Lead to Soar

One of the most admirable and arguably underrated qualities of leadership is the capacity for reflection. Confucius called it the most noble way to learn wisdom. Mel and Michelle discuss the power of reflective practice for your career and share some actionable insights and tools for leaders to use. 1. Download our Stop. Breathe. Reflect. Activity. 2. Take our Life Audit . A simple, yet powerful w...

Bonnie Marcus  is an executive coach and speaker. Her mission is to help women proudly own their talent and ambition. She is the author of two books,  The Politics of Promotion , and  Not Done Yet!: How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence and Claim Workplace Power . In this episode, Bonnie joins us for a discussion on her first book, The Politics of Promotion, which is all ab...

How does she do it? Do you know what strategy is? Do you know why strategy is set? Do you know why boards are interested in strategy? Can you describe the relationship between strategy and business outcomes? Being able to answer all these questions means you're likely to have strategic acumen. In this episode, Helga Svendsen FAICD and Michelle Redfern discuss Helga's experience from both sides of...

We are so proud to bring you the 100th episode of the Lead to Soar podcast. Mel and Michelle are joined by our Lead to Soar Network co-hosts Amal Yusuf and Susan Colantuono to reflect on where we’ve come from in 100 episodes as well as some of the standout themes. We discuss how we’re all determined to provide women with the advice they need that goes beyond the conventional advice directed at wom...

We’ve all been to an ineffective meeting. Sadly, some of us have been to LOTS of ineffective meetings. You know, the ones that start  10 minutes late, there is no agenda, and the facilitator has no clue about how to engage the greatness in everyone in the meeting. As the meeting wraps up, you think, “There’s an hour of my life that I’ll never get back!” In this episode, Mel and Michelle...

In this episode, Michelle welcomes Melanie Ho, author of Beyond Leaning In, to the pod to discuss this unique book and how she became an author and a visual storytelling artist. There is a lot to cover regarding women's experiences in workplaces, including how ‘mental autocompletes’, the Queen Bee syndrome and generational differences hold women back in their professional careers. We also discuss...

Are you feeling underwhelmed by the environment in your current workplace? Do you think twice about speaking up because of how other colleagues may react? Are certain norms making it difficult for women to thrive in your workplace?  If this sounds familiar, you could be in a toxic workplace for women. Our work environment directly impacts our professional performance and productivity. Ou...

“Menopausal women are the fastest growing workforce demographic.” (Office of National Statistics UK) - so what must we do as leaders to ensure that we (re)design workplaces and attitudes to support this huge demographic? This discussion with Natalie Moore, L2S member and workplace wellbeing expert will give us insights into the role of leaders so that workplaces become more inclusive, and high per...

An HBR article says that "it is assumed that exceptional men will job hop to get a promotion, it’s assumed that exceptional women will stay loyal to their firm because they value their relationships with their coworkers."  Mel and Michelle discuss the two-way street that signifies loyalty, and what women might want to consider next time they self-describe as loyal!  Links and Resour...

Barbara Bruno has an informative discussion with Mel that covers: • What leaders need to do differently to attract talent. • How to improve the candidate experience • What leaders should know about the recruiting and hiring process • Why tech companies are laying off their employees • How women can market themselves as candidates for leadership roles, stand out from the crowd and negotiation tips....

How not being a cool kid at school and not making the A Grade Netball team led to playing elite sport, then an extraordinary corporate career and now a Board Director portfolio career. Marlene Elliot shares her elite sporting background, her career, moving cities to pursue opportunities and expanding her Board portfolio. She shares advice for aspiring and developing board directors, leadership aro...

Mel & Michelle discuss going on vacation, the mechanics of it and how leaders can set boundaries to ensure they are rested, recovered and rejuvenated. Links and Resources Funny OOO messages that inspire Michelle! Lead to Soar is a global online network for businesswomen, a podcast, and we host livestreaming and in person events to help women have a career that soars! The podcast is hosted by...

Selena Rezvani is a recognized author, speaker, and consultant on leadership. Her book, Quick Confidence (Wiley, May 2023), was born out of a viral newsletter she started in 2020, to help people build their confidence through small actions. Selena helps women and marginalised groups tap into their confidence and carve out a path to leadership. In this interview, Michelle discusses with Selena: • H...

