Lynn Horan, PhD Leadership & Life Development

09/23/2025

The recently released film SWIPED (2025), uncovers the story of Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe as she journeys through and beyond TOXIC WORKPLACE CULTURE in the tech industry.

A powerful exposé of cultural misogyny in the workplace, this biopic underscores critical themes of PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY for self-differentiated women leaders and the painstaking path of RECONSTITUTING SELF after executive derailment and professional defamation.

** KEY THEMES - Within Toxic Systems **

🐝 SACRIFICIAL EMBRACE and overriding workplace abuse due to a sense of calling and purpose
🐝 LIGHTNING ROD EFFECT where system anxiety centers around self-differentiated women leaders
🐝 PUBLIC DEFAMATION, character assassination, and false narratives
🐝 PUSH-to-LEAVE FORCES presented as voluntary resignation

** KEY THEMES - When LEAVING Toxic Systems **

🐝 Physical and mental BREAKDOWN amid chronic exposure to toxic workplace culture
🐝 Navigating public BACKLASH and isolation after leaving abusive workplace contexts
🐝 NON-DISCLOSURE agreements that protect well-resourced institutions
🐝 Feelings of DISTRUST, anxiety, and fear when re-entering professional spaces
🐝 RECLAIMING voice, agency, and leadership strengths within healthier workplace spaces

Learn more at:
https://www.lynnhoran.com

09/21/2025

Thank you to my dear friend Yoga and Mindfulness for all ages with Courtney Wood, Ryt 500 for this morning’s lakefront Fall Equinox yoga class.🏞️🧘🏽‍♀️

09/11/2025

Such an honor to be interviewed for MOST INFLUENCIAL WOMEN 2025, a national publication and expanding platform that amplifies women’s leadership, ingenuity, and innovation in diverse fields. I’m incredibly grateful to be part of this growing community of trailblazing women leaders!

Learn more at: https://influentialwomen.com/

09/10/2025

Today is World Su***de Prevention Day💜

Su***de and suicidal ideation due to TOXIC WORKPLACE CULTURE is a devastating reality among EMPATHETIC WOMEN LEADERS.

Recognizing and naming the MENTAL and PHYSICAL impact of toxic workplace culture is an important step in RECLAIMING and RECONSTITUING SELF beyond these abusive dynamics.

Click BELOW to learn more:

Su***de and suicidal ideation due to TOXIC WORKPLACE CULTURE is a devastating reality among EMPATHETIC WOMEN LEADERS due to: ** EXPLOITATION of empathetic le...

09/08/2025

SU***DE PREVENTION & AWARENESS MONTH --

Su***de and suicidal ideation due to TOXIC WORKPLACE CULTURE is a devastating reality among EMPATHETIC WOMEN LEADERS due to:

🪟 EXPLOITATION of empathetic leaders and expectations to absorb system anxiety

🪟 DOUBLE-BIND expectations for women leaders to perform unsustainable gender and leadership roles

🪟 Institutional GASLIGHTING when women leaders promote transparency and mutual accountability.

🪟 SCAPEGOATING and targeting of self-differentiated women who promote healthy boundaries

🪟 LOSS of DIGNITY, identity, purpose, and value when recovering from abusive workplace dynamics.

Recognizing and naming the MENTAL and PHYSICAL impact of toxic workplace culture is an important step in RECLAIMING and RECONSTITUING SELF beyond these abusive dynamics.

Learn more at www.lynnhoran.com

09/06/2025

Excited to be presenting at the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HEROES IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE, which seeks to expand the narratives, roles, and images of heroism and leadership in today’s world.

Applying a feminist approach to René Girard’s mimetic theory, I’ll be sharing my research and coaching work on GENDERED SCAPEGOATING and the powerful capacity of SELF-DIFFERENTIATED women leaders to DISMANTLE dysfunctional relational systems, while at the same time addressing the harmful dynamics of the scapegoating mechanism in toxic workplace culture.

Click BELOW to learn more!
https://youtu.be/MMkjIRQQXaM

09/03/2025

🍂 The back-to-school season is an intense transition, with mothers and caregivers becoming the BUFFER between our children and the COMPLEX world we live in.

🍂 My work with empathetic and purpose-driven women is ever mindful of the THIN LINE between intentionally HOLDING SPACE for others' emotions while maintaining our CORE sense of self, particularly during times of change.

www.lynnhoran.com/coaching

09/01/2025

Labor Day emerged out of the need to address DEHUMANIZING working conditions and shed light on INVISIBILIZED work.

