How to Stop Your Subconscious Mind from Running the Show
Diane Taylor (founder of Glow Leadership, author of Elevate Potential) · Episode 12
Beat Imposter Syndrome
Diane Taylor is an HR professional and leadership development coach with 30 years of experience in promotion decisions, and her insight is blunt: most people think they're being held back by credentials or hours worked, when the real blocker is unresolved emotional material from formative experiences. Her book Elevate Potential and her coaching practice work at the level of the subconscious — the 95% of our operating system we can't see — to clear what's actually blocking leadership growth. For introverted leaders, the episode reframes the quiet leader as often the most conscious one in the room, and consciousness, Diane argues, is the number one leadership quality.
Why people think they're being held back is not the real reason most of the time.
Conscious humans make better leaders, period.
When the quiet leader speaks, there's always wisdom. As a quiet leader, questions are so powerful.
If we can't show up for ourselves, why do we expect everyone else to?
Key Stories
- The red binder at 17: At 17, searching for her older sister’s birth certificate to use as a fake ID, Diane instead found a binder of sympathy cards from her sister’s death. Thirteen years of suppressed grief came flooding out. In the next three months, she attempted suicide three times. This trauma — and the healing that followed — became the foundation of her entire professional philosophy.
- Survivor’s guilt as achievement drive: Diane connects her overachievement and control tendencies directly to the survival wound: “I better be worthy of being the one that got to live.” She names this not as pathology but as a pattern that can be understood and worked with.
- The quiet leader who speaks wisdom: In a coaching session, a senior leader described two people in her organization — one loud and ego-driven, one quiet. When the quiet one spoke, “there was always wisdom. It always moved the company forward.” Diane uses this as evidence that questions, not proclamations, are the most powerful leadership tool.
Techniques & Frameworks
- Conscious vs. unconscious leadership: Unconscious = “life is happening to me.” Conscious = “life is happening for me.” The shift from victim to champion mindset is the defining transition in a leadership journey.
- 95/5 subconscious rule: Only 5% of how we show up is conscious. The other 95% is driven by subconscious beliefs, triggers, and wounds — making surface-level skill-building insufficient without deeper work.
- The four realms of healing: Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual — each requiring its own approach. Clearing the physical (cleaning your desk, your closet) is the entry point because it’s easier and creates real psychic space.
- The burning letter: Write a forgiveness letter by hand, fold it, burn it — a ritual for releasing held resentment without sending it. Pen to paper accesses something the keyboard doesn’t.
- Automatic writing: Write “What do I need to know?” at the top of a page and keep writing without editing. This is a subconscious access technique Diane uses for clarity and claims produced most of her book.
- Lead from where you are: You don’t need a title to lead. Asking smart questions that guide collective thinking is leadership — and it’s exactly what quiet leaders do naturally.
- Daily meeting with your higher self: Treat morning meditation like a calendar appointment with your most important stakeholder. Skipping it sends your subconscious the message that you are not worth your own time.