A Conversation with Tiphani Palmer & Tierney Powers on Leading from Full Presence and the importance of the Meta Skill of Sensing.
At The Future Village™, leadership isn’t something you talk about, it’s something you practice and embody.
Tiphani Palmer and Tierney Powers guide leaders in developing one of the most underutilized capacity in business today: presence under pressure.
In this dialogue, they share why emotional intelligence is no longer optional, what happens when leaders default to stress patterns, and how the Meta Skill of Sensing gives leaders a powerful edge in complexity.
Tiphani Palmer and Tierney Powers are here to help leaders show up, not just smarter, but sharper, steadier, and more human.
With decades of experience guiding senior executives through complexity, pressure, and transformation, Tiphani and Tierney bring something most leadership programs miss: the ability to sense, adapt, and lead with presence when it matters most.
Their work lives in boardrooms, on product teams, and inside leadership cultures that are navigating ambiguity, growth, and disruption. And this June, it lives inside the immersive environment of The Future Village™, where the Meta Skill Sensing becomes a trainable Meta Skill for real-world leadership.
In this conversation, they share what presence actually looks like in high-stakes environments, why it's the foundation for everything else, and how leaders can develop the capacity to interrupt reactivity, navigate tension, and lead with aligned intention.
What does it mean to lead not just with your mind, but with your full presence?
“When we train for full presence, we become more resourceful, more adaptable, more human. That’s the work.” - Tiphani Palmer
“Presence is the difference between knowing what to do and being able to do it, when the pressure hits.” - Tierney Powers
In a world overrun by speed and noise, both Tiphani and Tierney help leaders return to clarity. Their approach is rooted in embodied practice, not theory.
That means training your nervous system to respond intentionally, rather than react impulsively. For Tiphani, this starts with tuning into the intelligence of the body. For Tierney, it’s about building congruence, so your leadership aligns with your values.
Why is this important now more than ever?
“Being smart isn’t enough anymore. It’s about how you show up under pressure.” - Tiphani Palmer
“The leaders I work with are navigating fear, ambiguity, and pressure from all directions. If they can’t find steadiness, the system suffers.” - Tierney Powers
In today’s leadership landscape, intelligence alone isn’t enough. As Tiphani Palmer puts it, “Just being smart doesn’t cut it.”
The speed of change, the sheer volume of data, and the complexity of global systems demand a new kind of leadership: one that draws not just on intellect, but on emotional, somatic, and collective intelligence.
In her words:
“Training the body to stay open and perceptive under pressure, that’s the difference between good leaders and great ones.” - Tiphani Palmer
What happens when leaders don’t lead from presence?
“Stress isn’t going anywhere. But we can train ourselves to meet it differently.” - Tiphani Palmer
“It’s one thing to know your values. It’s another to act from them when the heat is on.” - Tierney Powers
Without awareness, stress triggers default behaviors like micromanagement, defensiveness, disconnection. The work of the Meta Skill of Sensing is to intercept those patterns and rewire the response.
It’s not abstract. It’s trainable.
What should leaders walk away with after the program is over?
When things are going well, showing up as our best self is easy.
But leadership isn’t defined in those moments, it’s tested when the pressure rises, when dynamics shift, and when we’re pushed beyond our usual patterns.
It’s one thing to be clear when things are calm. But when a meeting goes sideways, or the stakes rise, that’s where this work really matters as we’ll train leaders to recognize stress patterns in real time, interrupt them, and choose more effective responses. That’s a leadership muscle. We can build it.” - Tiphani Palmer
At The Future Village™, Tiphani and Tierney help participants identify the habits and reactive responses that no longer serve them. Not to erase who they are, but to expand what’s possible. As Tiphani puts it,
“We don’t need to get rid of parts of ourselves. We just need to strengthen the ones that help us navigate with more skill.” - Tiphani Palmer
I hope they can leave with the ability to shift under stress. To interrupt patterns. To lead with clarity and care.” - Tiphani Palmer
Leaders build the capacity to meet challenge with dignity, to shift out of stress loops, and to access deeper reserves of resilience, clarity, and compassion. And what begins as an internal shift ripples outward: into their teams, relationships, and work.
“They’ll leave reconnected to their fire. And they’ll have the tools to make it last.” - Tierney Powers
Final thoughts?
“This work isn’t just about slowing down, it’s about becoming more intentional. If you want to lead with clarity under pressure, show up more fully for your team, and make decisions from a place of alignment, this is the space.
The Future Village™ gives you the tools to lead from your strongest, clearest self.”
Tiphani Palmer & Tierney Powers