As a researcher, leadership coach, and advocate specializing in GENDER and WORKPLACE CULTURE, I bring these same priorities into my work promoting the physical and psychological safety of empathetic, purpose-driven women as we build sustainable lives beyond toxic workplace dynamics.

Thank you to all those who continue to journey with me in this important work!🔨🌺

Learn more at www.lynnhoran.com

08/31/2025

This Labor Day weekend, I'm celebrating the insightful WOMEN LEADERS and MOTHERS who I journeyed with this summer in my specialized coaching program:

PREGNANCY & PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY:
For Women Navigating Reproductive Life and Leadership
www.lynnhoran.com/pregnancy-and-professional-identity

Together we addressed:

🍂 The growing proportion of women leaders in our late 30s and 40s having children and the need for workplace culture to embrace the powerful skillsets and perspectives of seasoned working mothers.

🍂 Negative assumptions and cultural judgement about later-in-life pregnancy and the impact on maternal mental health and wellness.

🍂 The high proportion of unplanned pregnancies for women in their 40’s, revealing significant gaps in career and mental health advocacy and reproductive health research for this demographic.

🍂 Embracing multi-dimensional understandings of leadership and identity that come with motherhood, instead of patriarchal narratives of workplace performance that prioritize singleness of purpose.

(Data drawn from the National Center for Health Statistics)

08/28/2025

Cultivating concrete pathways for NERVOUS SYSTEM REGULATION is an important part of my coaching work, where I promote PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY for empathetic women leaders who are negotiating toxic workplace settings and family systems.

Through a FEMINIST APPROACH, I support women as they address BOUNDARY BACKLASH and continue the deep work of SELF-DIFFERENTIATION, leading to more sustainable personal and professional lives.

Click BELOW to learn more!

Cultivating concrete pathways for NERVOUS SYSTEM REGULATION is an important part of my coaching work in promoting PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY for empathetic women l...

08/26/2025

The recently released Hulu series "The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox," co-produced by Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky, looks deeply beneath the 2007 public scandal and media frenzy, revealing the INSIDIOUS process and DAMAGING consequences of GENDERED SCAPEGOATING.

Uncovering the systemic dynamics of feminized SHAME and DEMONIZATION are core elements of my research and coaching work with empathetic, self-differentiated women leaders.

Women who exhibit agency and healthy boundaries within toxic family and workplace systems can become vulnerable targets of gendered scapegoating, leading to personal crisis, professional defamation, and a dissociation from self.

Understanding these scapegoat "criteria" can help agentic women leaders ADVOCATE for themselves and seek SUSTAINABLE communities in which to live, work, and lead.

** Perceived Qualities of the Scapegoat **

Drawn from the groundbreaking work of René Girard (1986) and Vern Redekop (2002)

✅ Perception of DIFFERENCE or otherness
✅ Difference feels THREATENING to other individuals or groups
✅ Considered POWERFUL through a leadership position or unique identity
✅ Perceived as ILLEGITIMATE so that the scapegoat action appears justified
✅ VULNERABLE and unable to seek recourse due to lack of accountability within system

For more on my research and coaching around gendered scapegoating:
https://www.lynnhoran.com/scapegoat-series.html

08/25/2025

🌿🌼BOOK PREVIEW!🌼🌿

My work addresses the systemic EXPLOITATION of empathetic women leaders and the embodied work of RECONSTITUTING SELF beyond toxic workplace and family systems.

Through RIGOROUS qualitative research and PERSONALIZED coaching programs, I accompany self-aware and purpose-driven women as we:

🌼 RECOGNIZE the impact of workplace psychological abuse on one’s physical body and overall personal and professional identity

🌼 RESTORE interpersonal boundaries and intentional self-preservation following professional trauma

🌼 RE-MEMBER a sense of wholeness and personal integrity through embodied healing practices and trauma-informed therapy

🌼 RECLAIM narratives of one’s own leadership competence and expertise in order to build sustainable and value-aligned pathways forward

CLICK BELOW for a preview of my work in the upcoming anthology "Inspirational Women Leaders: The Challenges and Rewards of Religion, Spirituality, Purpose, and Calling in Leadership.”
https://youtu.be/kHe72B7PT5Q

More on the Transformative Women Leader's Book Series:
https://www.lynnhoran.com/transformative-women-leaders-book-series.html

This is a brief overview of my chapter in the upcoming anthology "Inspirational Women Leaders: The Challenges and Rewards of Religion, Spirituality, Purpose,...