Empowered, Not Perfect: The Real Work of Healing While Leading

Aug 15, 2025
2 min read

Updated: Sep 26, 2025

By Jennifer Perri

Let’s get honest for a second.

Being a leader while you’re still healing is no small task. Whether you’re running a business, managing a team, raising a family- or all of the above- it can feel like you’re expected to hold it all together, all the time.

I’ve been there. And I used to believe that to be taken seriously, to be effective, to be worthy of leading- I had to be completely healed. I had to have all the answers. I had to be rock solid.

But then life handed me something I never saw coming.

When I was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, everything came to a halt. I went from high-achieving, nonstop-doing… to barely able to move. I had to relearn how to walk, how to function, how to ask for help- something I had always struggled with.

It was humbling. It was painful. And it forced me to strip away every title and every layer of “I’ve got this” and face the truth:

I was still worthy, even when I wasn’t at my strongest.

That experience didn’t break me. It revealed me.

And what it revealed was this:

You don’t have to be fully healed to lead.

You don’t have to be perfect to make an impact.

You just have to be willing to show up—as you are.

Now, as a transformational coach, I work with women navigating their own versions of “starting over.” Some are fresh out of divorce. Others are recovering from burnout, big life shifts, or emotional wounds.

And almost every one of them asks a version of this question:

“How can I lead when I’m still figuring it out myself?”

Here’s what I tell them—every time:

You lead from where you are. Not from where you think you “should” be.

Leadership doesn’t require perfection.

It requires presence.

It requires compassion—for yourself and others. And sometimes, it requires the courage to say, “I don’t have it all figured out, but I’m still showing up.”

Some of the strongest, most impactful women I know are still in process.

Still healing. Still learning.

And yet—they’re changing lives.

Not because they have it all together, but because they lead with honesty, vulnerability, and heart.

That’s what people connect with—not the filtered, polished version of you, but the real one.

I still have days where doubt creeps in. Days I feel stretched thin or uncertain. But I don’t see that as weakness anymore. I see it as being human. And more importantly—I see it as being honest.