Rewrite Your Inner Playlist with Susan Drumm and discover how music and mindset can break old patterns and elevate your leadership.
Summary
If you are ready to rewrite your inner playlist, here is the truth: if you are running an inner track of “I am not enough,” life will keep handing you proof that you are not enough. Until you change the track, nothing changes.
In this episode of Reflect Forward, I sit down with Susan Drumm, CEO advisor, speaker, and author, to explore how our unconscious patterns drive our leadership and lives and how we can disrupt them using something as simple and profound as music.
Meet Susan Drumm
Susan is the bestselling author of The Leaders Playlist and founder of Meritage Leadership. She has spent more than twenty years helping leaders identify the emotional patterns holding them back and replacing them with more empowering ones. She combines neuroscience, the Enneagram, and music to help leaders create new neural pathways and transition into more conscious leadership.
Why Patterns Run the Show
Susan explains that our patterns are not just habits. They are deeply grooved neural highways formed over time, often beginning in childhood. These patterns once protected us, but now they can keep us stuck, repeating the same behaviors even when we know they no longer serve us.
The Enneagram becomes a powerful tool here because it focuses on why we do what we do. When leaders understand their underlying motivation, they stop reading everyone else through their own filter and start leading with clarity, empathy, and purpose.
I share openly about my Type Three pattern of wanting to keep everyone comfortable and how this showed up in my marriage, my divorce, and my leadership. Awareness truly is the first act of liberation.
Music as a Leadership Transformation Tool
Susan’s core method centers on the idea that music accelerates neuroplasticity, making it easier to break old emotional loops and build new ones.
The process is simple and powerful:
1. Name your old playlist (e.g., “I am unworthy”).
2. Choose a pattern interrupt song that captures that old story.
3. Create a new playlist based on an “I am” statement you want to embody.
4. Practice being in that emotional state through movement and repetition.
She shares a story of a high-achieving leader whose identity was completely tied to work. Through playlist work, he reclaimed his sense of freedom and took a six-week vacation for the first time. His company performed better without him micromanaging.
Why This Matters for Leaders
This conversation is for anyone who feels stuck in familiar loops, triggered by the same dynamics, or ready to take full ownership of their inner world.
When you change your internal playlist, you change your leadership. You change your relationships. You change your life.
Key Takeaways
• Your inner playlist shapes your external reality.
• Patterns are neural pathways—once protective, now restrictive.
• The Enneagram helps you understand motivation, not just behavior.
• Music accelerates real emotional and leadership transformation.
• Owning your triggers is an act of power, not blame.
Mic Drop Moments
1. “If you are running a playlist of ‘I am not enough,’ life will keep giving you evidence of that.”
2. “You built the cage—and you are holding the key.”
3. “You are not your title or success. You are your joy, impact, and freedom.
Connect with Kerry
Visit my website, kerrysiggins.com, to explore my book, The Ownership Mindset, and get more leadership resources. Let’s connect on LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok!
Find Reflect Forward on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kerrysiggins-reflectforward
Find out more about my book here: https://kerrysiggins.com/the-ownership-mindset/
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-siggins/
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Rewrite Your Inner Playlist with Susan Drumm and discover how music and mindset can break old patterns and elevate your leadership.
Summary
If you are ready to rewrite your inner playlist, here is the truth: if you are running an inner track of “I am not enough,” life will keep handing you proof that you are not enough. Until you change the track, nothing changes.
In this episode of Reflect Forward, I sit down with Susan Drumm, CEO advisor, speaker, and author, to explore how our unconscious patterns drive our leadership and lives and how we can disrupt them using something as simple and profound as music.
Meet Susan Drumm
Susan is the bestselling author of The Leaders Playlist and founder of Meritage Leadership. She has spent more than twenty years helping leaders identify the emotional patterns holding them back and replacing them with more empowering ones. She combines neuroscience, the Enneagram, and music to help leaders create new neural pathways and transition into more conscious leadership.
Why Patterns Run the Show
Susan explains that our patterns are not just habits. They are deeply grooved neural highways formed over time, often beginning in childhood. These patterns once protected us, but now they can keep us stuck, repeating the same behaviors even when we know they no longer serve us.
The Enneagram becomes a powerful tool here because it focuses on why we do what we do. When leaders understand their underlying motivation, they stop reading everyone else through their own filter and start leading with clarity, empathy, and purpose.
I share openly about my Type Three pattern of wanting to keep everyone comfortable and how this showed up in my marriage, my divorce, and my leadership. Awareness truly is the first act of liberation.
Music as a Leadership Transformation Tool
Susan’s core method centers on the idea that music accelerates neuroplasticity, making it easier to break old emotional loops and build new ones.
The process is simple and powerful:
1. Name your old playlist (e.g., “I am unworthy”).
2. Choose a pattern interrupt song that captures that old story.
3. Create a new playlist based on an “I am” statement you want to embody.
4. Practice being in that emotional state through movement and repetition.
She shares a story of a high-achieving leader whose identity was completely tied to work. Through playlist work, he reclaimed his sense of freedom and took a six-week vacation for the first time. His company performed better without him micromanaging.
Why This Matters for Leaders
This conversation is for anyone who feels stuck in familiar loops, triggered by the same dynamics, or ready to take full ownership of their inner world.
When you change your internal playlist, you change your leadership. You change your relationships. You change your life.
Key Takeaways
• Your inner playlist shapes your external reality.
• Patterns are neural pathways—once protective, now restrictive.
• The Enneagram helps you understand motivation, not just behavior.
• Music accelerates real emotional and leadership transformation.
• Owning your triggers is an act of power, not blame.
Mic Drop Moments
1. “If you are running a playlist of ‘I am not enough,’ life will keep giving you evidence of that.”
