Year-end demands that leaders operate in two seemingly incompatible modes: reflection and execution.
Assess what worked while achieving the year’s biggest results. Plan for next year while closing Q4 strong. The timeline demanding the most strategic clarity often arrives when capacity is at its lowest.
For many leaders, this tension resolves one way: defer reflection, push through execution and repeat the pattern until something breaks.
However, Deepica Mutyala, founder and CEO of Live Tinted, has spent the last seven years building practices that integrate both – delivering outcomes while constantly realigning with purpose.
“I genuinely believe Live Tinted is bigger than myself,” Mutyala shared in a phone interview. That perspective, building a legacy of inclusion in the beauty industry, has shaped how Mutyala supports the company’s longevity – and how she’s managed herself along the way.
As her company evolved, so did her leadership approach. Mutyala transitioned from influencer to founder, launching Live Tinted as a clean, vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics and skincare brand. Today, the company continues to scale, expanding from digital community favorite to coveted shelf space at major retailers including Target and Ulta Beauty.
However, Q4 2025 brings unique pressures as businesses navigate growth alongside economic uncertainty and technological disruption. Consumer brands especially face high stakes as the National Retail Federation projects holiday spending will reach $890 billion, the second highest on record. For Mutyala, this season is pivotal – and yet her leadership remains steady as she guides her team and community forward.
Here are three actionable strategies Mutyala leverages to maintain clarity, stay energized and align with purpose during critical periods.
Leadership Lesson 1: Build Strategic Support Systems in Q4
Early on, Mutyala intentionally prioritized strategic investors over check size. “I wanted their advice more than their check size,” she explained. She brought seasoned founders including Bobbi Brown, Payal Kadakia of ClassPass and Hayley Barna of Birchbox onto her cap table.
The value becomes clear during high-stress periods when a quick text to Brown elicits a reassuring one-word reply: “Chill.” Mutyala underscores the importance of receiving advice from trusted advisors who can offer meaningful, firsthand perspective – not just general guidance.
Strategic support extends beyond investors. Live Tinted’s community became another pillar. “Every single day, people say, ‘Keep going,’” Mutyala shared. “It’s a special kind of business to build when your community roots for your mission.”
This layered approach proactively addresses a challenge Harvard Business Review highlights leaders of all levels face: loneliness. And during busy seasons, the decision-making pressure only intensifies. As she scaled, Mutyala tackled this intentionally by surrounding herself with mentors who understood her journey, peers facing similar challenges and a community invested in the mission.
How to Put This Strategy Into Practice:
- Schedule Quick Q4 Check-Ins: Identify 2-3 contacts in your network (mentors, colleagues or industry peers) who understand your context and set up brief touch points over the coming weeks. Think quick calls or coffee chats to get perspective when you’re deep in execution and need grounding.
- Stay Connected to Your ‘Why’: Build in moments to hear directly from team members, customers or other stakeholders. Whether it’s reviewing feedback or community engagement, these serve as regular reinforcements of why the work matters.
Leadership Lesson 2: Prioritize Connection and Communication When Pressure Peaks
Mutyala initially felt pressure to emulate the widely celebrated “girl boss” persona. “I thought I had to project toughness,” she recalled. “But the real me is someone who leads with empathy and transparency.”
During busy seasons, connection and communication often become the first casualties. Defer the team gathering. Direct first, provide explanation later.
Mutyala does the opposite. Amid intense Q4 pressures, she scheduled a company offsite. “A lot of people question bringing everyone together during the busiest time, but I believe it’s exactly when the teams need it most,” she said.
Strong communication and transparency remain core tenets of working at Live Tinted. Employees are able to access real-time performance dashboards, allowing them to clearly see how their daily contributions matter. Mutyala reinforced that, “Transparency helps everyone to see the meaning behind their work.”
This approach matters for retention and ultimately, company performance. Research shows employees who feel a sense of belonging are 3.5 times more likely to contribute to their full potential, and this is even more important in intergenerational workforces. Deloitte’s 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey found that 89% of Gen Z employees consider a sense of purpose important to their job satisfaction and well-being, and 44% have left jobs that lacked purpose.
How to Put This Strategy Into Practice:
Make Impact Visible: Regularly highlight specific team successes, clearly linking individual contributions to overall outcomes. Transparently address setbacks alongside wins so employees see how their efforts drive progress toward shared goals.
Prioritize Team Connection: Schedule purposeful interactions – offsites, focused team building sessions or brief ad hoc huddles. Intentional social connection during intense seasons strengthens culture and deepens alignment when teams need it most.
Leadership Lesson 3: Treat Well-Being as a Strategic Priority
Mutyala personally experienced the risks of neglecting well-being during rapid retail expansion, pushing herself to near exhaustion and losing her voice while pitching partners and press.
Her experience reflects a broader leadership challenge, as 71% of leaders report a significant increase in stress, which is linked to myriad adverse health outcomes. The turning point came when she reframed personal well-being not as indulgent but fundamental to sustainable performance. “I asked myself, ‘What is this company without my best?’” Mutyala said. “If I don’t care for myself, the company suffers.” She now views rest and renewal as essential business infrastructure, as critical to long-term success as sales, marketing or operations.
Crucially, Mutyala emphasizes well-being isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach; each person must define it individually. “Founders feel pressure to have traditional hobbies like journaling or meditation,” she noted. For her, recharging comes from family time, being near water, or doing nothing. “Sometimes the most restorative thing is sitting quietly and recharging in your own way.”
How to Put This Strategy Into Practice:
- Identify What Restores You – Treat It as Preparation: Consider the activities or people that replenish you and integrate them into your week as preparation for demanding periods.
- Model Your Well-Being Practices: Visibly share your own practices. Demonstrating intentional recovery empowers your team to find and adopt their own.
Building Leadership Practices That Scale
Leadership longevity isn’t about surviving intense moments. It’s about building practices that sustain performance over years, not quarters. Yet knowing which practices work best requires deep self-awareness.
“I encourage every leader to do inward work,” Mutyala said. “You’re the foundation of your team. Why start something only to follow someone else’s blueprint?”
For leaders navigating year-end demands and increasing complexity, understanding what energizes you isn’t just beneficial. It’s essential for this quarter – and beyond.