Authentic Life & Leadership
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Most recent blog post…
5 Ways Leaders Can Stop Taking Things Personally and Lead with Confidence
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in leadership is that if I take everything personally, it will exhaust me. Leadership puts you in the path of so many opinions, emotions, disagreements, criticism and misunderstandings. And if you absorb all of that...
Let Them and Let Me
(Boundaries, Freedom & Emotional Health)
The book The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins has been my most impactful book of 2025. It will be one I will revisit in the future to remind myself of the important truths it contains...ones that are key to my everyday peace. The wisdom of the book has been weighing...
5 Things You DON’T Have to Do Next Year!
As a new year approaches, the noise gets louder. Do more.Fix more.Plan better.Be stronger.Get it together. Suddenly, the turning of the calendar feels less like an invitation and more like a performance review. So before you step into another year feeling behind,...
Disappointed but Still Called:
How Leaders Get Reappointed After Hurt
I once heard Joyce Meyer say something in one of her messages that stopped me in my tracks. She said, “When you get disappointed, you need to get reappointed.” At first glance, it sounded clever, almost like a catchy play on words. But the longer it sat with me, the...
What Pushing in a Chair Taught Me About Consideration and Character
In the past few weeks I came across an article that got my attention on LinkedIn. It was titled, People Who Push Their Chair Back in When They Leave a Table Usually Display These 8 Unique Qualities, by Jitendra Patel. I was immediately attracted to read it because I...
Why Great Leaders Don’t
Try to Know Everything
When Larry and I were newly married and still in college, he had a baseball championship game. I was running late, so as I hurried up the hill toward the field, a group of friends came sprinting down, waving their arms like the place was on fire. “DEANNA! GET UP HERE...
10 Books I’m Thankful For
(and Why They Changed My Life)
As we enter this season of gratitude, I’ve been reflecting on the voices that have shaped me this year...not just the people I love, but the words that have strengthened my soul, sharpened my leadership, and steadied my heart. Some books are enjoyable, but others...
Invite Deanna to speak at your next event!
Deanna is invited to return and speak at many of the same places time and again because the result has been an overwhelmingly positive experience with lives changed, and people encouraged.
BIO
Dr. Deanna Shrodes
Dr. Deanna Doss Shrodes is an author, speaker, and leadership mentor known for helping women lead with courage, integrity, and deep faith. Her work has been featured by CBS News, People Magazine, The New Yorker, Woman’s World, GOD TV, and HuffPost. She holds a Master’s in Ministerial Leadership and a Doctor of Ministry from Southeastern University, where she also serves as an adjunct professor.
Dr. Shrodes currently serves as Women’s Ministries Director for the Pen Florida District of the Assemblies of God and leads the Stronger Leadership Network, where she mentors pastors and leaders through coaching, spiritual formation, and leadership development. The author of five books and a contributing writer to five others, her most recent work, Uncommon Answers, was released by Chosen Books (a division of Baker Publishing Group) in April 2025.
Known for a warm pastoral presence and practical, thoughtful teaching, Dr. Shrodes speaks at conferences, churches, and leadership gatherings on spiritual formation, prayer, women in leadership, discernment in decision-making, and cultivating healthy ministry cultures.
She is married to her college sweetheart, Larry. Together they have three grown children and five grandchildren.
Areas of Focus:
Spiritual formation & prayer
The work of the Holy Spirit
Leadership development
Women in leadership
Mentoring and calling
Healthy ministry culture
Leadership transitions
Marriage and ministry life
Become Your Most Authentic Self
Free E-Book
Are you tired of being who and what others expect you to be, instead of who God created you to be?
If you find the pressure of other people's expectations exhausting and you are ready to be the authentic YOU that you were always meant to be, Deanna would like to gift you with an ebook, 29 Ways to Become Your Most Authentic Self.
It's time to break free and finally live according to your divine design!
