Who are you beyond your title?

Leadership development isn't just about skills it's about who you are becoming. In this episode of Inside Leadership, I reflect on the first cohort of the Phoenix Leadership Experience, the recurring theme that keeps emerging in every room I walk into, and the questions that every EA and leader needs to sit with.

A 2026 Check-In

It's hard to believe we're already well into 2026. It's been just over six months since I launched my own business as a sole trader coaching, running training and facilitating workshops both in person and online. And what a six months it's been.

The biggest milestone has been the launch of the Phoenix Leadership Experience.

The first cohort kicked off in February and is now in its final two modules. Watching this group evolve has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. The cohesion, the openness, the way they've become genuinely supportive of each other it's grown significantly from where they started.

"Leadership development isn't just about skills — it's about who you are becoming."

The Three Pillars of the Phoenix Leadership Experience

The program is built on three interconnected pillars, and understanding how they work together is key to understanding why the transformation participants experience goes so much deeper than a typical training course.

01

Leadership & Strategy

Six modules developing strategic thinking, communication and leadership capability.

02

Identity & Design

Going inward who you are beyond your role, your unique strengths and natural ways of working.

03 Embodiment

Aligning your unique identity with your environment, role and strategy in the real world.

Tools like Human Design, astrology blueprints and eDisc behavioural diagnostics aren't extras they're central to pillar two. The whole point is that there's only one uniquely you in this world. When you understand your natural strengths and motivators, you can lean into them rather than operating against the grain — which is one of the fastest roads to burnout.

What We've Covered So Far

From the very first session, participants receive their Human Design and astrology blueprints that "who am I?" piece is built in from the start and becomes a reference point throughout the whole program.

Beyond identity, we go deep on effective communication as a leadership capability: how you show up in conversations, the meta-programs running in the background that shape how you interpret information, how that affects your state and physiology, and ultimately how it shapes your behaviour and your reality. It's a full loop inner world to outer world.

We also explore values not as an abstract exercise, but as a recognition that we are always making decisions based on our values, whether we're conscious of it or not. When life feels aligned, it's usually because you're living closer to your values. And then we map goals not just any goals, but goals reverse-engineered over three years and broken into a 90-day action plan so you walk away with something concrete and actionable immediately.

The Theme That Keeps Emerging Everywhere

Whether I'm facilitating a cohort, running a workshop with the Leadership Institute in Canberra or Melbourne, or having a one-on-one conversation the same theme comes up every single time.

"I'm just an EA."

It's a limiting belief that runs deep, and in some environments there are people actively feeding that belief. But here's what I know: when you hold that belief yourself, it's something you can reframe. And the reframe starts from the inside out.

In the Phoenix Leadership Experience, I use an 11-step process to help participants unpack that belief and any other belief that's holding them back. We trace where it came from. We question whether it's actually true. We use metaphor to see it from a new angle. And often, once it's unpacked, it starts to look a little bit ridiculous.

"When you as a person changes, everything else changes. You are the operator of the system."

Once you start showing up as someone who is more than just an assistant — someone who thinks strategically, who understands the company's direction, who aligns their actions to the 90-day plan your internal physiology shifts, your behaviours change, and then your external reality starts to shift too. That's the ripple effect. That's the "show me" moment.

Reflective Questions to Sit With

Before I wrap up, I'd love you to take a moment with these questions:

Questions to explore

• Who am I being in my role — beyond my job title?

• On a scale of 0–10, where am I actually sitting as a strategic leader?

• Do I need to build specific skills or capabilities to get there?

• Is my current environment going to elevate me to where I want to go?

• Are my personal values and goals aligned with my organisation's purpose?

• Am I allowing my most authentic self to lead?

The real transformation here isn't about finding more apps, productivity systems or tools. Those things help, but they're not the shift that matters most. The real work is changing how you as the operator, operate. When that changes, everything changes. Even the quality of your AI prompts gets better when your thinking gets clearer.

What's Coming Up

20 April 2026

Phoenix Leadership Experience — Cohort 2

6 modules, run over evenings so you keep your day job. Highly personalised, maximum 8 spaces.

8 spaces remaining

23 - 30 October 2026

Bali Leadership Retreat — Ubud

A deeper immersive experience to reconnect with yourself and your higher purpose.

10% off book by today 30 March

Ready to evolve?

Leaders who are ready to step into their full identity

The Phoenix Leadership Experience is for ambitious senior EAs and leaders who want deeper self-awareness and are ready to lead with authenticity.

Apply for Cohort 2 Learn About Bali

Jacqueline Delarue is a leadership coach, trainer and facilitator specialising in identity-led leadership for executive assistants and senior professionals. New episodes of Inside Leadership drop weekly.