There's a hidden cost that many women leaders pay daily—one that doesn't appear on any financial statement but exacts a tremendous toll on both personal wellbeing and organizational outcomes. I call it the misalignment tax: the cumulative price paid when your leadership position and personal purpose exist in separate universes rather than in harmonious alignment.

When I think about leadership—what shapes it, what strengthens it, and what challenges it—I’m always drawn to the personal stories behind the leaders we admire. Leadership isn’t just about strategies, titles, or accolades. It’s deeply connected to the experiences we carry with us, especially the ones from our earliest days. Roots to Results was born out of this belief: that to truly understand leadership, we need to dig into the roots that nourish it.

A couple years back I opened the results of a recent training participant survey to find: “While it is clear that she has a command of the content, I find Danielle’s delivery to be pithy at times.”…