Oct 20, 2026 · 32 min · 9 segments
Most leaders tell a success-only story. Maranda Dziekonski decided to tell the rest of it. She grew up in rural Michigan in a house that didn't always have heat or running water, moved west as a young…
I mean, we all have these hard things that make us who we are, whether that's, you know, as I call it out in a book, whether that comes to life in a shack in rural Michigan, or maybe you've had to change the direction of your career unexpectedly or whatever obstacle you've encountered.
You know, this is really what saying the hard parts out loud is all about.
It's my journey from my perspective and the various experiences I've had, the lessons I've learned.
I look back on that with, you know, great regret, but also great learning.
Me being a little raw and quite frankly, naked in front of my peers, in front of anyone who picks this book up for me to share that my journey has not been a success only journey.
I think that a lot of leaders like to portray themselves as this is a success only, or maybe not intentionally, but they do portray themselves as this is a success only path.
And the reality is, is that's just not factual for a lot of us, including myself.
So you've said this isn't a playbook for getting everything right, but an honest, or like you said, naked look at what happens behind the titles and the polished biographies.
So why did the version with the flaws, with the vulnerability left in matter more to you than a cleaner story?
I have always been somebody who's very candid, direct, transparent, good, bad, or indifferent.
And I wanted this to be a true reflection, again, from my perspective of what I've encountered and what I've learned along the way.
some of the team members that maybe I exited or I didn't manage in the way that I probably should have earlier in my career, pick it up and see some insights and maybe provide them some perspective into what those experiences were from my end, but also maybe what I've learned since then and some of the things that I do differently.
That's a very tough question, Lex, that you're asking me, right? So it's, yeah, yeah, that one's a hard one.
And the line that comes out of it is that the life you're living now didn't come from being fearless.
I mean, we all have these hard things that make us who we are, whether that's, you know, as I call it out in a book, whether that comes to life in a shack in rural Michigan, or maybe you've had to change the direction of your career unexpectedly or whatever obstacle you've encountered.
You know, this is really what saying the hard parts out loud is all about.
It's my journey from my perspective and the various experiences I've had, the lessons I've learned.
I look back on that with, you know, great regret, but also great learning.
Me being a little raw and quite frankly, naked in front of my peers, in front of anyone who picks this book up for me to share that my journey has not been a success only journey.
I think that a lot of leaders like to portray themselves as this is a success only, or maybe not intentionally, but they do portray themselves as this is a success only path.
And the reality is, is that's just not factual for a lot of us, including myself.
So you've said this isn't a playbook for getting everything right, but an honest, or like you said, naked look at what happens behind the titles and the polished biographies.
So why did the version with the flaws, with the vulnerability left in matter more to you than a cleaner story?
I have always been somebody who's very candid, direct, transparent, good, bad, or indifferent.
And I wanted this to be a true reflection, again, from my perspective of what I've encountered and what I've learned along the way.
some of the team members that maybe I exited or I didn't manage in the way that I probably should have earlier in my career, pick it up and see some insights and maybe provide them some perspective into what those experiences were from my end, but also maybe what I've learned since then and some of the things that I do differently.
That's a very tough question, Lex, that you're asking me, right? So it's, yeah, yeah, that one's a hard one.
And the line that comes out of it is that the life you're living now didn't come from being fearless.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
