The Courage to Walk: Purpose Over Position with Nadine Lavigne
What happens when your gut says this isn’t right, but your career says stay?
Nadine Lavigne had climbed the corporate ladder at top global companies… until one bold decision changed everything. In this powerful episode, Nadine and Courtney get real about what it means to lead with authenticity, the cost of staying silent, and why leaving comfort is sometimes the most confident choice.
From leadership masks to gratitude dinners, this conversation will leave you rethinking how you show up… and who you’re doing it for.
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
Why Nadine walked away from a high-level corporate role with nothing lined up
The internal battle between “fitting in” and being true to yourself
How a gut feeling and a friend’s observation changed her path
The power of vulnerability in building safe team spaces
Why listening—really listening—is the secret to connection
Nadine’s work helping teams ditch the mask and lead with purpose
The underestimated impact of practicing daily gratitude
What she’d tell her 18-year-old self about careers, confidence, and zigzagging your way to success
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
“You do not have to be in the box. And if it doesn’t feel right, you owe it to yourself to explore what does.” - Courtney Turich
“Safe spaces aren’t soft, they’re powerful. That’s where people actually thrive.” - Courtney Turich
“The gut doesn’t lie. If something feels off, it’s worth checking in on.” - Courtney Turich
“It’s not about quitting. It’s about realigning with who you are.” - Courtney Turich
“Being bold doesn’t always mean big. Sometimes it’s just saying, ‘This isn’t for me.” - Courtney Turich
“I don’t need corporate to be me. I know what I bring to the table.” - Nadine Lavigne
“I wasn’t being myself—I was playing a role to fit in. That cost me more than I knew.” - Nadine Lavigne
“The most transformational work I do is helping people take the mask off.” - Nadine Lavigne
“Gratitude breaks barriers. It’s simple, human, and wildly powerful.” - Nadine Lavigne
“My career didn’t follow a straight line—and I wouldn’t want it to. The zigzags made me.” - Nadine Lavigne
About Nadine
Nadine Lavigne helps leaders drop the mask and lead with heart. With 20 years in corporate leadership roles at GE, Boeing, and various tech companies like IBM/Kyndryl, she’s seen how disconnected cultures hold teams back—and how authenticity drives real results. Today, she partners with executives and teams to build more human workplaces through leadership programs, coaching, and purposeful team experiences.
She now helps individuals and teams lead with more authenticity, trust, and purpose. Nadine is passionate about creating spaces where people can get real, and rediscover their true potential - both at work and in life.
Energetic, empathetic, and always real, Nadine is a self-described "Dolphin" and proud ENFP. She brings contagious energy, deep emotional intelligence, and a passion for connection to everything she does. Whether in the boardroom or around a gratitude dinner table, Nadine helps people show up fully—and lead boldly.
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BLOG TRANSCRIPT
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Courtney Turich: Hey, hey, hey. It's your friend and host Courtney Turich, and welcome to Bold Moves, confident Choices, the podcast where we own our path, make fearless decisions, and get real about what it takes to turn bold ideas into reality.
Today we have a powerhouse guest who is a female. Her name is Nadine Lavigne. She has two decades of leadership at powerhouses like ge, Boeing, IBM, Nadine knows what it takes to lead at the highest level. She's on a mission to shake things up for the best, and today she's helping individuals and teams ditch the masks and lead with authenticity, trust, and purpose.
Nadine doesn't just talk leadership. She lives it, bringing contagious energy, raw honesty, and just the right amount of humor to every conversation. She's all about creating real spaces where people can drop the act. Tap into their potential and walk away feeling more seen, inspired, and connected not only to themselves but to each other.
I'm also excited to share that I'll be spending a weekend with this amazing woman and to other incredible ladies wait in a tent. For an entire weekend. Yes, I said tent at an inspiring event called Running Man, hosted by Jesse Itzler, where it's all about health, wellness, connection, music, and more importantly, fun.
