In this episode, Elena Armijo sits down with executive coach and facilitator Natalie Rothfels for a rich exploration of what it truly means to meet people where they are. Drawing from Natalie’s background as a startup operator, educator, and team coach, the conversation moves beneath surface-level performance and into the deeper dynamics shaping how leaders and teams relate, communicate, and grow together.
Check out Elena’s website to learn more about how she can support you in seeing and using the power that resides within you.
Elena opens with a coaching reflection on curiosity over assumption, honoring capacity alongside expectation, and anchoring leadership conversations in shared humanity and dignity. This creates a strong foundation for a thoughtful conversation on group energetics, trust, and the unseen forces shaping collaboration.
Natalie shares how her early experiences navigating family dynamics sharpened her sensitivity to group patterns, unspoken tension, and emotional undercurrents. She explains how this awareness now informs her work with co-founders and leadership teams, especially in high pressure and fast moving environments. Natalie emphasizes the importance of starting in the language people already speak, building safety first, and slowly expanding awareness through lived experience, instead of introducing unfamiliar language too quickly.
The episode also dives into groups and experiential learning, highlighting why real time feedback, relational practice, and developmental pacing matter more than quick fixes. Together, Elena and Natalie unpack trust as a behavioral experience rather than a vague concept, explore how teams move through cycles of formation and disruption, and reflect on the long term legacy leaders create through their inner work.
This conversation is an invitation to slow down, listen more deeply, and recognize leadership as both a personal and collective responsibility. It offers grounded insight for anyone working with teams, partnerships, or communities who wants to lead with clarity, presence, and care.
If this conversation resonated with you, tune into Natalie’s podcast Is It Just Me? where real coaching conversations transform work frustration and overwhelm into clarity, action, and growth.
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This podcast was produced by the following amazing team:
Alan Meaney, Audio Engineer
Aaron Boykin, Musician & Artist (Get updates about Aaron’s music via Instagram)
Jo van Eeden, Project Manager
Elena Armijo
Coach, Facilitator, Product Leader
Natalie Rothfels is an executive coach and facilitator who partners with co-founders, leadership teams, and new executives to transform how they work together. With a decade of experience as a product leader at Khan Academy and Quizlet, she brings deep operational expertise to her coaching practice.
Natalie specializes in strengthening interpersonal dynamics and building cohesive leadership teams, knowing that even the best strategies fail when relationships break down. Her approach integrates multiple disciplines: she's a Certified Internal Family Systems Practitioner, facilitates Stanford Graduate School of Business's renowned Interpersonal Dynamics course, and holds PCC credentials from the International Coaching Federation.
She also hosts "Is It Just Me?"—a podcast featuring real, unscripted coaching conversations that address the burnout, loneliness, and self-criticism so common in today's workplace.