Building Collaborative and Soul-Led Leadership
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/05/30
Melissa Bauknight, Founder and Chief Visionary of The Nova Global, transitioned from a successful medical sales career to entrepreneurship, building a community for soul-led women leaders. She emphasizes collaboration over competition, promoting relational, authentic, and purpose-driven leadership. Bauknight discusses balancing ambition with personal health, modelling soft strength through vulnerability, and supporting sustainable growth. Her work integrates nervous system training and AI tools to enhance efficiency and mission alignment. Through The Nova Global, Bauknight mentors women to trust their intuition, cultivate authentic leadership, and create meaningful, enduring businesses rooted in community and personal empowerment.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Today, we are here with Melissa Bauknight. Melissa Bauknight is the Founder and Chief Visionary of The Nova Global, a community empowering soul-led women to lead with authenticity and purpose. After a successful fifteen-year career in corporate medical sales, Melissa transitioned into entrepreneurship to create spaces where women thrive through collaboration, not competition. The Nova offers global and local “constellations” that foster deep connection, mentorship, and holistic success. A former top-ranked network marketing leader and certified Business Alignment Coach, Melissa blends strategy with soul to help women align their careers with their values. She has been featured in Authority Magazine and HappiFul for her insights on feminine leadership and community-driven growth. Thank you for joining me today. Why transition from corporate medical sales to founding The Nova Global? The money was not immediately better.
Melissa Bauknight: There was a transition period of about six years between my career in medical device sales and the launch of Nova Global. During this time, I experienced what I would describe as an awakening—a deepening of myself through personal growth, work, and exploration.
I truly loved my career, and I was successful. It is not a classic story of burnout or dissatisfaction leading to reinvention. Instead, it was a gradual evolution: I began identifying more deeply with personal passions and stepping into my next era of leadership—one grounded in ambition, service, and authenticity.
As I uncovered these new parts of myself, I felt a strong calling to turn what I was learning into ways to empower others. A pivotal step in this journey was working with Beautycounter, a mission-driven company in direct sales and advocacy. That experience taught me how deeply I care about aligning with meaningful missions and about the power of mobilizing communities to create systemic change.
All of these experiences fueled the vision for The Nova Global, which had been quietly forming inside me for years. While it is not — at least yet — as financially lucrative as my medical sales career, it is far more fulfilling. It is not about a money grab but about purpose-driven leadership and service.
Jacobsen: The emphasis on collaboration over competition really contrasts with the competitive nature of traditional market-driven sales environments. So, how do you re-envision leadership when reframing it as collaboration rather than competition? The first thing that comes to mind is that leadership becomes lateral and relational rather than vertical and hierarchical.
Bauknight: That is the future of leadership. It is less about “power over” and more about “power with.” When I look at what I have been able to accomplish in my life — and the capacity to have a vision as big as I have — the only reason I am able to execute it is because of the generosity of so many people who have been in similar businesses, both women and men, who have said, “I really believe in what you are doing. Let me open a door for you. Let me make an introduction for you.”
I am here to help other purpose-driven people fulfill their dreams. It is less about thinking, “We are the only organization that can do this,” and more about asking, “How do we reach across the table? How do we bring people into the fold?” So, we are less isolated, less siloed, less lonely — where people feel like they are bearing the burden of building their businesses alone — and instead come together to do it more efficiently, with more joy, more support, and a greater sense of being seen.
A lot of the things we do not normally associate with career growth—like having fun, listening to your body, and honouring your health—get lost in more traditional models. Traditional leadership often emphasizes grinding it out, ignoring body signals, powering through health issues, and even trampling over people to climb to the top.
I do not want to live that way, and I do not think most people do either. Collaborative leadership is a more joy-filled, love-filled, positive way of exerting influence, and nobody has to lose in the process.
Jacobsen: Many of these leadership styles can typically be framed economically, in terms of opportunity costs or trade-offs. What are the trade-offs when switching from competitive to collaborative leadership?
I should add a caveat: leadership effectiveness really depends on context. If the future you are referencing is one where collaborative approaches become more effective, what are the trade-offs as we transition into that period—where collaboration becomes more salient or pertinent than competition?
Bauknight: I can definitely speak to that, because I’ve lived it.
When you lead collaboratively—when you actually care about the whole human, not just their output—you are playing a longer game. And honestly, it can cost you in the short term. Sometimes you hold onto people longer than you should. Sometimes projects move slower because you’re making space for real conversations, real emotions, and real life happening behind the scenes.
