
286: Fear Intelligence: A Breakthrough Framework for Leaders with Jacqueline Wales
From Work From The Inside Out by Tammy Gooler Loeb
December 17, 2025 · 37 min
About this episode
Tammy Gooler Loeb interviews Jacqueline Wales about her framework for understanding and leading beyond fear.
This week, Tammy welcomes back author and executive coach Jacqueline Wales, whose new book Fear Intelligence: A Practical Framework for Leading Beyond Fear offers a powerful, compassionate roadmap for understanding how fears shape our lives and our leadership style. Drawing on her two plus decades of coaching executives, professionals, and creatives, Jacqueline explains how fear, often misunderstood or ignored, offers a deeply influential emotional signal that calls for our attention. In the conversation, Jacqueline shares the evolution of her work, beginning with her early books The Fearless Factor and The Fearless Factor at Work, and leading to her latest framework, a four-part acronym: Face It, Explore It, Act on It, Rise with It. She and Tammy discuss how fear shows up in our behaviors, especially as avoidance, perfectionism, people-pleasing, or over-functioning, and how intergenerational stories can quietly shape our sense of safety and self-worth. Jacqueline illustrates how fear often runs “in the background,” like a CPU, until we learn to pause, question, and explore what it’s actually signaling. Listeners will gain a fresh understanding of fear as data, not destiny…
People in this episode
Host: Tammy Gooler Loeb
Guest: Jacqueline Wales
Topics covered
- fear intelligence
- leadership
- emotional signals
- coaching
- self-awareness
- personal growth
Keywords
- fear
- leadership
- coaching
- self-improvement
- emotional intelligence
- personal development
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Fear Intelligence: A Practical Framework for Leading Beyond Fear, The Fearless Factor, The Fearless Factor at Work
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