Emotion at Work in Beautiful Leadership

About this episode

Phil Willcox interviews Dawn Stallwood about her book Beautiful Leadership and the importance of emotional capacity in leadership.

Episode 88 - Emotion at Work in Beautiful Leadership Episode Summary In this episode, Phil is joined by Dawn Stallwood, the brilliant author behind the book Beautiful Leadership and a seasoned corporate M&A lawyer. Dawn brings nearly three decades of experience in high-stakes environments to the table, sharing why she wrote this book as a legacy piece to mark her 50th birthday and to build an "army of beautiful leaders". The conversation begins with the signature "innocuous question", exploring the environments Dawn chooses when the pressure is on and she needs to create capacity. This sets the perfect stage for the episode, as Phil masterfully hijacks Dawn's book structure (the seven phases of a Red Admiral butterfly's flight) to use as the flight path for their conversation. They dive deep into capacity versus competence, the F.E.A.R. (False Evidence Appearing Real) framework, checking your "empathy tank", and the profound realisation that leadership is a human endeavour that requires bravery, not perfection. Key Topics Discussed: The Innocuous Question (01:27): Dawn shares how she creates capacity when the pressure is on, whether that is finding an unfamiliar quiet coffee…

People in this episode

Guest: Dawn Stallwood

Topics covered

• The Innocuous Question
• The Red Admiral Metaphor
• capacity versus competence
• F.E.A.R. framework
• empathy tank
• leadership as a human endeavour

Keywords

• Beautiful Leadership
• corporate M&A lawyer
• transformation
• bravery
• perfection

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Red Admiral butterfly, Red Admiral, Beautiful Leadership

Books & works: Emotion at Work in Beautiful Leadership, Beautiful Leadership

Places: Turkey

More episodes of Emotion At Work

• Episode 87 - Emotion at Work in Emotional Mastery – A Key Leadership Superpower · February 26, 2026 · 1h 1m
• Episode 86 - Emotion at Work in Working Joyfully and Living Fully · November 28, 2025 · 52 min
• Episode 85 - Emotion at Work in Emotional Exploitation of your people in the Hospitality Industry · November 3, 2025 · 28 min
• Episode 84 - Emotion at Work in Poetry and Business · September 26, 2025 · 55 min
• Episode 83 - Emotion at Work in Inclusion · May 28, 2025 · 1h 20m
• Episode 82 - Emotion at Work in High Performing Teams (part II) · April 29, 2025 · 43 min