It’s way messier than the old model of “just hit the number, just do your job.”
And if you’re someone who was trained to be fast, efficient, and results-driven (like I was), it can feel frustrating at times. Like, couldn’t we just move faster if we didn’t have to hold all of this?
But here’s the thing: people are done performing. They’re done compartmentalizing to survive at work. And if leaders don’t evolve to meet that, they’re going to lose their people—period.
So yes, there’s a short-term trade-off in terms of speed and maybe even productivity if you’re measuring it the old way. But the cost of not shifting is way bigger: turnover, disengagement, burnout, resentment, and ultimately, companies that become irrelevant because nobody wants to work for them anymore.
People will stay longer. They’ll care more. They’ll build with you instead of just working for you—if you’re willing to lead with more humanity and less control.
It’s slower at first. But it’s more sustainable. And honestly, it’s the only leadership model that’s going to work in the future we’re walking into.
Jacobsen: You are seeing this dynamic not necessarily directly commented on, but almost directly, in interactions that simply would not have happened before the 2020s.
For instance, you have prominent conservative corporate-branded journalists like Megyn Kelly having conversations with liberal online activist journalists like Ana Kasparian — discussing difficulties younger professional women are facing, like in dating life and professional balance.
I am not focusing specifically on the content of those conversations but more on what they suggest: a more profound cultural commentary and a search for a more balanced life while still pursuing professional aims.
Do you think that looking at the whole person and promoting collaborative leadership are aligned with the cultural shifts people like Ana and Megyn are pointing toward?
Bauknight: Yes, that is what we want. Speaking for myself, I carry a lot. I wear a lot of hats—I’m a mother, a business owner, a wife, a friend, a community leader—and that’s true for so many women I know.
And honestly? I don’t even know what “balance” means anymore.
If we’re defining balance as everything getting equal attention all the time, that’s just not real life. It’s completely unrealistic.
But what is real, and what we’re asking for, is the ability to manage what’s on our plates without completely losing ourselves in the process. Maybe even thrive while doing it, which, yes, feels like a lofty goal some days.
And that cannot happen when the scales are so far tipped in one direction. At a minimum, it has to include taking care of our personal health, right?
The truth is, the way we’ve been conditioned to lead, especially as women, is extremely sacrificial. It’s take care of everyone else first, and then if there’s anything left over, you might get a piece of it for yourself.
And that model is broken. It’s not sustainable. It’s not leadership, it’s martyrdom.
If we want to build careers, communities, and companies that last, we have to start leading differently. We have to look at the whole human: their health, their well-being, and their life beyond the quarterly goals.
Jacobsen: People in private typically go to leaders of organizations or people they know who have deep experience in a particular industry and share their concerns — younger people expressing their anxieties to older people. What have younger women aspiring to be leaders in different industries expressed to you about their anxieties?
Bauknight: One of the biggest things I hear from younger women is this deep desire to be seen.
It’s not always the first thing they say, but underneath their fears about career paths, leadership, or belonging, there’s this thread: Will I be accepted if I show up as my full self?
There is this “good girl” training we received, where we are taught that if we show certain parts of ourselves—if we are disruptive, too much, too big, too bold, if we use our voice—then we are bad, wrong, less-than, or not following the rules.
What I’m seeing now is a generational shift. Women in my age group—I’m in my forties—are the ones doing a lot of the heavy lifting of unlearning.
“Can I actually show up differently?”
“Can I bring compassion into leadership?”
“Can I make new rules around this?”
“Can I show my humanity and still be taken seriously?”
Younger women, though—they’re coming in with a different energy. They still feel the pressure to perform, to belong. But it’s not as deeply cemented yet. They’re quicker to question the system. They want work that feels meaningful. They want community. They don’t just want to climb a ladder, they want to build something worth climbing.
When younger women come into our community, they often say, “Wow, you are doing something disruptive. You left a very traditional path, and it is inspiring to imagine something else for myself.”
And that’s the beautiful thing: whether you’re 22 or 62, the questions women are asking now are remarkably similar. What if we could do it differently? What if we didn’t have to leave parts of ourselves behind to succeed?
Jacobsen: For two years, I did ethical and sustainable fashion journalism and spoke to a lot of business owners in that space. Most of them were small to medium-sized businesses. In that industry, you sometimes find a little bit of borderline “crystal” kind of stuff.
But broadly speaking, the premise was legitimate — sustainable sourcing and production of textiles, clothing, and garments. Most small and medium-sized businesses were women-led, regardless of where they were located globally.
