What Standing Calmly in the Face of Power Taught Me About Leadership
Some lessons don’t come from books or mentors. They arrive quietly—when life leans in and asks:
Will you disappear… or will you stand?
Years ago, I found myself inside a large corporate—Sanlam. On paper, it promised safety. with a Sanlam Corporate group benefit arrangement baked in. Security. Care.
In reality, I learned something different.
When I needed that support, I entered a maze.
A physiotherapist assessed my future. Claim denied. Twice. Not with drama. But with paperwork. Policies. Professional smiles.
A corporate lawyer benevolently masked as an Internal Arbitrator reviewed my humanity. Again—claim denied. Twice.
No villain. No raised voices. Just a slow, draining process that seemed designed to wear a person down until they stopped asking.
What stayed with me wasn’t the outcome.
It was what the process revealed about power.
Lesson One: Power Expects You to Break
Big systems are prepared for anger. They’re prepared for fear. They’re prepared for tears, panic, emotional collapse.
What they’re not prepared for is a calm woman—or man—who doesn’t flinch.
I didn’t shout. I didn’t plead. I didn’t perform pain to be believed.
I read. I asked questions. I stayed steady.
That alone shifted the room.
Lesson Two: Calm Is Not Weak—It’s Wild
We’ve been taught that strength must look sharp. Loud. Aggressive.
But real strength—especially feminine strength—often moves differently.
It’s quiet. Grounded. Unshakeable.
I’ve seen this strength in extraordinary women everywhere:
A junior lawyer holding her line in a meeting.
A marketer trusting her instinct over approval.
A female founder & Entrepreneur building between school runs.
A mother creating something meaningful in the margins of life.
You don’t need to dominate to be powerful. You don’t need to burn bridges to be seen.
You need clarity. And the courage to trust yourself.
Lesson Three: Don’t Give Up—Surrender
This was the hardest lesson for me.
There is a difference between giving up and surrendering.
Giving up is collapse. Surrender is choosing alignment over control. Its doing your best and surrendering the outcome to The CEO of the Universe. As a man of faith, I've learnt to trust Him. To rely on Him. To depend on Him.
I don’t quit. It’s not in my wiring. Never did. Never will. it's a word that I don't understand. But I learned to surrender my grip on how my dreams would arrive. I did the dream work. I showed up. I stood my ground. I worked relentlessly in pursuing my dream that became my massive transformative purpose—to help, heal and transform one million people by 5pm on December 31, 2035, moving them from ordinary to extraordinary, working class to world class and heedlessness to wakefulness, empowering them to live more meaningful, measurable and magnificently sustainable lives.
And then—I let life breathe. I surrendered the how and when to the CEO of the Universe. I stopped obsessing over that December 2035 deadline.
When I surrendered, bathed in in humility, trust, certainty, surrender and fear for Him while showing fearlessness for His creation, that’s when a path revealed itself. Resources suddenly appeared. Leverage showed up. Networks were made and opportunities were unlocked. All cloaked in confidence.
My reality had no other option but to re-arrange itself around my new frequency. Not forcefully. Naturally.
Lesson Four: Fearlessness Is Quietly Dangerous
Here’s what I know now:
When you show humility toward life itself, you become fearless toward systems, institutions, and people.
Not reckless. Not arrogant.
Just… unmovable.
And that kind of presence—especially in women—changes the equation.
A Question You May Have Been Avoiding
Have you ever been corporately betrayed or even betrayed by a loved one—quietly sidelined, gaslit by process, exhausted by systems that promised protection but delivered silence? Have you ever done everything “right” and still felt unseen, unheard, or subtly punished for your integrity, intelligence, or courage? If part of this story stirred something in you—if you felt a quiet yes in your body rather than a loud reaction in your mind—then you’re not alone. Many women don’t burn out because they’re weak. They burn out because they’re awake in systems that reward compliance over conscience.
There is a moment in every life where the soul whispers, “I’m ready now.” Ready to stop surviving. Ready to stop explaining. Ready to return to clarity, sovereignty, and inner authority.
Why This Matters—for You
This isn’t about insurance. Or corporations. Or winning arguments.
This is about becoming someone who cannot be diminished.
This applies if you are:
finding your voice,
navigating complex systems,
leading without a title,
building something quietly,
tired of shrinking to survive.
You don’t need permission. You don’t need a label. You don’t need to be louder.
You need to remember who you are.
This Is the Work We Do at Elysium
At Elysium, we don’t offer information. We facilitate transformation.
We help people:
regulate their nervous systems,
reclaim inner authority,
lead without masks,
stand calmly inside complexity,
surrender outcomes without surrendering self.
This work isn’t elitist. It isn’t performative. It’s deeply human.
We don't treat the mind. We treat your soul. This is not mind candy. Its nutrition for the soul.
We take you back—to yourself. Not to become someone new. Not to become someone new— but to return to who you’ve always been. but to return to who you’ve always been.
If this resonates, explore what we’re building.