So I'm gonna stop chatting now and introduce this amazing woman to share more about herself.
Leaving the Ladder: Nadine Finds Her Voice
So, Nadine. Hey, welcome. So good to see you.
Nadine Lavigne: Thank you, Courtney. Thank you.
Courtney Turich: Thank you. I am so pumped to talk and to hear more about your background and also some of these big, bold moves in your life. So before we get started, can you just share a little bit more about you?
Nadine Lavigne: Yes, of course, of course. So as you mentioned, I did have over 20 years in corporate, large, large corporate companies, and I'm very, very grateful for those experiences, right? They built me into the leader that I am today. but it started to change things, right? Things, it really had me rethinking how I behaved in some of those environments.
And often I found that I was. Not really truly myself, I was behaving as if I thought I had to. both of those, or a couple of those companies you mentioned are heavily male dominated.
Courtney Turich: Mm-hmm.
Nadine Lavigne: and I was surrounded by, male engineers all the time. Brilliant people, wonderful people to learn from, but also not people like me.
I was not an engineer and I was not an older man. Right. Like this. Yes. But I behaved a certain way to try and fit in. All I wanted was to be a part of this engineering environment, this company, right? as I was growing into my career, I wanted to be a part of something. over time I started to recognize more and more.
I'm like, wow, I am not being myself. I'm a different person at work. and there were some things that along the way I. didn't even feel comfortable with. Right. So in HR there's a lot of things you have to do that aren't fun. And there were some things along the way where I was like, oh, this is icky.
I don't like it. so when you were talking about big moves and when you, asked me to do this, I was thinking about what is it? if I had to pick just one and I'd say it was when I really stood up for, and stuck up for a coworker. that, they were probably going to be let go and it didn't feel like the right thing to do.
And I really stuck up for that person, put my neck on the line, right. And eventually realized I was putting myself like I was falling on the sword for this person. Literally, I was going to have to leave the company if I continued to fight for them. and I started to realize like.
This is not me. This is not what I do. I don't, fake a feeling to just, I don't know how to say it, but it felt really bad in my gut. And when I was like, okay, the gut reaction is telling me I need to do something different. And that's actually when I decided to leave corporate.
I was like, this is not for me anymore.
Courtney Turich: Wow. yeah. I mean, Nadine, I think so many of us who have been in male dominated environments can relate to that feeling You're starting to give to us of what you had to go through day in, day out, and this bold move that you're talking about, what was that moment when you're like, I have to move forward with my gut.
Walk us through that process for you.
Nadine Lavigne: Yeah, there was a few things and I, I don't wanna disclose who the company was or anything like that. Sure. You know, I was, at a point where I had, risen in the ranks, right? Like whatever. I had climbed the ladder and I had now heard conversations and been at the table with some of those conversations that were really difficult.
And it was just something that clicked and I was like, this is not, we're no longer being human. There was some aspect of, I kept pushing and trying to advocate for a person and it just felt like we're not treating this person like a human. these are just numbers and this is not what I'm about.
And I talked to an old friend that said, I can literally see in your face. The difference when you talk about, advocating for someone and being, and helping people and what you believe you should be doing, what you can do in the world, like going out and coaching and do, you know, helping team with team development and leadership development.
I get excited when I talk about those things and they're like, and your face and your mannerisms and everything about you is like, you're drained. it was soul sucking and. When someone told me, they could literally see it in my, in my body and in my face. I was like, you're, you're right.
It, it feels like it's soul sucking. And that was one of the, the moments where I said, I can't do this to myself anymore. This isn't healthy. So, um, yeah, I, I think that was it when I realized that it's not only a job that's making me feel a certain way, it became part of my own health and wellbeing.
Courney Turich: Right.
Nadine Lavigne: You know, you talk about, you're sitting around this table, you're hearing this conversation taking place.
Courtney Turich: Nadine, help us all walk through. Is that when you spoke up or was it like, did you speak up in the moment? How did you work through the process?
