Fight, Flight, Freeze or Fawn - The Four Fs of Responding - CHART - Ep 333
Wed Dec 03 2025
Text us. Share your thoughts. Ask Questions. We would love to hear from you.
Pressure doesn’t create your character; it reveals your training. We dive deep into the four Fs—fight, flight, freeze, and fawn—and show how these hardwired trauma responses quietly shape decisions, meetings, and culture. Instead of shaming reflexes, we teach you how to recognize them in the moment and convert them into intentional leadership moves that build trust.
We share candid stories—from boardroom confrontations to tense staff moments—where a default response could have derailed the room. You’ll learn how to turn fight into principled assertiveness without theatrics, transform flight into a strategic step-away with clear follow-up, replace freeze with focused action commitments, and upgrade fawn from people-pleasing to empathy anchored in standards. Along the way, we connect the dots to early learning, post-COVID shifts in leadership, and the way modern media overload primes everyone for reactivity.
Grounding the conversation is CHART, our practical framework for selfless leadership. We walk through applying its subcategories in the heat of conflict, pairing them with a quick self-scan: Which instinct is firing, and what is the wise version needed here? That simple practice changes the tone of a team, because it models emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and consistency when stakes rise. We close with a challenge to “step outside your movie,” journal your patterns, and enlist a mentor who can spot your tells before they spill into the room.
If you’re ready to train your instincts instead of being trained by them, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a leader who needs it, and leave a quick review with the one F you’re working to reframe. Your team deserves the strongest, calmest version of you—and you can build it, one deliberate response at a time.
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Text us. Share your thoughts. Ask Questions. We would love to hear from you. Pressure doesn’t create your character; it reveals your training. We dive deep into the four Fs—fight, flight, freeze, and fawn—and show how these hardwired trauma responses quietly shape decisions, meetings, and culture. Instead of shaming reflexes, we teach you how to recognize them in the moment and convert them into intentional leadership moves that build trust. We share candid stories—from boardroom confrontations to tense staff moments—where a default response could have derailed the room. You’ll learn how to turn fight into principled assertiveness without theatrics, transform flight into a strategic step-away with clear follow-up, replace freeze with focused action commitments, and upgrade fawn from people-pleasing to empathy anchored in standards. Along the way, we connect the dots to early learning, post-COVID shifts in leadership, and the way modern media overload primes everyone for reactivity. Grounding the conversation is CHART, our practical framework for selfless leadership. We walk through applying its subcategories in the heat of conflict, pairing them with a quick self-scan: Which instinct is firing, and what is the wise version needed here? That simple practice changes the tone of a team, because it models emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and consistency when stakes rise. We close with a challenge to “step outside your movie,” journal your patterns, and enlist a mentor who can spot your tells before they spill into the room. If you’re ready to train your instincts instead of being trained by them, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a leader who needs it, and leave a quick review with the one F you’re working to reframe. Your team deserves the strongest, calmest version of you—and you can build it, one deliberate response at a time.