If the emphasis is on collaboration rather than competition — so it is not so single-minded to the point where you need to take ketamine for depression — does that hurt the intensity of focus on the bottom line, even though the person is psychologically much healthier?
In other words, could it limit the scaling of the business? It might slow it down.
Bauknight: Yes, it can slow it down. And this is something I have had to personally reckon with in my own growth — sustainable growth versus being in a rush to meet certain goals.
Yes, it can slow scaling, but it depends on your priorities. I do not want to grow a company so quickly that we have a great run for five or ten years and then crash and burn because we cannot sustain what we built or because we failed to model our own values.
And I battle with it—of course. These are the financial goals we would like to meet for our family, our business, and our impact. But at the end of the day, what matters to me is building a legacy, not something that comes out hot and fast, is financially successful out of the gate, but lacks sustainability.
Jacobsen: There is a famous quote in philosophy: “All of Western philosophy is a footnote to Plato.” And I mention that because most commentary is not necessarily new if you dig a little deeper. The same is true for prototypes of leadership styles, too.
So, thinking about yourself leading an organization with a collaborative leadership style: who, from older generations — living or deceased — do you believe embodied some of those principles? A man or a woman who demonstrated a collaborative leadership style and contributed to a sustainable, legacy-based model?
Bauknight: Without diving too deeply into the second part about the economic model, one of the things I have been studying — and sitting in a circle with, personally — is what I would call the sacred feminine.
When we look back at how women have gathered since the beginning of time, we see that women were the temple keepers, the priestesses, and the wisdom keepers of communities. Women cared for each other’s families and supported each other in very communal ways.
So, instead of referencing a modern business figure, I see it as a remembrance — a return — to how we had always related to one another before systemic shifts altered those natural dynamics.
It is not new. It is ancient—an instinctual, natural way of being in community with one another. And that has been one of the most beautiful parts of this work: it feels natural and instinctual.
Bauknight: When you experience it, it feels like deep permission. You just know—this is how I want to do business, how I want to lead, how I want to live.
It creates a continuity across your whole life. It’s not, “Here’s how I show up in business, and here’s who I am at home.” It’s this is who I am, everywhere. That kind of leadership isn’t something you perform. It’s something you become.
Jacobsen: What is soft strength? You mentioned it. What is it?
Bauknight: Oh gosh. It is something I have worked hard to embody.
It is a vulnerability. I used to believe strength meant not showing what was actually going on — powering through, putting on an “everything’s fine” face, and getting the job done.
But from my personal experience, people value appropriate vulnerability — right? Not trauma dumping or oversharing, but being willing to say, “I am on the same playing field as you.” Yes, I am the founder of this organization, but I am also in life with you. I am navigating similar things.
Soft strength feels grounded. It feels rooted. It holds a presence in the room without needing to overpower it. It is not hierarchical — I do not need to control people — but I can still lead the space.
I can continue to build and expand my capacity to hold more while not overriding my intuition, vulnerability, and authenticity. I truly believe it is one of the most powerful forms of strength when you can have both strong leadership and real authenticity.
Jacobsen: I want to touch on authentic leadership and the use of these intelligent algorithms. A big topic for quite a while has been narcissism — the debate around whether narcissism is rising in American culture. Some argue it is growing; others argue it is not.
But one common point that many experts agree on is this: if narcissism is increasing, authenticity is an antidote. When you deal with authenticity, you are dealing with the authentic self — not a false or performative one.
So:
- How do you mentor or provide a space for women to lead authentically so they can make realistic judgments and build sustainable businesses?
- And second, how do you realistically and ethically use AI systems to help build a business without compromising those values?
Bauknight: When I think about mentoring women to lead authentically and build sustainable businesses, I look at how we gather, whether virtually or in person, as a practice field.
I was a competitive athlete—I played softball through college as a pitcher—and one thing I know is that building any real skill set takes practice. Authentic leadership isn’t different. You have to practice showing up differently, especially in spaces that feel safe enough to try, stumble, and try again.
So first and foremost, we model it.
At The Nova, we have specific values and ways of holding the room that allow women to see what authenticity actually looks, feels, and sounds like. It’s not just a concept—it’s a lived experience.
Recently, at our Denver chapter gathering, our local leader, Emily, was going through an incredibly tough season of life—and a particularly hard day. She called me right before the event, melting down. She said, “I literally can’t do it. I can’t hold space for everyone tonight.”
