“Conceal it, don’t feel it. Don’t let it show.”
If you have children (or just love Disney), you know this is a quote from the movie Frozen (have you watched it 431 times like me?). King Agnarr says this phrase to his daughter, Elsa, to hide her icy magic. He thinks her emotions are causing her magical powers to be erratic and dangerous. She can’t control her emotions (and therefore her ice powers), so he isolates her and gives her gloves to cover the hands from which ice and snow erupt.
As she grows, she is conditioned to think any expression of emotion results in bad things happening.
Corporate leadership conditions us in the same way.
From the time we first step into our careers on wobbly legs and deer-in-the-headlight eyes, we are trained to tuck away our natural feelings. We are told to be contained, deliberate, intentional, and to sit still. We suck the life right out of our natural human instinct and are taught to rely on socially-acceptable, cold, calculated logic to express ourselves. And if we deviate from that mold — woe to us.
The problem is: This lifelong conditioning bleeds directly into how we write as leaders. When most of us sit down to type out a strategy update, a change memo, or a performance directive, we default to a safe, sterile, left-brain formula:
This is what happened → These are our options → These are my recommendations → Here is the solution.
Your team opens the email. They read the words. Register the logic. They have their directive. Bada-bing, bada-boom. Our left brain is happy because we checked something off the list. But what’s our right brain doin’ over there, all by its lonesome? Atrophying, that’s what.
This matters because your people aren’t feeling your message. And because they don't feel it, they aren't truly moved to take action.
Which is exactly why you need to meet Dr. Ardeshir Mehran.
Dr. Mehran is an acclaimed psychologist, leadership coach, and the creator of The Bill of Emotional Rights, a groundbreaking framework that reframes how we address depression, anxiety, and performance blocks in the workplace. He is also the author of You Are Not Depressed, You Are Un-Finished and an all around lovely person to connect with.
When I met Dr. Mehran, he shared a lesson that resonates deeply with me and the entire point of this publication.
We need to write to lead — write to provoke, to awaken, to inspire, and to make your people want more.
Writing to simply transmit information isn’t cutting it. Safe text is invisible text. (And pretty daggone boring.) Issue 009, How To Write Like A Human In The AI Era, explored this idea a little bit. Now we’re going deeper.
So here’s the micro-lesson: To truly write to lead, your message has to get to the heart of the emotional tension today.
"Leaders write expressive words that are flat," Ardeshir explained to me. "They aren't engaging the whole left and right brain hemisphere. It is logic-based. We hear it, but we don't feel it."
To bridge that gap, you have to activate the power of meaning-making storytelling, a framework to understand the world, form your identity, and inspire action. The big idea is to put a living, breathing person at the center of the drama and explore the impact of events and behavior on…well, everything.
Does that make you sweat? It should…’cause whew, buddy, it’s risky. But I guarantee when you do this, you and your readers are gonna feel it. And if they feel, one way or another, they’re gonna do somethin’ about it.
Put it into practice: Here are three things you can do this week to stop writing flat text, engage the whole brain, and lean in to meaning-making storytelling:
Go narrow and go deep. When you sit down to write your next internal update, don’t write to an anonymous corporate collective. Have one specific person in mind—a specific colleague, a frustrated direct report, or even your mom. Write with a depth of feeling that speaks directly to them. What are they going through right now? Why should they give a crap about what you are writing? How can you help not next week or tomorrow, but RIGHT NOW?
Ask the questions nobody asks. Be kind, but get bold and drastic. Challenge a common assumption in your next message. Ardeshir suggests using simple, disruptive language to get their attention: "We've assumed [X] is true for a long time. But I’m starting to see something differently. Can I share it with you?"
Change your perspective. Ardeshir’s core philosophy can be summed up by a powerful quote from his book: "When I changed what I saw, what I saw also changed." Use your written assets to shift your team’s perspective. Frame your current hurdles as an opportunity for you and your people to collaborate and build something better. Turn frustration into excitement; impatience into enjoyment of the process; burnout into space to rejuvenate.
How’d it go? When you stop concealing your emotions and instead direct them into your words, you’ve hit the communications jackpot. People are hungry for this type of leadership. They want to be invited to see things differently.
Let me know how bringing your full brain into your messaging affects your team and your results. And if you want to dive deeper into techniques and processes to strengthen your right and left brain connection in your writing, schedule a virtual chat with me so we can discuss your goals. I’d love to hear from you!
P.S. Random Things I’m Loving This Week
(These are not sponsors or affiliate links… just things I genuinely enjoy and want to share with you!)
LinkedIn comments — I love connecting with people on LinkedIn (like, for real connecting not just adding them to my list of followers) and the comments section are SO good to get to know people and their problems/concerns/thoughts/opinions. I’ve been using comments (giving, receiving, and just lurking) to help with persona research.
My paper notebook — This is both a professional and personal benefit. Because when I am journaling with pen and paper, in cursive, there is zero pressure. I write how I want and what I want with absolutely no worries of what others will think or if it’s right. I just write. It’s liberating.
Google esignature — I upgraded my Google Business Workspace and now have access to have my clients sign contracts directly within Google Docs. Easy peasy.
My new Dirt Pile Creative hat — I CAN’T EVEN with these hats. Appalachian slang. Cursive font. Fun colors. Gahlee and Holdurhorses aren’t the only options, but I personally wish they had daggonit.
