In this episode Maureen Ross Gemme, clean and sober since 1985, shares some of the reasons why humans feel the need to escape past trauma and current painful experiences by using substances and other addictive behaviors. When addictive behaviors impact our life in a negative way we begin to see that feeling the pain might be easier in the long run.
It takes a lot but when we do get in recovery and away from our addiction, we learn how to deal with life on life’s terms, feel the pain and heal the trauma. After a while we realize we have all the skills it takes to be a successful leader because of what we learned in recovery: empathetic listening, honesty, integrity, reliability, approachability, self-reflection, self-esteem, humility, patience, tolerance, boundary setting, and many other competencies that build trust with people.
Listen to this podcast episode here
You’ll learn:
- How to assess whether you are ready to step into leadership
- Why people in recovery make excellent leaders
About Maureen
Ross Gemme Maureen Ross Gemme, MS Ed., CEO of Emerge Leadership Academy, began training leaders across New England in 2015 after a 30 year corporate career. A motorcycle riding grandmother and personal growth advocate, Maureen trains and coaches leaders who want to make an impact.
She is passionate about helping her clients step into their full potential and develop others on their team. As a personality expert, Maureen helps her audiences own their own gifts and embrace the differences in the diversity of others to build better relationships. After living through her teenage years as a drug addict and alcoholic, Maureen stepped into recovery and created an awesome life. She has a deep compassion for helping others to emerge, evolve and lead their best lives and created the Recovery@Work program to help for those who are ready.