this pandemic has taught me nothing else, it’s the importance of holding our plans loosely.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

The work is ours to do

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
The Occupation I will tell you how it was the world changed, she said — and darkness wrapped us round. I heard her clearly, though I barely heard the words. It was nearly — yes — as if she were singing. Our job, she was saying, is not to change the world — nor even to keep it from changing. No, she was saying (the story was over already): our only job is being changed. –Robert Bringhurst, From Selected Poems, Copper Canyon Press, 2012.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Being together, but apart

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
“Gathering matters because it is through each other that we figure out what we believe.” ~Priya Parker When I decided to add more community elements to the next iteration of LEAD.Well, I did so both because members were asking for them and also because the pandemic brought to light just how vital connection is for our own well-being and happiness.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

good things take more time than we'd like

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
by Stephanie | Leadership, Rise without Compromise Podcast Yes I’m an overnight success, just 11 years in the making. ~Chris Brogan, author and speaker My husband and I were watching TV last week after a very long day. As I searched the PVR for something to watch, I saw that Modern Family had just started taping. Awesome I thought, we love this show. And so I hit play.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

A bit of a hodgepodge + 3 reminders

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
by Stephanie | Rise without Compromise Podcast A bird sitting in a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because its trust is not in the branch but in its wings. ~Unknown Spring has sprung, quarter two is ahead of us and I’m taking a moment to pause, catch my breath and regroup. In reality, that’s meant putting a few exciting opportunities on the backburner and easing up my work processes a bit. I’m not always good at parking projects – I want to do them all right now, thank you very much.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

7 ways to love your work again

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
Love your work, then you will find pleasure in mastering it. ~H. Jackson Brown Jr. Happy Valentine’s Day! 💗 Today I wanted to use Valentine’s Day as a jumping off point to talk about ways you can love your work again – whether that’s your professional career or your business. And given that today is my 70th episode, I’ve come up with seven specific strategies you can try to get there. It may be Valentine’s Day, but it’s also mid-February.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Why I love getting up at 4:30am every day

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
by Stephanie | Leadership, Rise without Compromise Podcast With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. ~Eleanor Roosevelt Rise and shine Ever since I began my (very) early morning routine some nine months ago, I’ve received a lot of questions about it. Some people look at me, mouth agape wondering what on earth I’m thinking of waking up before the sun. Others are curious, questioning if they too could rise in the wee hours to make time for themselves.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

what's the best way forward? -

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
by Stephanie | Leadership, Rise without Compromise Podcast May all that is unforgiven in you Be released. May your fears yield Their deepest tranquilities. May all that is unlived in you Blossom into a future Graced with love. *Blessing by John O’Donohue Hello and welcome back! It’s been a while and I’m happy to be back in your earbuds. First, let me wish you a very Happy New Year.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Our Voices Matter. Let's Use Them More.

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
Today we’re continuing with our Amplify Your Voice series. If you haven’t listened to last week’s episode with Nikki Groom, I highly encourage you to go check that out. I want to pick up where Nikki and I left off. Using our voices has been on my mind a lot lately, particularly in the wake our current political and cultural climate right now. Last week I had a great conversation with a potential client about where she’s headed in the next few years.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Be Seen, Be Heard with Nikki Groom

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
Today I’m happy to have storyteller and entrepreneurial rockstar, Nikki Groom on the podcast to kick-off a series of episodes around amplifying our voices. Now, more than ever, we need more women speaking up, sharing their ideas and being change agents for good. And that’s where Nikki comes in. We talk about why speaking it up is so important and what gets in the way of us using our voice and showing up.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Do we have the wrong idea about building confidence?

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| Medium
I fear we often get this backward. We want to feel confident *before* we make the big ask or take on the game-changing project or put ourselves out into the world or declare our desires.⠀ What I’ve learned along my own journey and being witness to the women (and a few brave men) I’ve worked with over the years, is that when we’re pushing our own growth edges, we rarely feel confident.⠀ Scratch that.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Where to focus (when you don't know where to focus) -

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
It’s not that you don’t want to be focused. You get how staying focused on what matters most is crucial it is to the growth and development of your business. You’ve probably tried a number of strategies to get yourself more focused. Perhaps you’ve set a timer while you work. Maybe you’ve turned off all social media distractions on occasion. You may have even buddied up with a fellow entrepreneurial friend to keep yourself accountable. And yet, you find yourself wandering.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

What season of business are you in? (and why it matters)

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
“We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are. They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives.” ~Gary Zukav For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, spring has officially sprung. And while signs of life and growth are everywhere in the natural world, we may not be experiencing the same signals in our own businesses.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

BPP #003: The advice that changed my life

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
by Stephanie | Leadership, Rise without Compromise Podcast In today’s episode I’m sharing the advice that changed my life. I’m going to take you back in time to my corporate days when my friend and mentor, Narmin Ismail-Teja looked me straight in the eyes and gave me advice that I still remember (and try to use) almost 10 years later. Hint: if you’re a Type-A overachiever like me, this episode is for you.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Book Review: 52 Ways to Live a Kick-Ass Life

|
By Stephanie Pollock
| stephaniepollock.com
I’m very excited to let you know about a great new book that I’d highly encourage you read. It was written by my friend, Going PRO magazine contributor, fellow coach and all-around highly awesome woman – Andrea Owen. The book, 52 Ways to Live a Kick-Ass Life, is a manifesto for women looking to move beyond the negative self-talk and finally live the life they deserve.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

3 Big Brand Fears + How to Conquer Them by Stephanie Pollock

|
By Stephanie Pollock, Melissa Stewart
| ssheownsit.com
by Stephanie Pollock | Featured Contributor “I’m scared to put myself out there.” This is one of the most common statements I hear from clients. They want the success, but yet the idea of fully exposing themselves to the world leaves them feeling a wee bit leery. So they continue to straddle success – one foot in, one foot out. And the deep, rich success that they want in their core continues to elude them. There’s no doubt that really putting yourself out there can be nerve-wracking.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?
Show More
 •  Privacy  •  Terms  •  Security and Legal  •   •   •   • 

© 2026 Muck Rack

SOC 2® Certified