Christian Woman Leadership Podcast with Esther Littlefield & Holly Cain

As leaders ambition is often a trait we come by naturally. The world praises us for getting the job done or for creating jobs or for climbing the success ladder.  But is this what God calls us to?    In this episode of the leadership traits series , Holly and I are exploring the concept of what we are calling 'surrendered ambition' and how we can develop this as leaders.   For the full show notes,...

Do you ever struggle to get into God's word? Do you find that your full schedule, your work and family commitments, and the distractions of life sometimes make it difficult to spend time reading the Bible? If we're honest most of us would say yes,  that at least at some point in our lives, we have struggled with being consistent about getting into God's word.   Whether or not this is a current cha...

Do you have multiple businesses or lots of business ideas? Are you struggling with figuring out how to focus when you are multi-passionate and enjoy many different types of endeavors?  Have you ever gone on a trip and felt like there's no way you could do all the activities you want to do in the time you're there? This is similar to how we often feel as multi-passionate Christian women. We have so...

Do you want to be a leader who others can rely on? Would you like to be trustworthy and dependable?    One of the best ways to become a trustworthy leader is to be a consistent leader. Consistency is not one of the most exciting traits to talk about, but we want to include it in our leadership traits series because it can have a massive impact on your leadership. In this conversation, Holly and I...

The church is not immune to the problem of domestic abuse. But what can we do as women and as leaders to recognize and overcome it? All of us have people in our lives who are experiencing abuse of some kind, whether we recognize it or not. In this episode, I'm talking with Charlene Quint about domestic abuse and how it is happening within the Christian church. Charlene shares her own personal expe...

Encouragement is a powerful thing, and it's not really an optional part of life and leadership as a Christian. Scripture shows us that we should be encouraging one another, but what does this look like practically and how can we find our unique ways of offering encouragement?   In this episode, Holly and I speak with Kari Bartkus of Love Does That. Kari shares her leadership journey and how this h...

What does it really mean to embrace your gifts? Are we making it harder than it has to be?   The mission of this podcast is to help you embrace your gifts and lead with confidence. But do you know what it looks like to do this?    In this episode, I'm sharing a personal update along with some thoughts on how you can start to truly embrace your own gifts. Often, we overcomplicate this because we th...

The statistics show that a lot of kids leave the Christian faith when they become teens and young adults. Is there anything that adults can do to help change this pattern? In this episode, our guest Lee Ann Mancini shares with us about her passion for helping parents develop a solid faith foundation in our children. She believes that, when parents begin instilling faith at a young age, that this w...

Good leaders are good communicators. But how can you become a better communicator, and is there one aspect of communication that is vitally important? As leaders, we can always be learning and growing, and while there may be some innate leadership qualities in some of us, much of leadership is about developing skills. So in this episode of our leadership traits series, we're going to focus on one...

Have you ever struggled to navigate the workplace or even the church as a female in a male-dominated environment? In this episode, Holly and I chat with Tammy Birklid about her leadership journey and how she transitioned into her role as owner of a construction company. She shares about her experience as a female in the construction industry and how she views equality in the workplace. Tammy provi...

What do we do with the goals and plans that did not come to fruition as we had hoped? And how can we learn from this year as we prepare for the coming year?   In a year when it feels like we had more unfulfilled plans than ever, it can be easy to skip over celebrating the wins and finding the good. But it's vital that we do this, just as we also spend time reflecting on the losses or failures and...

This year has brought a great deal of grief and loss, both individually and collectively as a nation and world. In addition, leaders have seen more division and criticism in their organizations and churches than they may have in decades or even their lifetime. And this impacts one of the most important aspects of our lives as leaders: our relationships. In this episode, Holly and I continue our Re...

How do you handle it when things don't go as planned? What about when a whole year doesn't go as planned? As we wrap up 2020 here on the podcast, Holly and I decided to do a 3-part Reflection Series with you. During this series, we'll walk through some of the questions that Sandy shared with us on Episode 128 , plus throw in some of our own questions.   In this conversation, we're focusing on proc...

