Messy & Magnificent with Karlee Fain
For leaders building organizations that don’t run on adrenaline.
Messy & Magnificent with Karlee Fain is for the people responsible for what they lead — and tired enough to know the way it’s running isn’t sustainable.
If your calendar is full, your team is smart, and endless challenges still seem to land on your desk, this show is for you.
Each episode shares candid stories and practical, proven tools to help you build clearer systems, steadier leadership, and a grounded approach to success that doesn’t cost you yourself.
Episodes
203 episodes
Send in the Adults| Mature vs. Immature Leadership
That late-night ping on your phone. The one that lights up after you've finally given yourself permission to be done for the day.You open it and find it's not urgent. And something in your chest tightens, because earlier that same day, t...
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Episode 202
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38:31
When Words and Actions Don’t Match · The 4 Types of Power (Revisited w/ a fresh take)
You've probably felt it lately…that low-grade frustration of watching a conversation that's supposed to go somewhere, go nowhere. Whether it's a congressional hearing, a leadership meeting, or a dinner table debate, there's a partic...
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Episode 201
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36:53
We're Still Here | What Makes It Possible to Stay with What Matters
"Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it."Mary Oliver wrote those words, and they've become something like a quiet compass for meaningful work. A reminder to stay awake to what's here, let it move you, and share what you notice.<...
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Episode 200
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23:08
Unhurried Leadership | Reclaiming your pace when everything feels rushed
Do you regularly you reach for your phone to reply to messages or emails that could wait? Commit to things before you've even felt out whether it's a true yes? Try to keep up with a kind of momentum that you didn’t create?When the world ...
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Episode 199
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26:44
The Midnight Leadership Trilogy | Part 3: The Future That’s Been Trying to Get Your Attention
What if the future you're longing for has already been trying to reach you?Your next season might not arrive with a blueprint. Instead of showing up as a clear strategy, it begins as something quieter: a gut feeling, a pull towa...
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Episode 198
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19:33
The Midnight Leadership Trilogy | Part 2: The Weight You Don’t Have to Carry into the New Year
What if the heaviness you're carrying isn't actually responsibility?Sometimes we mistake obligation for commitment, or we confuse what kept us safe with what will carry us forward. But underneath that sense of duty, there's ofte...
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Episode 197
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20:02
The Midnight Leadership Trilogy | Part 1: The Thing You’ve Known All Along
Does your inner season feel disconnected from what's on your calendar? The gap between what looks right on paper and what feels right in your body isn't confusion. That's wisdom trying to get your attention. It's a cue to p...
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Episode 196
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17:03
The Steady Center Series | Part 3: What We Bring to the Dark
Here's a question we don’t tend to ask ourselves: What if the dark isn't something to escape?What if chaos, disintegration, and incoherence are just natural parts of living? Like soil in the earth where things regenerate and new...
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Episode 195
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24:10
The Steady Center Series | Part 2: Regeneration Begins Where Depletion Is Named
If you woke up tired today, not from a crisis, but just from living, this one's for you.Because here's the thing: most of us don't break down because we're weak. We get worn out because we've been strong for too darn long.
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Episode 194
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24:39
The Steady Center Series | Part One: Fairy Wings in a Wild World
We cannot transform what we won’t touch.It takes real valor to tell the truth about what’s not working, especially when life feels both brutal and beautiful all at once. For leaders, caregivers, and high achievers, ...
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Episode 193
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23:10
The End of Overgiving | You Are Not the Whole Ecosystem
If your brain still whispers, “If I don’t do it, it won’t get done,” you’re not alone.High-achievers and caregivers alike have been conditioned to believe that love means carrying it all — every project, eve...
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Episode 192
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26:40
Steady On | The “Unproductive” Habits That Make You a Braver Leader
The world tells us progress is measured in speed, output, and proof. Yet some of the most powerful shifts happen in the smallest, quietest moments—a breath you actually notice, a slow stir of the pot, a walk with no destination. ...
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Episode 191
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23:43
Success Beyond the Spreadsheet| Redefining What Counts
The air is getting cooler, the light is waning earlier each night, and yet…the drumbeat to “finish strong” grows louder. The pressure to do more is palpable, to push harder and squeeze just a little extra out of yourself before the year ends.&n...
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Episode 190
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20:42
Putting the Self in Success: How to shape your goals around what gives you joy and meaning.
As the air shifts and the year leans toward its close, it’s easy to get swept up in the rush. New strategies, fresh pivots, the endless push for “more.” But what if the most powerful move isn’t chasing something new, but noticing what’s already...
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Episode 189
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31:15
What Really Matters | Honoring Priorities That Sustain You
When was the last time you slowed down long enough to notice what truly matters?In a culture that glorifies endless productivity, it can feel radical to measure our lives not by what we produce but by what we priori...
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Episode 188
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15:28
The Strategic Art of Basking | Why Slowing Down Is Your Most Radical Leadership Move
“Just to like live it.” That's what seven-year-old Julian said when asked about the meaning of life. Kids really do know things we forget.One of those things is the pure joy in the simplicity of ...
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Episode 187
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19:34
Why Does This Always Fall on Me? | A live conversation about stepping out of the fixer role without burning bridges
If you're the one everyone comes to for solutions, the one who holds it all together at home and work, have you ever wondered…”Why is it always me?” Being "the fixer" isn't just about what we do. It's about the internal compulsion w...
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Episode 186
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1:00:17
Who's Really in Charge Here? Spotting the Power Plays That Make Group Dynamics Tricky, with Jack Mason-Goodall
RSVP HERE to Join us for the LIVE Recording of Episode 186: “Why Does This Always Fall on Me?: A Live Conversation About Stepping Out of the Fixer Role Without B...
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Episode 185
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45:53
Why Groups Feel Like Herding Cats—And How to Actually Get Somewhere, with Jack Mason-Goodall
Another work meeting, or family phone call, same exhausting dynamics.You know the scene: Someone brought snacks, there's polite chatter about the weather, and then... the same voices dominate while others quietly disengage. The tension b...
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Episode 184
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44:24
The Pause with a Pulse | How to Navigate the In-Between
You’ve finally gotten what you wanted—the freedom, the team, the space to breathe. So why does it feel so... strange? Somehow, the discomfort of this in-between feels more unsettling than the chaos you left behind.Or, maybe you’ve made t...
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Episode 183
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23:42
Replace the 5-Year Plan | Why linear goals fail in nonlinear lives
You’ve meticulously crafted the perfect five-year plan, only to watch life crumple it up like yesterday's newspaper. Maybe you've found yourself questioning whether you're off track because nothing is lining up the way it "should."Here’s...
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Episode 182
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22:36
This Was Supposed to Feel Better | What real change stirs up
Change doesn't always arrive the way we expect it to.Have you ever had your world turned upside down, only to realize later it was the doorway to something better? Something bigger? Maybe even something more honest?Whethe...
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29:33
Self-Worth is an Inside Job | How to navigate self-doubt and lay the groundwork for joy
Pssst…here’s something you need to know:You deserve good things. You are worthy of love, abundance, and joy. Now, how does it feel to take that in? What sensations do yo...
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56:16
Lost Your Mojo? | Lessons on Languishing and Rediscovering Joy
If you’re languishing and you know it, clap your hands. (Or roll your eyes.)Why acknowledge something as unglamorous as languishing? Because recognizing how you’re really feeling is the first step to getting unstuck. It's the mo...
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42:23