Nadine Lavigne: Hmm. Yeah. Um. No, and I'm ashamed that in the moment around all those like C-Suite people, I did not speak up for fear of my own career.
That's how you felt. You felt like you couldn't say anything in that moment because they would look at you and say, well, you're next. Uh, but later I came back and, um, had some very candid, very real conversations with other people that were at the table that I felt I trusted a little more and said. This isn't right.
We can't, we can't do this. This is not the right path forward. And then I was told, right, sorry, you have to do it. So I was like, so there's, there's no choice. I, like me, advocating is not gonna help. No, it's not gonna help. So it's just so interesting to see how some decisions are made at those levels and even trying to be an advocate and trying to be more human and trying to help people.
It, it, it falls on deaf ears. Yeah, it was rough. It was rough. It was so, so learning to speak up and to get to the level of you're like, I can't do this anymore. What was that process like though for you to gain that confidence, to gain the ability to take that bold move to stand up for yourself? Because I know you're not alone with what you just shared.
Courtney Turich: Yeah. So for our listeners out there, how can you help us all walk through that path if we're in that moment?
Nadine Lavigne: Yeah. And I will say, you know, I think it took me years. I, I think this probably, this, this moment has happened to me a number of times in, in my years of, you know, in my career. But I always pushed it down and just said, I have to walk the line.
I have to stay, you know, within the corporate boundaries, right?
Courtney Turich: Mm-hmm.
Nadine Lavigne: Do what they tell you to do. Stay in the corner in color, you know, that sort of a thing, and, and that becomes the norm. And if you're in corporate long enough, you feel like, okay, well if they told me to do it, I'm just gonna do it. If they tell me not to do it, I'm not, you know?
Um, and eventually what started happening was I recognized my value. I recognized that I don't need corporate to be me. Mm-hmm. I, I was like, I have enough experience, I have gained knowledge, I have skills, I have things that I can bring to the world. Whether I am in one of these big companies or not. And sure, like I said, I'm, I'm grateful to corporate because it took me, it gave me those skills and experiences that that got me to that point.
But at the same time, there was a clicking point where I said, I don't need them anymore. And that's when I started to really find my voice and say, I can actually stick up for myself because I know. Uh, not that I had anything else to fall back on. I actually left corporate with nothing. So it wasn't like I had another job or anything to fall back on, but I just felt confident and real in, uh, in my ability to make a decision.
I had finally gained the confidence to say, I know what's right. I know this doesn't feel right, and I'm, and I'm, and I've, you know, moved along my, my. I've gone along my career just nodding and smiling, and now I'm not gonna do that anymore. You talk about your gut feeling a lot or that, you know, this is just surfacing for you.
Courtney Turich: How did you work through the, the, the pro? Did you lean on people, did you lean on mentors? Like, what did you do to talk through this gut feeling because. It's a bold move you just left. It's not like you had something else to fall back on. Income, anything. Right.
Nadine Lavigne: Right, right. Yes. And I should have mentioned that I leaned on a lot of people, trusted partners and people that I knew would give me a, you know, a real response and reaction.
Um, friends, past coworkers, whoever it may be, and everyone that I described the situation to and described how I was feeling, they. They did validate that it, it was a crappy situation, right? They validated that I should not have to keep my voice silent in this, in this type of, uh, situation. And they also helped me understand, yes, you do have more that you can give and your energy that you, when you talk about doing.
Something else. When you talk about working with teams, when you talk about coaching or, you know, doing leadership development, facilitating in a room, like those are things that bring me energy and that I love, and they could see that when I talked about it. And so it, again, they could see that the reaction in me when I was talking about how I felt and the behaviors that I was dealing with versus the potential that I had and the excitement that I had for, um.
The kind of work that I wasn't able to do.
Leading with Gratitude and Vulnerability
Courtney Turich: Yeah. So Nadine, now you work with teams and you really help to bring this authenticity to the fir surface. You help teams to remove what you say, the mask. Yep. And to be more unique and genuine. And your true self. You walk into big, you, you consult for big corporations now.