It's the Christmas season, which means you should be celebrating and experiencing love, joy, and peace, right? But what if you don't feel peaceful? How can you experience the peace of God during this time (and always)?   In this special episode for the Christmas season, you will hear from Holly Cain. She is sharing a message to encourage you and remind you of how you can experience God's peace dur...

Is your heart tired and worn out from all that 2020 has brought us? Perhaps you're not interested in processing or reflecting on the year, and you can't wait for 2021 to show up. Although 2020 has felt challenging on many levels, Holly and I did not want to skip over reflecting, and we also didn't want to count it out as a horrible year. We know that God still worked during this year, and He can h...

Have you ever considered starting a podcast, but you're not sure if it would be worth it? There are 9 key benefits that I've experienced from starting this podcast, and I'm sharing them here. Podcasting can be a powerful way to share a message with the world, but it can also feel overwhelming and scary. However, it has been one of the best decisions I've made in my business and leadership. In this...

How can you thrive in your work and your personal life when you have a demanding career? And how can you transition from employee to entrepreneurship if you have a dream you want to pursue?   If you work full-time, have your own business, or have a maxed out schedule as a female Christian leader, you know staying healthy and making time for what matters to you can be a challenge. But it doesn't ha...

Most leaders have some kind of message they want to share with the world…. Something God had put on your heart, taught you, or just something you have learned and want to pass on.   The problem is, many of us don't know where to start when it comes to sharing a message. We often are waiting to be asked, but the reality is many people won't know you have a message to share until you start sharing i...

How do you trust God during devastating losses and seasons of challenge and uncertainty? And how do you uncover and begin using the experiences and gifts God has given you?   Almost no one's leadership journey is a straight and easy path, and Misty Phillip's experience is no exception. In this episode, Misty shares some of the challenges she faced when trusting God to transition from working a com...

Have you ever found yourself trapped in an unhealthy pattern or addiction, but you're not sure how to break free? The answer often involves breaking free from lies and replacing those lies with the truth of God. In this episode, Holly and I speak with our guest Britney Thompson who vulnerably shares her story of breaking free from an eating disorder. We dive into her leadership journey, the steps...

What does it look like to be an effective leader? As Christians, we want to follow the example of our leader Jesus Christ. So what did his leadership look like, and how can we emulate this?     In this episode, Holly and I continue our leadership trait series as we dive into an aspect of leadership that is firmly grounded in our faith. While some of the traits we discuss are widely accepted by the...

The difference between who we say we are and how we actually live impacts not just us personally, but also everyone we lead. But how can we learn to identify this gap and begin shrinking it?    In this episode, Holly and I talk with our guest Terra Mattson, about this issue, which she calls an integrity gap. We dive into what this means, common symptoms of an integrity gap, and how to start closin...

Vulnerability isn't just a "nice to have" trait for leaders; it is essential to being an effective Christian leader. But why does it matter and how can we practice it in our everyday lives?   In this episode, Holly and I are kicking off a new series about traits we need to develop as Christian leaders. We originally shared a list of things we felt leaders needed back in episode 2 of the podcast, b...

Are you a parent, grandparent, mentor, or leader of teens? Or do you want to gain leadership insights from parenting teenagers?  In this conversation, Holly and I talk with Connie Albers about thriving while leading and parenting teens. She shares many insights from her experience raising 5 teenagers as well as other lessons she has learned on her leadership journey. Connie shares wisdom and insig...

Have you heard podcast guests who are living out leadership and thought, "Yeah, but I couldn't do that"? Or perhaps you've thought about joining the Confident Leader Catalyst but you're not sure if it's right for you. In this episode, you're going to hear from 3 women who were members of the very first round of the Confident Leader Catalyst program. They share their real life stories of why they j...