Why I Started Breaking Rank: The Truth Behind the Movement

Leadership has rules – spoken and unspoken.

And for most of my career, I tried to follow them.

I thought if I worked hard, stayed humble, delivered results, and “paid my dues,” leadership opportunities would naturally follow. I believed that titles were earned through discipline and that people like me, people who didn’t fit the traditional mold, would eventually be recognized.

But that’s not how leadership works in the real world.

Leadership isn’t something you wait to be given.Leadership is something you claim.

And that realization is where Breaking Rank began.

The Moment I Realized I Was “Breaking Rank”

There wasn’t one dramatic moment. No lightning bolt. No grand epiphany.

It was a slow, steady awakening.

I looked around at the leaders who shaped the industry I worked in – polished, traditional, confident in a way that reflected decades of unchallenged norms. Their paths seemed linear and scripted. Mine was messy, nontraditional, shaped by resilience, survival, and grit.

I didn’t look like them.

I didn’t talk like them.

My background didn’t mirror theirs.

My journey certainly didn’t follow the same rules.

But I was still leading.

Not because someone gave me a title, but because people trusted me. They followed my ideas, my strategies, my instinct. And yet, for years, I convinced myself I had to shrink to fit an outdated mold.

Breaking Rank was born the day I stopped trying.

What I Saw Missing in Leadership Conversations

Let’s be honest: traditional leadership spaces still reward sameness.

They celebrate a narrow version of what leadership “should” look like – polished pedigree, linear career path, immaculate image, no visible scars, no messy humanity.

But the most powerful leaders I know are nothing like that.

They’re unconventional.

They’re underestimated.

They’re battle-tested.

They’ve led without permission.

They’ve broken the rules, not out of rebellion, but out of necessity.

These are the leaders we rarely hear about.

These are the voices I created Breaking Rank to amplify.

The Truth: Breaking Rank Is Bigger Than a Podcast

This isn’t just a show.

It’s a platform.

A philosophy.

A permission slip.

Breaking Rank is for people who:

• Challenge traditional power structures

• Lead without fancy titles

• Build influence from the margins

• Refuse to play politics at the expense of authenticity

• Redefine what leadership looks like

And it’s especially for women and people of color who have been told, implicitly or explicitly, that real leadership doesn’t look like them.

Spoiler alert: It absolutely does.

Why This Matters Now

We’re living through a leadership crisis.

People are leaving workplaces not because they can’t do the job, but because they’re tired of being unseen, unsupported, and undervalued. They’re exhausted by performative leadership. They’re done with outdated systems.

The world is ready for a new kind of leader, one who is:

• Authentic

• Self-aware

• Human

• Unafraid to challenge norms

• Willing to grow publicly, not perfectly

Breaking Rank exists to showcase exactly that.

What You Can Expect From Breaking Rank

Every episode, blog, and conversation will offer:

• Real leadership stories – not the polished version

• Unfiltered conversations with unconventional leaders

• Strategies for growing your power and influence

• Lessons from people who succeed without following the script

• Permission to lead in your own voice, not someone else’s

I’m not here to give you the corporate version of leadership.

I’m here to give you the real version.

My Hope for This Community

I want Breaking Rank to be a place where people come to feel:

• Seen

• Empowered

• Validated

• Challenged

• Inspired

I want every reader and listener to walk away thinking:

“I don’t need to fit the mold. I can break rank – and still rise.”

Because you can. And you will.

Join the Movement

If this story resonated, share it with someone who is tired of shrinking to fit the room.

And tell me in the comments (or email me privately):

What’s one moment in your career when you realized you were breaking rank?