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The Return Within: Reclaiming Presence and the Power to Lead
On paper, you've done everything right. You're just not sure when it stopped feeling that way.
You're the one everyone relies on. At work. At home. In every room you walk into. You hold it together so capably that few people think to ask how you're actually doing.
Somewhere along the way, performance became identity. And now you're Is this what I want, or just what I got good at?
The Return Reclaiming Presence and the Power to Lead is an invitation to break the proving loop, release what isn't yours, and remember who you've always been underneath it all.
Drawing on more than two decades in corporate and agency leadership and her own journey of inner work, ICF-credentialed coach and former corporate vice president Lisa Schmidt offers a framework for returning to Assess. Align. Embody.
Through personal stories, leadership lessons, and reflective questions, you'll explore how
Quiet the inner critic without losing your ambitionRelease people-pleasing, over-responsibility, and the need to proveRebuild trust in your intuition and discernmentLead with greater presence and clarityMake room for ease and joy
Whether you lead a team of fifty, a household of three, or a life you're quietly rebuilding, this book is your way back to yourself.
Return to yourself. Lead from within.
You're the one everyone relies on. At work. At home. In every room you walk into. You hold it together so capably that few people think to ask how you're actually doing.
Somewhere along the way, performance became identity. And now you're Is this what I want, or just what I got good at?
The Return Reclaiming Presence and the Power to Lead is an invitation to break the proving loop, release what isn't yours, and remember who you've always been underneath it all.
Drawing on more than two decades in corporate and agency leadership and her own journey of inner work, ICF-credentialed coach and former corporate vice president Lisa Schmidt offers a framework for returning to Assess. Align. Embody.
Through personal stories, leadership lessons, and reflective questions, you'll explore how
Quiet the inner critic without losing your ambitionRelease people-pleasing, over-responsibility, and the need to proveRebuild trust in your intuition and discernmentLead with greater presence and clarityMake room for ease and joy
Whether you lead a team of fifty, a household of three, or a life you're quietly rebuilding, this book is your way back to yourself.
Return to yourself. Lead from within.
176 pages, Paperback
Published October 6, 2026
About the author
Lisa Schmidt
1 book1 followerLisa Schmidt is an ICF-credentialed coach, author, and former corporate vice president who has spent more than two decades building brands, leading teams, and tending to the inner work that sustains both.
Her work is rooted in the belief that leadership begins within, where results come from alignment and trust rather than force. Through Lisa Schmidt Coaching, she partners with leaders and organizations to cultivate greater coherence, clarity, and self-trust.
Lisa's perspective is shaped by what she has built and by what she has navigated: self-doubt, people-pleasing, overresponsibility, and the years of deliberate inner work that followed. That journey inspired The Return Within: Reclaiming Presence and the Power to Lead, an invitation to break the proving loop, release what isn't yours, and remember who you've always been underneath it all.
Through coaching, speaking, and writing, Lisa helps leaders move from performance to presence and return to a steadier, more aligned way of living and leading.
She lives in Minnesota with her husband and three children.
Her work is rooted in the belief that leadership begins within, where results come from alignment and trust rather than force. Through Lisa Schmidt Coaching, she partners with leaders and organizations to cultivate greater coherence, clarity, and self-trust.
Lisa's perspective is shaped by what she has built and by what she has navigated: self-doubt, people-pleasing, overresponsibility, and the years of deliberate inner work that followed. That journey inspired The Return Within: Reclaiming Presence and the Power to Lead, an invitation to break the proving loop, release what isn't yours, and remember who you've always been underneath it all.
Through coaching, speaking, and writing, Lisa helps leaders move from performance to presence and return to a steadier, more aligned way of living and leading.
She lives in Minnesota with her husband and three children.
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