Emotion At Work

Emotion at Work in Beautiful Leadership

Dawn Stallwood · March 27, 2026

Author · Leadership · Executive Coachin

Interview with Dawn Stallwood

Emotion at Work in Beautiful Leadership — Dawn Stallwood

Podcast: Emotion At Work

March 27, 2026 · 1 hr 12 min

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…

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Key topicsConscious UnbossingDawn has worked in hierarchical and collaborative leadership structures for close to 30 years, where long-term tenure and elevation through the ranks was a measure of loyalty and success, and served as a risk management tool for business. The future of work is trending differently – management and leadership is not the expectation. Financial security, agility, personal fulfilment, and balance are key considerations. Businesses that are not ready to adapt to appeal to their youngest employees risk a hollowing out of management and leadership in the future, and will fail to engage with short-term employees for it to be a win-win in the moment. Driven by expertise, personal growth, creativity, autonomy, balance, collaboration, and purpose, they need something more - something different - more congruent to their values. Equally, the youngest employees can choose to ‘opt out’ or ‘opt in’ and be part of shaping the solution; to reimagine what leadership can look like. Dawn challenges leaders and younger generations to think beyond short-term metrics of success, personal ambition, and preferences, and consider the enduring cultures, values, and systems they create - igniting a passion for leadership from younger working generations, and trust and sponsorship from those passing the baton on. The Founder’s Challenge - Passing the Baton OnFounder's Syndrome, the phenomenon where a founder's disproportionate power and influence in a company hinders its growth and leads to operational problems. Left unnoticed and unchecked, it repels talent and loyalty, creates bottlenecks, hinders decision-making, and prevents the development of robust governance and succession plans. Exits are made all the harder if this is play. Founders and Entrepreneurs are praised for involvement and control, until they become the very thing that caps the organisation’s growth. Dawn has advised countless founders and business owners on the brink of expansion or exit, or grappling with why their business is ‘so hard to run and grow’. She sees the emotional gravity of ownership and responsibility pull against the logic of change, empowerment and succession. This is the toughest and the most vital of work for both the leader owner and their team. Dawn argues that enduring companies emerge when founders and owners evolve from architects to stewards and get their ‘fix’ through sponsorship and collaboration, and seeing others flourish. Drawing on her M&A and negotiation work, she shows how collaboration, trust and transparency are the true measure of legacy and implementation of strategy. The question isn’t whether you can scale your company, but whether you can scale yourself. Empathy in Professionalism – is it in focus? Professionals are set apart from those they serve and advise. They are subject to standards and rigour beyond the client’s business ethics policy or company values – governing bodies and regulators enforce minimum professional conduct expectations. Alongside this is the need to respond on a deeply human level to clients. Empathy matters. Emotional Intelligence is expected. At the end of every deal, project or transaction is a person, a family, including the professional themselves. How we approach our work should matter beyond the deliverables and the profit margin. Dawn hears the frustrations and plaudits from clients about their experience of other professionals and the fear of young professionals facing an uncertain future. There is much we can learn and respond to. In the age of professional tech, it is the implementation of the Beautiful Leadership framework and a recommitment to what it means to be a contemporary ‘in-touch’ professional that will distinguish and protect professional service firms from being replaced by AI and automation. This is the new space for trusted advisors, ‘the Empath Professional’. Dawn shares a quarter of a century of lessons and insights - empathy and integrity are not soft skills but the hard currency of influence and impact. When professionals drop the mask, they don’t lose authority - they gain it and lead with authenticity. View all topics →

About Dawn Stallwood

Corporate Counsel, Author of Beautiful Leadership, and Chief Integrity Officer Shaping Governance, Leadership and Ethics at the Top

Nearly 30 years Leadership counsel & professional advisory experience9 Beautiful Leadership qualities10 Beautiful Leadership practices1 of 770 UK Notary Public

For nearly three decades, Dawn Stallwood has sat at the intersection of power, principle, and people. She is a corporate and commercial lawyer turned Leadership Counsel and Chief Integrity Officer, and one of only 770 Notary Public’s in the UK. Her practice environment has evolved – in-house, private practice, UK Top 100 Law firm partner, business owner and independent consultant. Dawn has supported owners, boards, senior leaders, and teams across sectors and geographies in deals, collaborations, growth, business as usual and crisis response. Her practitioner life has shown that deals collapse, value is lost, teams fracture and reputations fail, not because of bad strategy, but because we fail to prioritise the human side of leadership.

As a Notary Public, Dawn is the quiet witness in rooms where signatures and transactions decide futures. What she saw behind the paperwork, especially during the Global Financial Crisis, changed her course. In 2010, she founded Floodlight Business, an integrity and impact platform supporting business owners, founders and leadership teams as they navigate value creation, professional relationships,collaboration and legacy.

Turning 50 in 2024, Dawn marked her ‘half-time’ by pouring her experience into a proprietary framework built on Nine Beautiful Qualities and Ten Leadership Practices that make leadership truly attractive, authentic and impacting.

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About this episode

Episode 88 - Emotion at Work in Beautiful Leadership

Episode Summary In this episode, Phil is joined byDawn 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 shop, using noise-reducing headphones, or taking walking meetings.

The Red Admiral Metaphor (09:27): Why Dawn chose the Red Admiral butterfly as the emblem for her framework, recognising that everything needed for transformation is already present within us.

The Defining Mark & Istanbul (12:18): Dawn shares a touching story about her mother in Turkey and the phrase "Sen güzelsin" ("You are beautiful"), redefining beauty in leadership as how someone is experienced, received, and perceived.

Flight Pressure & Capacity (22:48): Exploring how high-pressure environments (like M&A deals) often expose a lack of capacity rather than a lack of competence, and how fear and pride can manifest as toxic workplace behaviours.

Wing Notes & F.E.A.R. (34:47): A life-changing reframe of fear as "False Evidence Appearing Real", and how this tool can stop leaders from catastrophising.

In Flight & Guarding Space (40:34): The importance of leaders setting boundaries, acting as stewards of their roles, and intentionally creating space so they do not get wrung out.

A Vulnerable Pivot (47:21): Dawn shares a deeply personal and recent story of a severe health scare that forced her to critically evaluate her own "always-on" operating model, highlighting the very real consequences of ignoring your capacity limits.

Stretch & The Empathy Tank (53:34): Understanding your superpowers versus your kryptonite, and how checking the building blocks of empathy can help you replenish your tank.

Release & Imperfection (01:02:09): The freeing realisation that you do not need to be a perfect leader; you just need to be a beautiful one

Guest Bio Dawn Stallwood is a corporate M&A lawyer and advisor with nearly 30 years of experience guiding CEOs, founders, and boards through high-stakes deals and critical transitions. She is the author of Beautiful Leadership, a book she wrote as a legacy piece to mark her 50th birthday. Dawn is on a mission to build an "army of beautiful leaders", helping professionals slow down, build true capacity, and embrace the beautiful imperfections of leading people.

Find out more about Dawn Stallwood:

Website & Book: www.thebeautifulleader.com

LinkedIn: Search for Dawn Stallwood

Email: dawn.stallwood@floodlightbusiness.com

Guest: Dawn Stallwood

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