S 02 | Ep 23 The End of the Hero : Why the Smartest Person in the Room is Often the Most Limited Dr . Stephen Josephs is a leadership coach , author of Leadership Agility and Dragons at Work , and a meditation teacher whose work sits at the intersection of psychology , contemplative practice , and executive development . His clients are senior leaders who have achieved significant success and are ready to ask harder questions about what is driving them . Stephen introduces the concept of post - heroic leadership , the shift that happens when accomplished people stop needing to be the smartest person in the room and start genuinely opening to the intelligence of those around them . He walks through a specific coaching technique he uses to prepare clients for high - stakes conversations , one that involves stepping fully into the perspective of the other person before saying a word .