I told her, “I’m coming anyway—and I’ll lead it with you, or for you, whatever you need.”
She stayed. And what we modeled that night was something I’ll never forget. I didn’t share her personal story, but when the group arrived, I explained: “Normally I come to participate, to receive. But today, Emily asked for support—and so I’m here to lead alongside her.”
I made it clear: Emily’s need for support didn’t diminish her leadership one bit. In fact, it showed the strength it takes to ask for help. That kind of visible, real-time leadership modeling created a ripple effect. The number of women who came up afterward saying, “That was so powerful—to watch how you co-led and allowed her to just be where she was without judgment” was overwhelming.
This is what I believe: Authenticity isn’t something you tell people to be. It’s something you show them, over and over again. And then you give them safe places to practice it themselves.
We intentionally design our gatherings with that in mind—through curated conversations, specific questions, breakout groups, and group shares—so women can experience the safety of being seen exactly as they are.
Because real authenticity needs two things:
(1) To know you’re not alone in what you’re experiencing, and
(2) To feel safe enough, inside your body and your nervous system, to take the mask off.
We also bring in experts in nervous system regulation because safe space isn’t just an emotional idea—it’s biological. Authenticity can’t survive if you don’t feel safe in your body. Many of our facilitators are trained in neurosomatic work, helping women understand what’s happening inside their bodies, how to rewire old patterns, and how to actually feel safe holding new behaviors. It’s deep work, and it’s vital.
Then, pivoting to AI, this entire business has been built with AI’s help. I was actually coaching someone today on using AI for business growth, and I told them, “Think of it like a thought partner. It’s still garbage in, garbage out.”
If we’re talking specifically about ChatGPT — the main AI tool we use — the quality of what you get back entirely depends on the quality of what you put in. What it’s helped me do — and what it’s helped many of my clients and the business owners we work with — is stay firmly in our zones of genius.
Our business is only eighteen months old, but the amount we’ve been able to create and scale would blow most people’s minds. I truly believe that success comes from a few key things: we live by what we stand for, and we’ve leveraged AI to support our mission, not replace it.
We can now complete projects in hours that used to take weeks — sometimes even months. We can input our brand guidelines, our voice, our personal stories, and have AI help us create content that often turns out even better than what we could have manually pieced together under pressure.
The number of policies, procedures, templates, and event designs we’ve been able to refine has dramatically increased our creative flow. And still — we use our authentic voice. AI doesn’t replace that; it amplifies it.
Truthfully, AI has probably saved me over $100,000 in hiring costs. As a self-funded small business owner, I wouldn’t have been able to bring my vision to life at this scale without the support of a tool like this.
If you stay in your zone of genius — and, of course, we still hire people to do work that AI can’t — but if you use AI as a virtual assistant, a thought partner, or a brainstorming collaborator, the level of efficiency it allows is remarkable.
Honestly, I don’t think I would be as mentally stable today without it. And that’s giving it a lot of credit, but truly — when you consider everything I’m holding between business, family, and personal life — it has made me more efficient in every area: business operations, meal planning, vacation planning, kids’ birthday parties — you name it.
I can hop on, get what I need faster, and move forward more easily. AI has been an incredible support tool — one that’s allowed us to stay focused on our bigger mission while spending far less time slogging through the backend work.
Jacobsen: Final question. What are your favourite quotes by women, by leaders, or on women’s leadership?
Bauknight: Well, one of my favourite quotes is my own — and not to be arrogant — but I always say, “I have never met a confused woman.” I believe that we are taught not to trust ourselves.
One hundred percent of the time — and I have been in deep, vulnerable conversations, having been a business coach for eight years — when people say, “I do not know what to do next,” and when I dig deeper, they know with incredible specificity.
They can tell you the type of plant in the corner of their future office or what the person at the front desk looks like—they have that clarity inside them. We need to learn how to trust it. That is the only personal quote I love to share.
Another quote I love — and I had to look it up because it escaped me for a second — is:
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Jacobsen: It is a pretty good one.
Bauknight: Because it is true. When I first moved to Colorado — and did not know anyone — and took a big, bold leap, that was the first thing I purchased: a small bracelet with that quote on it.
And that is really how you get there — one tiny step at a time. Those micro-actions, those micro-steps, bring big visions to life. So, that one resonates with me.
Jacobsen: Melissa, thank you very much for your time today. I appreciate your expertise, and it was nice to meet you.
Bauknight: Thank you, Scott. Cheers.
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