Yeah. How do you work through this process? Because it's hard to change culture, especially at big corporate.
Nadine Lavigne: It is very difficult and yeah, and I have a couple, um, a couple clients now that are, that are huge and yeah, I'll walk into the room to facilitate and I have to immediately, and you have to immediately make them feel like they are in a safe environment.
Hmm. If I can get 20 people in a room for a few hours and they are able to start talking and sharing, yes, maybe they're not letting the entire mask down, but there are people in those rooms that are talking more than they do when they're with their team. Mm-hmm. And I've heard that feedback. So it's a matter of providing a safe space, psychological safety, right in that room for few hours to allow them to.
Just pause, think about, you know, go through the, the learning, obviously, you know, learn something new, but also reflect on who they really are, right? Yeah. And what they really wanna be as leaders and what they're right. We, we talk a lot in those sessions about where they can improve. We, we actually, you know, I mean, there's a lot of, you know, a lot of discussion on.
What on them? Allowing themselves to recognize that they're, they're not perfect leaders. They absolutely have things that they can improve and ha and you know, and we break down the barriers to get there, but it's, I, I think it's just about psychological safety and, and getting a room that people feel like they can open up and.
Courtney Turich: So how to all the leaders out there and actually to everyone, how do you create a safe space? Like how do you walk in to that environment that is in the box and generate a safe space for people to start to open up and feel seen?
Nadine Lavigne: Yeah, so I think, well, one of them is I myself am vulnerable. Hmm. I allow myself to be very vulnerable.
I will share that in the very first session, the very first with one of my corporate clients, I had poured coffee down my shirt and I was like. You know, of course this is happening. Very first engagement. Um, and I own, I owned it. I told a story. I was like, you know, I just, I had it right down my shirt and I owned it.
And I think it's things like that that, you know, you allow yourself to be vulnerable. You tell a story. I tell, I often tell stories about my own. Um, the things that I don't do well, you know, and, and I share with them the things that, you know, I, I give them a lot of gratitude. I do, you know, a lot of around gratitude as well.
Um, but it's, it's allowing them and everyone in the room to see we're not perfect. We're all going to, you know, allow yourself to open up and be vulnerable. And the minute I can get just a few people to do it and myself, like I said, I always start with myself, but a few other people to do it. Others start to chime in.
Um, I think it's about listening as well. So when, yeah. So when they are, when we're in the room and they're saying something, I am, I'm listening for what they're saying, but I'm listening for their, their feelings too. And I'll say something like, wow, I can tell that really impacted you, or, wow, I can tell that.
You were scared in that moment or that you, you felt some fear in that moment. And that is like, they're like, oh, holy cow. She actually understands me. She heard me not just listened or not just like heard, but she heard my, my feelings and how I felt in that moment. So listening is huge for me too. Yeah.
Courtney Turich: Wow. You, you really struck a chord with me, Nadine, because I couldn't agree with you more. I always talk about the strength and vulnerability.
Nadine Lavigne: Yeah. You have to.
Courtney Turich: And then the power of listening.
Nadine Lavigne: Yep. Yep. Absolutely. It's, and, and it's so underappreciated. You know, I think back to the days I had where I would be in meetings, you know, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM practically back to back to back.
And we would be talking. And we would, you know, we, I'd be in all these meetings with people talking and I didn't feel like anyone listened to me. I, I don't, you know, to be honest, I probably didn't listen to them because it Right. It was like so busy. It was status updates and I was like, this is not important to me right now.
Um, we talked all the time and I felt so disconnected. Wasn't like talking equal connection. Yeah. And no one was ever their real self. They were guarded. They were, you know, they, they were what they had to be for the company. Right? Right. A VP wouldn't say that, uh, you know, someone, someone, you know, an SVP or an executive, we can't, we can't say that.
