Episode Summary
Change is a constant in every organization, but how leaders respond to it can truly define the outcome.
Today, we’re joined by Lisa Rogoff, an expert in guiding leaders through times of transition and complexity.
Lisa is the founder of Launch Project, a certified executive coach, consultant, and facilitator with over 20 years of experience helping leaders navigate change, align teams, and cultivate thriving cultures. Her work spans tech companies, nonprofits, and global organizations, with a focus on self-awareness, trust, and intentionality—driven by values like candor, presence, and zest.
In this episode, Lisa and Arin explore the challenges engineering leaders face when navigating change and managing complexity. Lisa shares valuable tips from her extensive practice, including how to build emotional regulation, the power of coaching over over-thinking, and the transformative benefits of off-sites for leaders and teams.
Tune in for actionable insights that can help you lead through change with purpose and clarity!
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Key Insights are below
About Guest:
Name: Lisa Rogoff
What she does: She’s an Executive Coach and Consultant.
Company: Launch Project
Where to find Lisa: LinkedIn | Website
Key Insights
⚡Coaching is a fundamental leadership skill. Leaders juggle many roles—strategist, problem-solver, and mentor—but coaching is one of the most critical for unlocking full potential.
Lisa explains why, “It’s about helping them amplify their strengths to see and navigate blind spots and to hold them accountable for what’s possible. And I think what I really have grown to love about coaching is that it’s about helping other people build the confidence, gain the tools, create their own resourcefulness to tackle both the problem in front of them, whether it’s a challenge with their team or to think more broadly about how do I apply these same principles beyond just my team today and think about my career long-term, to think about my life, my relationships, and my life long-term.”
⚡Build a mindfulness routine to cultivate resilience. Leaders face high-stress moments that require quick, clear thinking. But to navigate those moments effectively, you need to build resilience long before the pressure mounts.
Lisa shares a powerful practice she’s cultivated: “Find your own way and practice it and do it before you need to have it to rely on. So, for me, I wake up every morning. I do not look at my phone. I immediately take a seat, take a breath. I journal, I meditate, and I work out, all before I look at a screen. And for me, that’s been a practice something I have to actively think about not reaching for my phone. But it’s been really meaningful. And it’s allowed me in those moments where stress is high, where I feel dysregulated, to come back to my breath. So, I think my advice would be to build the practice before you need it.”
⚡True leadership starts from within. Effective leadership begins with mastering the inner game. Lisa explains, “I don’t think that leaders can handle the complexity outside of themselves until we are able to notice and to empathize and to manage what complexity does inside of us. So, I think maybe in closing, what I would do is just invite leaders to not just focus on the outer game of leadership. I often hear the hard skills versus the soft skills, right? The outer game of leadership being the frameworks, the skills, the tools. But to really invest in developing the inner game of leadership, the ability to regulate, to tune into your emotional landscape, to not just react to what’s in front of you, but to know and to lead with your core values. And ultimately, remember that it’s the inner game that runs the outer game.”
Episode Highlights
Mastering self-regulation is key for leaders—it’s the foundation for guiding others.
As the popular saying goes, ‘Put your own oxygen mask on first before assisting others. ‘ The same principle applies to leadership during crises or times of change. You can’t truly support your team if you haven’t taken care of yourself first.
This is one of the most common pitfalls in leadership: jumping straight into problem-solving without first pausing to self-regulate.
Lisa explains it best, “Change can feel really overwhelming. I know I feel that way. It can be really scary. It can produce lots of anxiety for individuals across an organization. So, I think it’s really easy and natural for leaders to go into that emergency, fix-it mode, calm everyone down mode, really natural first reaction, and I think that it comes from a really good place. The challenge is that when leaders do this, when they immediately leap to calm, to fix, they often haven’t taken the time or the space to regulate themselves. And I found that regardless of the type of change or the type of complexity, the most important thing a leader can do is to self-regulate.”
Coaching is about empowering people to reach their full potential
For leaders, it’s easy to slip into the role of problem solver. It’s quick, satisfying, and feels productive. But there’s a crucial leadership aspect that goes beyond fixing problems and actually helps people unlock their full potential: coaching.
Lisa puts it perfectly, “I don’t think that that is just for engineering folks. I really think most humans love to fix. I love to fix. It feeds our ego. It’s fun. So I do think coaching is a skill, a practice, a way of not just leading but living that I think can be really meaningful, but it’s a muscle that you have to build. I often talk to people who are looking for a coach to give them advice or tell them how to navigate a difficult situation. That’s not coaching. That’s telling someone what to do. So coaching is really about partnering with someone to help them drive toward their potential.”
Off-sites can be a game-changer for leaders navigating difficult times
When the pace of business is fast, answers are unclear, and your team is under stress, it’s easy to get lost in the chaos. But as Lisa explains, when done well, off-sites offer a valuable opportunity to reset.
She says, “I do believe that off-sites are a really powerful tool to help leaders and teams navigate in uncertain times or times of change. Again, I feel like I’m kind of beating the same drum, but I do think it all goes back to regulation. So when you’re working in the business, and things are changing all of the time, and you don’t have the answers you want, everything is moving really fast, it’s dysregulating, and your nervous system and your team’s nervous system is on high alert. I do think when done well, off-sites can be almost like a warm bath for the nervous system or a way to take the foot off the gas to stop working in the business, to create the time and the space to work on the business. They are also a chance to really reconnect to one another and to the team’s purpose.”