The Telescope in the Room: What High-Performing Leaders Can't See About Their Own Career with Executive Coach Karen Kunkel Young

You're highly capable. So why does your next move feel so unclear? For senior leaders at a career inflection point — whether navigating a layoff, a values misalignment, or a long-overdue pivot — the problem is rarely a lack of skill. It's a lack of perspective.

In this episode, executive coach and strategic advisor Karen Kunkel Young joins host Lori Adams-Brown to talk about what high-performing leaders consistently miss when they're standing at a crossroads — and what it actually takes to move forward with clarity, agency, and intention.

In this conversation, you'll discover:

• Why the habits and communication styles that made you successful may now be holding you back — and how to see that shift before it costs you
• How to reclaim ownership of your career narrative, especially when external forces (layoffs, leadership changes, industry shifts) have made you feel like a passenger
• The critical transition from expert executor to strategic leader — and why skipping the mindset shift is a lose-lose for everyone
• How to advocate powerfully for your impact without it feeling like bragging — including the storytelling framework that connects your achievements to business outcomes
• A practical approach to fear in high-stakes transitions: how to name it, feel it, and use it as a launchpad rather than a brake

About Karen Kunkel Young: Karen Kunkel Young is an executive coach and strategic advisor known as "the telescope in the room" — helping senior leaders step back far enough to see the blind spots, shifting influence, and hidden opportunities their current vantage point obscures. With nearly 30 years of experience as a global media showrunner (including Project Runway and Tim Gunn's Guide to Style), Karen brings a master storyteller's precision to leadership transitions, executive presence, and career pivots.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 — Introduction & why this moment demands perspective over pace
• 01:12 — What highly capable leaders aren't seeing clearly right now
• 03:51 — You are the CEO of your career: reclaiming agency
• 07:30 — The expert-to-leader transition: why it's a lose-lose without support
• 10:04 — What the telescope reveals: the hard truth that changes how leaders lead
• 13:42 — Naming unspoken fear in high-stakes transitions
• 18:46 — How your narrative expands or limits your future influence
• 23:02 — Advocacy without bragging: the storytelling framework that works
• 28:14 — Coaching leaders through emotionally difficult career transitions
• 33:57 — Advice for high-performing women in a slow, painful job search
• 38:30 — Where to find Karen Kunkel Young
• 39:44 — Lori's closing reflection on perspective, resilience, and sustained impact

Find Karen Kunkel-Young at: 🌐 karenkunkelyoung.com 💼 LinkedIn: Karen Kunkel Young

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Lori Adams-Brown, Host & Executive Producer

A World of Difference Podcast