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Episode Description

In this episode, Julia speaks with Alia Whitney Johnson about the role of energy in leadership and how to sustain it within both teams and oneself. Alia encourages us to see team members not just as colleagues but as sources of energy. She shares strategies for uplifting team energy, maintaining momentum even in a leader’s absence, and navigating moments when energy takes a downward turn.

The conversation delves into the challenge of letting go of those who drain energy, the importance of sustaining positive momentum, and the hardest task of all—protecting personal energy when stepping into toxic or unfamiliar environments.

This episode invites leaders to rethink team dynamics and to approach leadership as the art of managing, sustaining and elevating energy.

About the Guests

Alia Whitney Johnson

Alia Whitney Johnson is a social entrepreneur and humanitarian leader with experience in crisis response, leadership development and youth empowerment. She is the founder of Emerge Global, an organisation that supports survivors of sexual abuse, and has worked extensively in international development. Passionate about building resilient teams, Alia focuses on the power of energy in driving meaningful and lasting change.

About the Host

Julia Middleton

Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading.

In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.

Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan.

Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.