the CEO energy playbook.
how to lead like it’s already working
i used to think “ceo energy” was a personality type — all power suits, sharp comebacks, and calendars color-coded within an inch of their life. but over time, i realized it’s not a personality at all. it’s a state of being. it’s that moment when you stop waiting for someone else to tell you you’re in charge and start acting like you already are. years ago, i was at an event when a fellow agent introduced me to someone and said, “this is natalie — she runs a multi-million-dollar team.” i was halfway through correcting her with a quick no, i don’t before i stopped to fact-check it. and she was right. i do run a multi-million-dollar business.
it kind of knocked me sideways to hear it out loud. other people could see it so clearly, but i’d never stopped to recognize it myself. i was just busy checking off tasks, managing fires, keeping the machine running. that moment changed something in me. i started carrying myself differently — not with arrogance, but with ownership. because the truth was, i’d been steering the ship the whole time. i just hadn’t realized it.
i didn’t wake up one day knowing how to be a boss. i had to learn. i’ve always been told i’m a natural leader, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a learning curve. early on, i thought leadership meant keeping everyone in line. now i know it’s about setting the tone. what you allow is what you’ll get — and that doesn’t mean ruling with an iron fist.
my team works best with positive reinforcement and appreciation for what they bring. we’re also extremely selective about who we hire — not in an exclusive way, but in a “right-fit” way. the people we bring in have to match the energy of the team, not just the skill set. the result? no drama. no chaos. just good humans who like doing great work together.
somewhere along the line, “being the boss” got confused with “being a bitch.” that’s not leadership — that’s fear in a power suit. real leadership is showing people that you actually care about them. it’s listening to the problems that aren’t even about work because you know that what’s happening outside the office affects what happens inside it. it’s giving feedback with honesty and compassion — no sugarcoating, but no cruelty either.
i’ll always tell my team the truth, and they know that. that’s why they trust me. i don’t swing my authority around to make a point or need to win every argument just to prove i can. sometimes, winning means knowing when to let something go. i can see when pushing harder would only make everyone tired — myself included. and at the end of the day, we usually want the same result anyway. so i lead with clarity, not ego.
and that’s really what ceo energy looks like to me. power doesn’t have to be loud to be felt. leadership doesn’t have to be performative to be real. it’s about understanding that what you’re building already matters — and carrying yourself accordingly.
because once you start leading like it’s already working, it usually does.
