135. Doing Everything Isn’t the Job: Redefining School Leadership, Delegation, and Self-Worth with Rebecca Malotke-Meslin

There’s a version of busy that gets worn like a badge of honor in schools. Wearing a lot of hats, doing more with less, the kind of overload that gets praised right up until it doesn’t.

Rebecca Malotke-Meslin, founder of Pleasantly Aggressive Coaching and Consulting, coaches women leaders in schools and nonprofits, and she’s watched this pattern play out over and over; that instinct to keep giving until something breaks. We get into why over-delegating feels like dumping work instead of building trust, the real reason women hesitate to ask for a raise when their role quietly expands, and what a script for saying no can actually sound like.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

Why wearing a lot of hats becomes a badge of honor instead of a warning sign

The physical toll Rebecca has watched play out with her clients, including stress-related autoimmune diagnoses

Why over- delegating so often feels like dumping work instead of building trust

What to say when your role expands but your pay doesn’t

The story we tell ourselves about school budgets that isn’t actually true

Rebecca’s approach to saying no without over-explaining yourself

The one conversation every head of school should be having about roles and responsibilities

Why Rebecca sees caregiving as a resource, and who gets to decide how much of it you give