064: Heal to Lead with Kelly Campbell

Evolve: A New Era of Leadership

In this episode, I’m joined by Kelly L. Campbell, a pioneer in trauma-informed leadership and the author of the revolutionary book, "Heal to Lead." We discuss how addressing trauma can fundamentally transform leadership styles, promoting environments of trust, psychological safety, and true connectivity within organizations. Kelly shares their journey from founding a cause marketing agency to writing her book, driven by their desire to revolutionize leadership through trauma healing.

The episode delves into the concept of trauma-informed leadership, the significance of understanding one's trauma, the negative impact of neglecting this aspect, and how leaders can foster psychologically safe environments that encourage vulnerability, resilience, and collective growth. Kelly details her experiences and the influences that shaped her views on leadership and organizational culture.

Kelly L. Campbell (they/she) inspires revelation and responsibility in leaders across the globe. As a trauma-informed leadership coach, speaker, facilitator, writer, and author, they empower self-aware visionaries to correlate their past wounds to their leadership style, transforming the way they lead, live, and love. Her debut book, Heal to Lead: Revolutionizing Leadership through Trauma Healing (Wiley) will be released in April 2024.

They write for Entrepreneur, have written for Forbes, and offer exclusive content to their Substack community, “The New TLC: Trauma, Leadership, and Consciousness.” Early in their career, Kelly was the founder and CEO of a cause marketing agency and sold it in 2016, which led her to advise Fortune 50 corporations, nonprofits, government organizations, and marketing and advertising agencies. They have hosted two top-rated podcasts since 2006—one on holistic health and wellness and the other on conscious leadership for marketing and advertising agency leaders.

A longtime conservationist, Kelly was trained by Al Gore as a Climate Reality Leader in 2017. Most recently, they became certified as a Reiki Level III Practitioner. Kelly’s vision is to empower more than half of humanity to heal its childhood trauma so that we may reimagine and rebuild the world together.

🔑 Key Themes & Takeaways:

• Trauma-Informed Leadership: An exploration of how understanding and integrating trauma can fundamentally enhance leadership effectiveness, as demonstrated through Kelly’s insights and her book, "Heal to Lead." 🌍

• Healing and Leading: Discussion on why leaders must start with healing themselves to effectively lead others, highlighting the impact of personal trauma work on leadership styles and organizational health. 🏢

• Personal Stories and Professional Insights: Kelly shares her transition from a cause marketing CEO to a trauma-informed leadership coach, illustrating the deep interconnections between personal healing and professional leadership. 🛤️

• Impact of Neglecting Trauma: Kelly and I discuss the detrimental effects of ignoring personal trauma and how leaders can overcome these challenges to foster a healthier work environment. 🌱

• Creating Psychological Safety: Strategies for leaders to create environments that encourage vulnerability, support personal growth, and ensure psychological safety in the workplace. 🔋

We talk about:

• 00:00 Intro

• 04:09 Why people need to read Heal to Lead, even if you’re ‘doing the work’

• 06:13 What makes healing more inviting or necessary

• 09:29 Ego showing up in different ways, including being a people pleaser

• 13:07 Personality assessments that can help tell us what style leadership we have

• 14:50 Where do we direct people who want to learn more about themselves and their patterns, if not these tools

• 19:43 Not looking to fix people but inviting them to find out who they are, the benefits of coaching versus therapy

• 21:26 Four fundamentals of high conscious leadership

• 25:04 Embodiment and holding space

• 34:26 How do we prepare our bodies, minds, etc. to lead with compassion

• 40:16 Boundaries to avoid burnout

• 41:26 Lighting the way

• 44:54 Do you need to be in a place of self-actualization in order to come back to the collective wisdom?

• 49:12 TLC community

• 50:59 Rapid fire questions

🌈 Closing Thoughts:

This episode with Kelly Campbell delves deeply into the necessity of trauma-informed practices in leadership. By integrating personal healing and understanding into daily leadership roles, leaders can cultivate environments that promote trust, safety, and resilience. We encourage you to reflect on how these practices can be integrated into your leadership to enhance both personal well-being and organizational success.

Feel free to share your thoughts or experiences about adopting trauma-informed leadership practices on our social media channels.

#TraumaInformedLeadership #PsychologicalSafety #LeadershipDevelopment #PersonalGrowth #OrganizationalHealth

Connect with Kelly

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelly.l.campbell

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellylcampbell/

• Book Pre-Order: https://klcampbell.com/heal-to-lead-book/

• Website: https://klcampbell.com/

• Substack: https://kellylcampbell.substack.com/

• Leadership Quiz: https://klcampbell.com/leadership/

• Healing Resources: https://myhealingmenu.com

Connect with me

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolynswora/

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/

• Twitter: ​​https://twitter.com/CarolynSwora

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolynsworkplaceculture/

• Website: https://www.carolynswora.com/

• Contact: [e-mail]