Why can't you say that? You know, it just wasn't very real. So I talk about that and how much conversation happened, but how little listening, vulnerability, and actual connection happened. Right, like this much.
Courtney Turich: Yeah. And the power of just gratitude. So it can be so underestimated. Yes, so powerful. Yes.
Nadine Lavigne: Yes. I've learned that recently too. I've been, yeah, so shout out to Chris Shera because Yes. Him and I, yes. I mean, him and I met, um, through, it was like a long story, but about a year ago, and then, you know, I kind of, it was like this mentorship thing that was going on. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, he liked the way I asked him questions and he was.
Asking me all kinds of questions, and I felt like he was giving me, you know, in any case, we, we started talking frequently and there was one day and he's like, Nadine, you should just do a dinner. Just do a dinner, do a gratitude dinner. And he helped walk me through how to host a gratitude dinner. And I just, I am floored by, I've done six now.
I've, I'm floored by the experiences, the feedback, and the things that people say in those, in those events. Gratitude is an ultimate connector. Yeah. And it's, and it's ultimately a, it, it breaks down the barriers. It allows for vulnerability. People start sharing and talking and being very real. Yeah. When they think about someone that they should give gratitude to that they don't enough.
Yeah.
Courtney Turich: Yeah. And for everyone out there who's listening, again, if you don't know Christian Bra, you need to look him up because he is the founder of the gratitude dinners that I got to experience a little bit at an event with NAD in New York City. And I will tell you, it was extremely powerful to me and has been, um, continuously a reflective process at the forefront.
Is. It's incredible, so
Nadine Lavigne: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, yeah, and that's the thing. People keep talking about it weeks later, months later, um, right. Just what happens. That's how deep it goes, and it's simple. Gratitude is so simple, but it's just way too, it's, it's overlooked and it's something that we don't do enough of.
Courtney Turich: You know, you, Nadine, you've had this incredible professional career and looking back at life, if you were to go back to your 18-year-old self, what would you say to n Nadine today?
Nadine Lavigne: I, yeah, and this one, I've thought a, a lot about this, and I've kind of gone back and forth because as I mentioned, I, I kinda grew up ge.
I think I would go back and tell myself, um, to follow my heart more often as opposed to to, you know, to being what? Like I thought of going back to school to be an engineer. I thought, I thought of, you know, like I tried to get a patent because I wanted to fit in, right? I can't, oh my gosh, I can't patent squat.
Like, I dunno, and I
Courtney Turich: sure you could, but do you really want, right?
Own the Voice You Silenced
Nadine Lavigne: No, and, and I always was. Terrible. And I, I know we shouldn't say this about ourselves, but I was terrible at math. I would not be a good engineer, but like, these are the things that I did to try and fit in, and I spent so much mental energy and so much emotion on trying to fit into people that weren't really like me.
And rather than just, you know, embracing my voice and being like, Hey, I'm not an engineer, but I have a voice and I can be here too. Um, so I think I would tell myself something like that to, to be stronger and more confident in myself and that I belong there. I earned every position. I applied for every position that I had, and I probably had six or eight over the course of my 16 years there.
Um, so I'm, you know, so I, I go back and forth because I'm very, very grateful for that experience. But at the same time, I, I, I wish I did it differently. I, I really, you know, I wish I right. Could have been more myself, could have allowed myself to have a voice rather than being told to go get photocopies and being like, okay, sure.
I mean, um, but yeah, the other thing is, and it's in line with this, you know, kind of follow your heart and, and you know your voice, but, um. I think I tried to make my career something as opposed to just following what I love to do. Yeah. So, and I think maybe that's a shift in the past 20 years as well, right?
Because jobs are all over the place and they're so different. You know, in the past it was like, what is my career path? And people would like plot out what they thought their jobs were supposed to be. And there were these ladders and there were different levels and. I think I thought that too, right? I'm gonna be this and I'm gonna be a manager, and then I'm gonna be a, you know, senior manager and a director and all these things and, and ultimately my life has now zigzagged all over the place and I'm better for it.
