Authenticity in Leadership: Leading Without Pretending | Manyana Schmitz x Pooja Lalwani | BareLead

BareLead is a leadership podcast exploring the raw, unfiltered, unabashed truths of leadership - the decisions, tensions, and responsibilities that shape how leaders actually lead.In this episode, Pooja Lalwani speaks with Manyana Schmitz about authenticity in leadership and what it means to lead without performing a version of yourself that doesn’t fit.Manyana’s journey spans from starting as a project manager to leading teams of more than 80 people while driving complex digital transformation initiatives. Along the way, she encountered a familiar message many leaders hear - that leadership requires adopting a certain persona.At one point, a leadership coach advised her that to succeed, she would have to remain a project manager not just at work, but in life as well. Instead, she chose a different path: leading as herself.In this conversation, we explore what happens when leaders stop performing and start showing up authentically - normalising emotions at work, encouraging others to bring their full selves to the table, and building trust through transparency.Themes explored in this episode:• What authenticity in leadership really looks like in practice• Why Manyana chose not to adopt a “leadership persona”• Normalising emotions and humanity in the workplace• Leading large teams while putting people first• Transparency — what leaders can and cannot share• The role of personal anchors and support systems in leadership• Reframing and normalising feminine traits in leadershipBareLead strips leadership down to its mechanics — the decisions, trade-offs, and internal work that rarely make it into leadership books.If you value thoughtful conversations on leadership, subscribe for future BareLead episodes.About BareLeadBareLead is a podcast unpacking the raw mechanics of leadership - power, responsibility, and what it really means to hold both.Hosted by Pooja Lalwani.