2. “You built the cage—and you are holding the key.”
3. “You are not your title or success. You are your joy, impact, and freedom.
Connect with Kerry
Visit my website, kerrysiggins.com, to explore my book, The Ownership Mindset, and get more leadership resources. Let’s connect on LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok!
Find Reflect Forward on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kerrysiggins-reflectforward
Find out more about my book here: https://kerrysiggins.com/the-ownership-mindset/
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-siggins/
What the best leaders do when no one is watching is what truly defines them. Leadership integrity isn’t built in front of a crowd; it’s forged in the quiet, unseen moments when no one is keeping score. The choices you make in private—whether to cut a corner, live your values, or own a mistake—are the foundation for building trust as a leader. When you consistently choose the harder right over the easier wrong, you strengthen self-trust, gain unshakable confidence, and set the tone for your entire culture. Leading with values in private is what makes people believe in you in public.
It’s easy to show up strong when the spotlight is on. But it’s what you do when the room is empty, the pressure is high, and the easier wrong beckons that proves whether you’re a leader worth following.
In this week’s episode of Reflect Forward, I share the moments that tested my integrity behind the scenes, such as halting the launch of a new product, even though it cost us time and money, because I refused to cut corners. I talk about owning mistakes before anyone noticed, walking away from a big client who didn’t align with our values, and protecting a team member’s reputation when exposing them would have been easier.
None of those choices made headlines. Most people never even knew. But those decisions shaped me into a leader I can trust and when you trust yourself to live your values no matter what, your team will too.
As J.C. Watts famously said, “Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.” And as Carl Jung reminds us, “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
This episode will inspire you to reflect on your own behind-the-scenes leadership habits and give you three simple practices to strengthen your integrity muscle—so that when the world is watching, you’ll lead with magnetic confidence.
Key Takeaways
1. Integrity in private is the foundation of trust in public. Don’t ruin trust by making poor decisions when no one’s watching.
2. Confidence comes from self-trust. Every time you choose the harder right over the easier wrong, you reinforce the belief that you can count on yourself.
3. The ripple effect is real. Quiet, values-driven choices shape culture and reputation far more than speeches ever will.
Mic Drop Moment
“The easiest time to lower your standards is when no one’s around to see. The best leaders raise them instead.”
Connect with Kerry
Don’t forget to subscribe to Reflect Forward on your favorite podcast platform or YouTube. Visit my website, kerrysiggins.com, to explore my book, The Ownership Mindset, and get more leadership resources. Let’s connect on LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok!
Find Reflect Forward on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kerrysiggins-reflectforward
Find out more about my book here: https://kerrysiggins.com/the-ownership-mindset/
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-siggins/
Reflect Forward
Rewrite Your Inner Playlist with Susan Drumm and discover how music and mindset can break old patterns and elevate your leadership.
Summary
If you are ready to rewrite your inner playlist, here is the truth: if you are running an inner track of “I am not enough,” life will keep handing you proof that you are not enough. Until you change the track, nothing changes.
In this episode of Reflect Forward, I sit down with Susan Drumm, CEO advisor, speaker, and author, to explore how our unconscious patterns drive our leadership and lives and how we can disrupt them using something as simple and profound as music.
Meet Susan Drumm
Susan is the bestselling author of The Leaders Playlist and founder of Meritage Leadership. She has spent more than twenty years helping leaders identify the emotional patterns holding them back and replacing them with more empowering ones. She combines neuroscience, the Enneagram, and music to help leaders create new neural pathways and transition into more conscious leadership.
Why Patterns Run the Show
Susan explains that our patterns are not just habits. They are deeply grooved neural highways formed over time, often beginning in childhood. These patterns once protected us, but now they can keep us stuck, repeating the same behaviors even when we know they no longer serve us.
The Enneagram becomes a powerful tool here because it focuses on why we do what we do. When leaders understand their underlying motivation, they stop reading everyone else through their own filter and start leading with clarity, empathy, and purpose.
I share openly about my Type Three pattern of wanting to keep everyone comfortable and how this showed up in my marriage, my divorce, and my leadership. Awareness truly is the first act of liberation.
Music as a Leadership Transformation Tool
Susan’s core method centers on the idea that music accelerates neuroplasticity, making it easier to break old emotional loops and build new ones.
The process is simple and powerful:
1. Name your old playlist (e.g., “I am unworthy”).
2. Choose a pattern interrupt song that captures that old story.
3. Create a new playlist based on an “I am” statement you want to embody.
4. Practice being in that emotional state through movement and repetition.
She shares a story of a high-achieving leader whose identity was completely tied to work. Through playlist work, he reclaimed his sense of freedom and took a six-week vacation for the first time. His company performed better without him micromanaging.
Why This Matters for Leaders
This conversation is for anyone who feels stuck in familiar loops, triggered by the same dynamics, or ready to take full ownership of their inner world.
When you change your internal playlist, you change your leadership. You change your relationships. You change your life.
Key Takeaways
• Your inner playlist shapes your external reality.
• Patterns are neural pathways—once protective, now restrictive.
• The Enneagram helps you understand motivation, not just behavior.
• Music accelerates real emotional and leadership transformation.
• Owning your triggers is an act of power, not blame.
Mic Drop Moments
1. “If you are running a playlist of ‘I am not enough,’ life will keep giving you evidence of that.”
2. “You built the cage—and you are holding the key.”
3. “You are not your title or success. You are your joy, impact, and freedom.
Connect with Kerry
Visit my website, kerrysiggins.com, to explore my book, The Ownership Mindset, and get more leadership resources. Let’s connect on LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok!
Find Reflect Forward on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kerrysiggins-reflectforward
Find out more about my book here: https://kerrysiggins.com/the-ownership-mindset/
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-siggins/