Yeah. And I think I would've told myself younger, don't try to make a specific career path. There's no. Specific career path for anyone. Let yourself zigzag all over the place. Follow what you love to do. Just keep learning and gaining experience from all of it.
Courtney Turich: Yeah. You know, Nadine, it's really awesome to see you're living that truth for yourself now.
Nadine Lavigne: Yeah, for sure. For sure. I mean, it's like, I, I still zig and zag all over the place.
Courtney Turich: Yeah. And I always found it funny when people would say, you know, your career's, the straight trajectory. Right. Um. I think the best careers are when there's, it's, I like to call a milkshake, right? It's a little high, it's a little low.
It's kind of do some twirl all over the place.
Nadine Lavigne: Absolutely. It makes you more well-rounded. Yes. Right? Yes. I've been in manufacturing industries, I've been in restaurant Indus, I've been in tech. I've been, because I've taken all these, I've been in hr, I've been in engineering, I've been in manufacturing, I've been in sourcing like I've been all over the place.
Right. Um, that it can be troublesome and some people do have a very clear. Career path because they are one specific, like, you know, doctors, doctors, like, right. Like, this is a path, right? So it's not true for everyone, but someone like me, you know, I, I, yeah, I'm kind of a jack of all trades. For better, for worse.
That's what I am though. I just go in, I execute, I, I get shit done, right? I, I help. Make people work better together, right. To help allow people to work better together and, and help teams function better. Um, but yeah, I mean, I, I love that I am diverse and all over the place now because I have so much learning along the way that I can lean back on.
Courtney Turich: Yeah. Well, na, Nadine, so many takeaways from our conversation today, from your, from your bold move all in itself, and that is to lead with. Your authenticity to find within yourself. You do not have to be in the box, and if it doesn't feel right, start exploring the options of what does feel right. How do you get out of that current situation?
How do you take that next step? Yeah. Because being in an area or a space where you can feel safe, you can feel seen, you can be vulnerable. Yeah. Is. Absolutely powerful.
Nadine Lavigne: Yes. That's where people will thrive. That's where people will work. If you want your team to produce and work well together and be successful, that's what you need.
You need that sort of environment for sure.
Courtney Turich: Right. And if your heart and your gut is not aligning We're not saying to run right away, take the steps to do it the proper way. Right. To make sure that yes.
Nadine Lavigne: Reach out to those that you trust and those that can give you, advice and you can share your full story with them.
And they know you and they know what you love and they know what you do. Right? Yeah. Get that input from others because that's essential to understanding what's really going on here. Am I just, is this just, you know, 'cause everybody's careers and lives have ups and downs and you don't wanna do it every time you have it down.
Courtney Turich: Correct.
Nadine Lavigne: But when something, like you said, gut is not like, you're just really feeling. Like this is not right. Morally, almost not right. You gotta check in with other people. Yeah. Connect with other people. Use your resources, use your network and, if anyone can help, they want to, they do.
Everyone I talked to was like genuinely wanted to see, they wanted to help me. They wanted to listen, and they wanted to see me get through it and succeed.
Courtney Turich: Yep. Great point, Nadine, oh my gosh, I am just so honored that you were here today. If anybody wants to find Nadine Lavigne, where do they go?
Nadine Lavigne: Probably LinkedIn, right? Like I have a website, but I am all over LinkedIn all the time. Try to post almost every day. I post t-shirts on Fridays. I post about my family, I post about my company, and, so LinkedIn would be the space to start. and then from there, depending on what we wanna talk about. We'll go from there, but LinkedIn.
Courtney Turich: and I can attest you will see her vulnerability on LinkedIn. So highly recommend you looking Nadine up, following her, connecting with her. And again, Nadine, thank you so much for being here today. And to everyone out in my audience, go be bold, be confident and be you.
Thanks.
