Introductory Episode and Positionality Statement

Transcript: Intro Episode

This is the Feeling Leader Podcast with Kristen De Long, Doctoral Candidate and Licensed Master Clinical Social Worker. The information shared in this podcast is not a replacement for therapy or support from a mental health provider. 

And now, here's your host, Kristen DeLong, DSW-C, LMSW-C

My name is Kristen, and I am your host. I am really glad you're here. This podcast is a space where we explore leadership through a slightly different lens, one that centers relationships, nervous systems, and the emotional climates that leaders help create around them. While these conversations are relevant in many kinds of organizations, this podcast is especially rooted in social work, nonprofit, and other human-serving leadership spaces, where the work we do is deeply relational and often emotionally demanding.

In many leadership conversations, we talk about strategy, performance, and outcomes. And those things matter, but what we talk about far less often is what is happening beneath the surface, how safety, stress, belonging, and emotional regulation shape the way people show up in organizations. In human serving spaces especially, leadership doesn't just influence productivity or performance, it shapes the relational environments where people care for others, navigate complex social systems, and try to do meaningful work under real constraints.

This podcast explores leadership through neuroscience, relational safety, psychological safety, and social context, with a focus on understanding how leadership environments shape people's sense of safety, connection, and possibility within the systems where they work. This podcast is also connected to a larger project I've been developing as part of my doctoral work. I'm currently completing my Doctor of Social Work, and this podcast serves as the capstone deliverable for that degree. The goal of the project is to translate interdisciplinary research from neuroscience, social work, and leadership studies into conversations that are accessible and relevant for people working in social work, nonprofit, and other human-serving leadership roles.

Over the past several years, I've become increasingly interested in how leadership environments shape people's nervous systems. Research across neuroscience, psychology, and organizational studies show that human brains are constantly scanning the environments around them for cues of safety or threat. And leadership plays a powerful role in shaping those environments. Leaders influence whether people experience belonging, fairness, trust, and psychological safety, or whether they remain in states of stress, vigilance, and burnout. In sectors like social work and nonprofit organizations, those dynamics matter deeply because the emotional environments leaders create don't just affect staff, they also shape the quality of care and support that communities ultimately receive.

One of the reasons I chose a podcast format for this project is because it offers a more accessible and less hierarchical way of sharing leadership knowledge. In social work, nonprofit, and other human-serving organizations, leadership development opportunities are not always easy to access. Many trainings require significant time, funding, or organizational support that simply isn't always available in sectors that are already stretched thin. Leadership learning can also happen in spaces that feel very formal, exclusive, or somewhat removed from the everyday realities of human-serving work. A podcast creates a different kind of learning environment. It allows ideas to move freely between research, practice, and lived experience, and it creates a space for learning that feels more collaborative and reflective rather than top-down. This podcast is my attempt to create a space where conversations about leadership can be more open, accessible, and grounded in the real experiences of people working in social work and human-serving organizations.

Before we go any further, I want to take a moment to situate myself in this work. In social work and many research spaces, we often talk about positionality. The idea that who we are, where we come from, and the identities that we hold shape the lens through which we see the world. I believe that's just as important in leadership conversations as it is in academic ones. So I want to begin by sharing a little about myself and who I am and the perspective I bring to this podcast. This is my positionality statement.

As your host, I want to take a moment to share a little about who I am, how I locate myself in this work, and the lens I bring into these conversations. I am a clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and what I often describe as a feeling leader. And I am currently completing my Doctor of Social Work. I identify as white, heterosexual, cisgender woman. My professional work spans private practice therapy, nonprofit leadership, supervision, and training. My clinical orientation is grounded in psychodynamic, relational, interpersonal neurobiology, and attachment-based approaches. My understanding of leadership, relational safety, and organizational dynamics is shaped by this clinical work, my experience in nonprofit leadership, and interdisciplinary research in neuroscience, social work, and organizational behavior. I grew up in a two-parent household as the middle child between two siblings, sharing happy meals on a strict budget. We never had more than enough, but Christmas morning never felt anything less than magic. I am also a first-generation college and doctoral student. Academic pathways were not something that were explicitly modeled or assumed in my upbringing. Instead, the expectation in my family was simply to be a good person and contribute positively to others. I want to name that my identities afford me real privilege and access within academic, clinical, and organizational systems. That privilege shapes what I see easily, what I might miss, and how my voice is received in different spaces. While this project draws heavily on neuroscience, relational safety, and leadership, I do not view these frameworks as neutral. Brains develop within social, historical, and political contexts, and systems of oppression leave measurable impacts on safety, stress, belonging, and opportunity. Because of this, I approach this work with curiosity, humility, and a commitment to continued learning. I recognize that no single framework or perspective can fully capture the complexity of the human experience, leadership, or organizational life. My hope is that this podcast invites thoughtful reflection, ongoing dialogue, and a deeper understanding of how we show up for one another in the spaces that we lead.

In social work, we often talk about positionality. The idea that who we are, the identities we hold, and the experiences that shape us influence how we understand the world and how we practice within it. In clinical work, we are trained to reflect on how our identities, histories, and assumptions show up in the room with clients, but the same principle applies to leadership. Leaders are not neutral actors inside organizations. We bring our own social locations, professional training, and lived experiences into the environments we help shape. Those factors influence what we notice, how we interpret behavior, and how we understand conflict, and how we make decisions that affect others. In social work leadership, this kind of reflexivity is especially important because many of the systems that we work within, healthcare, nonprofits, education, social services, are embedded within broader social, historical, and political contexts. Power, identity, and access are always present in these environments, whether we name them or not. Understanding our positionality helps leaders remain attentive to those dynamics. It invites us to consider how our leadership decisions impact people differently and how we can lead in ways that support dignity, safety, and equity within the systems we're a part of. This podcast approaches leadership with that awareness in mind, recognizing that the relational environments leaders create do not just shape organizational outcomes, but also shape how people experience belonging, stress, safety, and possibility in spaces where they work. Throughout this podcast, we'll explore ideas from neuroscience, social work, leadership studies, and lived experience. Some episodes will focus on the brain and nervous system, and others will explore relational dynamics inside organizations. Sometimes we will invite reflection on what it actually means to lead in ways that support safety, connection, and human dignity. Wherever you're listening from, whether you lead a team, an organization, a classroom, or simply influence the people around you, I'm glad you're here. Welcome to the Feeling Leader.