
Leading With Purpose When Your World Turns to Ashes
From Business Roundtable by David W. Carr
June 12, 2026 · 38 min
About this episode
Elaine Lankford discusses leading with purpose through adversity and empowering women to pursue their dreams.
What do you do when your world turns to ashes? In one season, Elaine Lankford faced a yearlong attack on her character, lost her father, and watched her husband get a cancer diagnosis. Then, on a mission trip, she heard God whisper, "Go home and raise up my daughters." That whisper became She Steps Forward. Elaine is the founder of She Steps Forward Coaching and the nonprofit She Steps Forward International, and she spent over 16 years in nursing before coaching women into their callings. A certified John Maxwell Team member, she now mentors women through the hardest first years of building a business, ministry, or nonprofit, in the United States and across Africa. In this conversation, she and David Carr talk about leading with purpose through adversity, why a God-sized dream is supposed to feel bigger than you, and the confidence gap and comparison game that keep capable women stuck. She shares the picture of Mary and Elizabeth from Luke 1 that anchors her work: who is pouring into you before you step forward, and who are you pouring into? Running underneath it is the Steward Your Business conviction that leading yourself well is where everything starts. You will walk away with…
People in this episode
Host: David W. Carr
Guest: Elaine Lankford
Topics covered
- leadership
- adversity
- women empowerment
- coaching
- purpose
- entrepreneurship
Keywords
- leadership
- adversity
- women coaching
- purpose
- entrepreneurship
- God-sized dream
- confidence gap
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: She Steps Forward Coaching, She Steps Forward International
Books & works: Luke 1
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