05/04/2026
It’s Mindful Monday… and May the 4th be with you!
I’m Angie Chaplin, Certified Master Facilitator, LPI® Coach, and proud Founding Member of TLC Alliance, a global association dedicated to preserving, promoting, and advancing the leadership development profession.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and as someone who speaks openly about my own mental health journey, I’m an advocate for mental health in action. Not surprisingly, I often find myself thinking about mental health through the lens of The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership from The Leadership Challenge.
We tend to think of Challenge the Process as something external, like innovation, systems, change initiatives. Yet some of the most important processes we can ever challenge are our own.
A good place to start are the patterns we default to under pressure — overworking, avoiding difficult conversations, saying yes when we don’t want to, ignoring our bodies and violating our boundaries.
For a while, it works… until it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t, the impact isn’t contained to us. It shapes the experience of everyone around us.
The way we show up under pressure isn’t neutral.
A recent global study (UKG, 2023) found that nearly 7 in 10 people say their manager impacts their mental health as much as their spouse.
If we aren’t willing to challenge our own processes when they are no longer serving us, our organizations, or the people we care about, those processes will eventually challenge us.
But leadership doesn’t stop with Challenge the Process to enhance our own awareness. It extends to Enable Others to Act by creating conditions where people can show up with clarity, steadiness, and intention by building trust, inviting input, and offering a genuine sense of choice in how they move forward.
Here’s something to carry into your day (and continue throughout the month):
Before your next conversation or meeting, take a moment to pause. Notice what you’re bringing into the space and what might be driving your response.
Because challenging the process isn’t always about changing what’s around you. Sometimes it’s about changing what’s within you.
Leadership is what you do.
And it’s what others experience because of you.
