The book about personal leadership without masks.
Change doesn’t start by doing more, but by looking at what’s already happening in a different way: in your mind and in your body. As soon as you learn to sense what’s happening in your body, space opens up to stop reacting automatically and start making conscious choices.
Change doesn’t start by doing more, but by looking differently at what’s already happening: in your mind and in your body. As soon as you learn to feel what’s happening in your body, your choices expand to stop reacting automatically and start making conscious choices.
That is Embodied Leadership, Taking off your mask while staying (true to) yourself
This book teaches you:
→ how to recognize your body’s signals
→ how to break through automatic patterns and ‘masks’ and make room for different behaviours
→ and how to respond differently, even when it’s challenging
Coming in English in Q1 2027
In the book Embodied Leadership, you’ll discover:
- The masks you wear: such as the people-pleaser, the perfectionist, the strong woman, or the imposter
- How these masks both protect and limit you
- Why insight alone isn’t enough to change, and why you keep falling back into old patterns
- How to listen to your body’s intelligence, because it senses what feels right before your mind does
- How to apply Embodied Leadership in daily life: in conversations, your work, relationships, and the choices you make
- How to not only understand this but also embody it: so you can consciously choose how to respond, even under pressure
Featured on
Radio 9
interview on the morning show on October 20th 2026
Suzanne Mau-Asam was a guest on Radio 9 Oostzaan, where she talked with Bart van Galen about why today’s complex society asks for more than thinking alone, and how bodily intelligence helps us find our way through it. A conversation about what embodied leadership can mean for your personal life, your team and your organisation.
Original Leaders
interview in a LinkedIn live on October 15th 2026
In this LinkedIn Live, Suzanne Mau-Asam talks with Emily Mattaka about embodied leadership as a concept and how it is described in her book. She explains why leading in a complex world asks for more than what happens in your head. A conversation about embodied leadership for both personal and professional growth and a candid story about what it takes to show up fully, for yourself and for the people you lead.
MT Sprout Magazine
interview from October 15th 2026
In this article, Suzanne explains why so many professional women adapt at work by putting on masks: the pleaser, the perfectionist, the rescuer, the imposter and more. These masks offer protection until they become automatic and start draining your energy. Drawing on her own early years at Shell and on the three layers beneath every mask (biology, biography and context), she shows why insight alone isn’t enough. Listening to your body is what creates room to choose.
JM ouders magazine
interview from October 15th 2026
A personal interview about family life between cultures. Suzanne has Dutch and Curaçaoan roots, and her husband grew up in Portugal and England. Together they raise a daughter and two bonus sons in a home full of languages, traditions and hospitality. She shares why they make room for emotions almost every evening. Adapting to different worlds is valuable, she says, as long as you don’t lose yourself along the way. It’s a theme she also explores in her book.
Harper’s Bazaar
interview from October 9th 2026
In this interview for the Harper’s Bazaar Business Club, Suzanne looks back on the road to her first book: from years of fitting in at large corporations to building Doors Open and The Female Hub. As an entrepreneur, she says, there is nothing to hide behind, and that is exactly what taught her to step into the spotlight. She explains the masks we wear at work, where they come from, and how your body helps you stay true to yourself.
Den Haag FM “De Ochtendshow”
interview from June 24th 2026
During the interview, Suzanne shared not only the vision behind her book but also practical tips and insights for immediately putting embodied leadership into practice. According to Suzanne, effective leadership doesn’t start with what you do, but with how you are present. In the conversation, she gave listeners concrete tools to develop greater self-awareness, better cope with challenges, and lead more powerfully based on their own values.
Psychologie Magazine
interview in the March 2026 edition
An in-depth article on embodiment and embodied leadership, in which Suzanne explains how we often live from our heads and overlook the signals from our bodies. Drawing on her own story and insights from sociology, neuroscience, and the polyvagal theory, she shows how you can learn to use your body as a compass rather than an obstacle. It includes practical exercises, such as centering, to get started right away.
Psychologie Magazine
November 2025
“’Embodied’ means that you learn here by gaining new experiences through your body, rather than through your mind by thinking about them. And although the word ‘leadership’ immediately makes me think of managers and CEOs (which I am not), this two-day retreat is suitable for everyone since, as Suzanne emphasizes: the training is more about personal leadership. It’s about how you can guide yourself through challenging situations at work and beyond.”
– Saskia Decorte
March 2026
An inspiring TEDx talk about how our experiences unconsciously shape the “masks” we wear, and how Embodied Leadership can help you learn to listen to your body again, break old patterns, and become more visible with greater authenticity, presence, and impact.
The book Embodied Leadership is for you if:
You feel that you sometimes react differently than you’d actually like to
You want to learn to trust your body as an inner compass
You want to make choices from a place of calm and be yourself without conforming
Based on more than just theory
This book is built upon:
• Interviews with more than 35 women
• Insights from psychology, neuroscience and body-oriented work
• years of experience and real-life stories
There are many books on leadership, personal growth, and behavior. But often, they start only with what’s already visible: in what you say, do, or don’t do.
This book begins earlier. It starts with what happens inside you, even before you automatically fall into a familiar pattern. It explores how your body absorbs tension, how old reactions become ingrained in your body, and how you can create space again so that you don’t just understand what happened afterward, but learn to notice it as it’s happening.
About Suzanne Mau-Asam
After more than 20 years in the corporate world, Suzanne Mau-Asam has developed a keen insight into how behavior, patterns, and culture influence our daily actions.
As a sociologist, Learning & Development specialist, and expert in Embodied Leadership, she combines scientific insights with years of practical experience, offering a perspective that’s still rare in many books on personal development and leadership.
The book will be released soon, and you can be among the first to get your hands on it.
Coming in English in Q1 2027
Curious about the book?
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