The Kathie Owen Perspective
Human Patterns. Real Leadership.
Leadership isn’t a performance problem — it’s a human one.
The Kathie Owen Perspective is a quiet, discerning look at leadership through the lens of human behavior, emotional regulation, presence, and pattern recognition. This podcast is for leaders, founders, executives, and advisors who sense that something deeper is at play in how people lead, relate, and make decisions — but haven’t had language for it.
Kathie Owen is a consultant and observer of human systems. She studies what happens beneath strategy, titles, and metrics — the unseen patterns that shape leadership outcomes, culture, trust, and power. Drawing from real-world consulting experience, executive conversations, and years of studying emotional regulation and human dynamics, Kathie offers perspective rather than prescriptions.
This is not a coaching show.
This is not motivation or hustle culture.
And it’s not therapy.
Each episode offers calm insight into:
- How leaders regulate (or don’t) under pressure
- Why capable people repeat the same patterns
- The difference between performance and presence
- How clarity emerges when noise is removed
- What real leadership looks like when no one is watching
Some episodes are reflections.
Some are observations from the field.
Some are quiet truths leaders rarely say out loud.
If you’re drawn to insight over tactics, clarity over control, and leadership that starts with self-awareness rather than force — you’re in the right place.
This is perspective — not advice.
And sometimes, perspective changes everything.
The Kathie Owen Perspective
265. The December Argument That Changed Everything
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🎧 Podcast Show Notes
Something feels off at work.
Morale is down.
Meetings feel tense.
Leadership seems reactive.
No one is saying what’s wrong.
Here’s the truth:
It probably didn’t start in February.
In this episode of The Kathie Owen Perspective, Kathie breaks down a pattern she has observed across founder-led companies, coaching firms, private equity portfolios, and merger & acquisition environments.
December pressure exposes fractures.
When leadership arguments go unregulated and unrepaired before the holidays, the aftershocks show up weeks later:
• Psychological safety drops
• Top performers disengage
• Structural changes feel chaotic
• Culture quietly destabilizes
Kathie explains why end-of-year stress amplifies ego, how entitlement fractals through organizations, and why human due diligence matters just as much as financial due diligence in mergers and acquisitions.
If you’re a founder, executive, acquisition leader, or employee sensing instability inside your organization, this episode will help you understand what’s really happening underneath the surface.
đź“Ś Read the full blog post + access bonus resources here:
https://www.kathieowen.com/blog/december-turmoil-takes-over-company-profits
đź”— Video on Emotional Regulation: https://youtu.be/36YOQkQwODk
Kathie Owen is a private consultant specializing in leadership stability inside high-stakes environments, including mergers and acquisitions. She works with founders and executive teams to identify human fractures inside leadership and stabilize them before they cost performance, morale, or valuation.
➡️ To learn more about Kathie visit her website: www.kathieowen.com
What if I told you the chaos you're feeling at work right now did not start in January, in February, or maybe even March? It started in December. Right before Christmas, right before bonuses. Right before everyone said,"let's get through the holidays." Maybe two executives argued. Maybe a founder snapped. Maybe numbers weren't good. Maybe someone got moved. Maybe no one explained anything. And even maybe all of the above. And now it's February, March, or April, people feel weird, unsafe, and anxious, and no one is talking about it. Let's talk about it. Welcome to the Kathie Owen Perspective podcast. This is where we talk about human patterns inside leadership. Not just strategy, not just performance, but what really happens inside companies when pressure rises. If we haven't met before my name is Kathie Owen. I work as a private consultant with founders, executive teams, and leaders, navigating growth in mergers, acquisitions, and high pressure environments. I observe what others miss inside leadership. And I stabilize it before it costs you. And today we're talking about something that happens all the time. December is a pressure cooker. Deadlines end of year numbers, travel, family stress, burnout, and inside companies pressure exposes, ego. I have seen this in founder-led companies, coaching firms, private equity portfolios, merger and acquisition transitions, established corporations. This is not rare. This is human. Here's what happens. Two leaders argue. The numbers are off. Someone feels blamed, someone feels embarrassed, someone feels threatened, and instead of regulating they react. Titles change. Reporting line shifts. Someone gets reassigned. Someone quietly exits. All within days. No context, no ownership, no repair. It feels decisive. But it's emotional fallout disguised as strategy. Let's be clear. Christmas doesn't cause dysfunction, pressure does. But the holidays amplify whatever already exists. If a culture is healthy, December feels warm. If a culture is fragile, December exposes it. Because by then people are exhausted. Sleep is off, patience is low, and when nervous systems are fried, arguments escalate. January comes, everyone says, new year, fresh start. But nothing was resolved. The argument wasn't addressed. No one stood up and said, here's what happened. Here's what we're learning. Here's how we're stabilizing. So the company moves forward on a fracture. Now it's mid-February, maybe even March. This is when it shows up. Morale, dips, top performers go quiet. People start updating resumes, meetings feel tense. Psychological safety drops. And leadership says"What happened?" February didn't happen. December did. Unrepaired conflict compounds. Always. If you're an acquiring a company in February and you see instability and turnover and cultural drift, you might assume it's operational. Sometimes it is, but often it's emotional residue. If you don't know what happened in December, you're evaluating symptoms without seeing the wound. This is why I work in mergers and acquisitions because human due diligence matters. Not just financial due diligence, not just legal due diligence, but emotional pattern recognition. Because numbers in February often reflect a conversation in December. If you work inside a company and you feel this, you are not crazy. When leadership fractures, employees feel it. Silence is information. Your nervous system reads the room before leadership names the issue. And if no one repaired the rupture, your body knows. That matters. Strong leaders regulate first. Emotionally regulate. I recently did a video on this and I will include a link in the show notes and description below so you can check that out. But strong leaders will pause, they name what happened. They take ownership. They clarify structural changes with context. They restore safety quickly. And weak leaders restructure and stay silent, and the culture absorbs it every single time. I wrote a full blog post on this topic with deeper breakdowns and practical questions leaders should be asking right now. I've included bonus resources in the show notes and description below. If this resonated, I strongly encourage you to read that. It expands on what we talked about today. Alright. Thank you for watching. If you know a founder, an executive, or even an employee who needs to hear this. Please share it. These conversations matter because most companies don't implode from bad strategy. They destabilize from unregulated leadership moments that were never repaired. My name is Kathie Owen. This is the Kathie Owen Perspective podcast, and I work with founders and acquisition leaders to identify human fractures inside leadership and stabilize them before they cost you. All right. That's my episode for today. I trust that you found it helpful, and I will see you in the next one.