The Leader Within podcast with Angela Nguyen
Oct 13, 2026 · 33 min · 12 segments
Most leaders don't lose their edge when certainty quietly replaces curiosity: they stop asking questions they've already decided they know the answer to. In this episode, Angela interviews…
Tyler ChisholmGuest
Angela NguyenHost
Something that you touched on earlier that ties to what you said as well is it's one thing to know it and have the knowledge.
So what helped you close that gap to be able to apply that podcast self to the CEO self?
I had read right at that same time, I'd read Mindset by Carol Dweck, and I really fell in love with the idea that a fixed mindset is the opposite of curiosity, and a growth mindset embodies curiosity.
So I actually had a sheet of paper on, like, one of those, uh, every once in a while I like to feel like I'm more creative than I am, so I buy those like, like art books with, like, big open pages where you can just do whatever you want on them.
And I put it on the sh- on my desk, and this was during COVID, so we were on calls like this every day, all day.
[laughs] I still am, but at the time it was really easy to go, "Hmm, how can I just do a little check and measure of which version of myself," back to the self kind of concept, "is showing up?" So I took a sheet of paper, I drew a line down the center, and I wrote fixed on one side and I wrote growth on the other.
And I would spend 30 seconds to three minutes, I wanna make sure that people don't think about this, I wasn't spending hours, I was spending moments, after a meeting like this going, "Hmm, which behaviors showed up and which ones moved me t- closer or further away from my goal?" And very quickly, the interrupting, jumping to conclusions, not leaving, uh, space in the room showed up on the fixed mindset side.
And whenever I was just a little more joyful, a little more fluid, a little bit more present, a little bit more there for what showed up, not what I wanted to show up, made my team the hero, things that I would do on a podcast.
When those started to show up, not only did it seem like there was more effective outcomes, I actually enjoyed it more, Angela.
It actually felt, felt like, and I think feeling is important in this context, it just felt better.
So people are like, "Oh, did you need to take a test? Do you need to do a, have someone analyze you?" I'm like, a little bit of self-reflection goes a long way.
And if you have trusted members and y- of your team or people in your circle that, uh, you wanna let in on this, trust me, they're very quick to let you know when it's calling you written.
How do you scale that? Because it's one thing for you to be curious, and it's another thing for you to be able to get other folks to be more that way, especially if they think in absolutes.
And there's lots of ways that you could probably be formal and coach it, but I had to start by leading by example.
And I had to catch myself, and the practice, and you made the comment earlier about the intention of being aware of something and doing it every day.
Something that you touched on earlier that ties to what you said as well is it's one thing to know it and have the knowledge.
So what helped you close that gap to be able to apply that podcast self to the CEO self?
I had read right at that same time, I'd read Mindset by Carol Dweck, and I really fell in love with the idea that a fixed mindset is the opposite of curiosity, and a growth mindset embodies curiosity.
So I actually had a sheet of paper on, like, one of those, uh, every once in a while I like to feel like I'm more creative than I am, so I buy those like, like art books with, like, big open pages where you can just do whatever you want on them.
And I put it on the sh- on my desk, and this was during COVID, so we were on calls like this every day, all day.
[laughs] I still am, but at the time it was really easy to go, "Hmm, how can I just do a little check and measure of which version of myself," back to the self kind of concept, "is showing up?" So I took a sheet of paper, I drew a line down the center, and I wrote fixed on one side and I wrote growth on the other.
And I would spend 30 seconds to three minutes, I wanna make sure that people don't think about this, I wasn't spending hours, I was spending moments, after a meeting like this going, "Hmm, which behaviors showed up and which ones moved me t- closer or further away from my goal?" And very quickly, the interrupting, jumping to conclusions, not leaving, uh, space in the room showed up on the fixed mindset side.
And whenever I was just a little more joyful, a little more fluid, a little bit more present, a little bit more there for what showed up, not what I wanted to show up, made my team the hero, things that I would do on a podcast.
When those started to show up, not only did it seem like there was more effective outcomes, I actually enjoyed it more, Angela.
It actually felt, felt like, and I think feeling is important in this context, it just felt better.
So people are like, "Oh, did you need to take a test? Do you need to do a, have someone analyze you?" I'm like, a little bit of self-reflection goes a long way.
And if you have trusted members and y- of your team or people in your circle that, uh, you wanna let in on this, trust me, they're very quick to let you know when it's calling you written.
How do you scale that? Because it's one thing for you to be curious, and it's another thing for you to be able to get other folks to be more that way, especially if they think in absolutes.
And there's lots of ways that you could probably be formal and coach it, but I had to start by leading by example.
And I had to catch myself, and the practice, and you made the comment earlier about the intention of being aware of something and doing it every day.
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