Is being 'busy' a badge of honour? Or does it mean you are outta control? Mel and Michelle discuss why saying 'I'm busy" when someone asks after you is a career limiting move and what you might say (and do) instead. Lead to Soar is a global online network for businesswomen, a podcast, and we host livestreaming and in person events to help women have a career that soars! The podcast is hosted by Me...

Have you sat back to consider how you choose your job references? One Lead to Soar coaching client learned a tough lesson - not every referee will promote your skills like you want them to. So Michelle and Mel breakdown how best to choose and prepare your referees so you land exactly where you want to. Lead to Soar is a global online network for businesswomen, a podcast, and we host livestreaming...

Lead to Soar! is a production of A Career that Soars! On episode this episode, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher talk about brilliant jerks. We've all worked with one (trying hard not to name names here), but what is a brilliant jerk and how do you work with one. Plus, Michelle and Mel have tips for taking your complaint to your boss or human resources. This is a recording from a LinkedIn in Live f...

On episode this episode, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher connect after their very successful Leadership Summit (2022). They have reflections on how the conference went, why most professional development fails women and whether they are going to offer another opportunity to help you get A Career that Soars ! (see what we did there)!?! This is a recording from a LinkedIn in Live find out more about...

Lead to Soar! is a production of A Career that Soars! Welcome to our "BEST OF SERIES". Molly Beck spend her days running Messi FM which is a B2B internal podcasting platform for companies to use podcast to talk to their employees. Molly also wrote the networking guidebook Reach Out, Reach Out, is about how to create a community around your work. The strategy it focuses on is sending one message ev...

Lead to Soar! is a production of A Career that Soars! Welcome to our "BEST OF SERIES". On episode this episode, Susan Colantuono, Michelle Redfern, and Mel Butcher sit down for a discussion on confidence... What is confidence? Where does confidence come from? How do you get it? Where does traditional advice on confidence go wrong?   LINKS Book:  What the CEO Want You To Know by Ram Charan Book:  N...

Welcome to our "BEST OF SERIES". In this episode of L2S!, leadership and gender equality expert,  Michelle Redfern , sits down for an interview with Amal Yusuf, newest host for a Career That Soars, to discuss her career path, and the leadership and wisdom she brings to our organization. Amal shares with us her path from immigrant to corporate business leader, and how she views networking and...

How do you describe what leadership is? What words do you use? Chances are, if you’re a woman, you'll use words and phrases based on the coaching, training, mentoring and content that you received since the outset of your career. The trouble with that is that most women are still recieving incomplete advice about leadership. That's one of the reasons for the global leadership gender gap. Have a li...

In our final episode for 2022, Amal, Mel, Susan, and Michelle reflect on a concept that drives us to distraction. The Queen Bee syndrome! Warning listeners, we get a little bit sweary in this episode because we've been trying to manage the double bind and double standards that women face for decades. We ask, are you on the women's team or not? We also muse upon the 4-day working week trials that a...

Commander Emma Conway was a sailor in the Royal Australian Navy for 12 years. She exchanged that career for one in firefighting and emergency services and is now a Commander in the Victorian Country Fire Authority (Australia). Emma is an inspiring leader and has some great advice for women who are navigating male-dominated (in some cases hyper-masculine) workplaces.  ~ Resources Emma's Linked...

Michelle and Jo have a conversation about a question they're asked a lot by women. Should I do an MBA?  We discuss how an MBA builds confidence, how to fit an MBA into real life, and why you must have this conversation with your boss (and boss’s boss!) Jo also shares practical tips on how to successfully navigate and complete an MBA – sourced from her MBA students around the world. About...

Hear Organisationsal Psychologist Noa Rein in conversation with Mel and Michelle about how to recognise toxic or hostile workplaces, behaviours and how to navigate them, as well as the questions from members about managing The Brilliant Jerk as well! Noa will help us tp find the language to articulate the problem to leaders (using the language of power) This is a recording of a live, interactive Q...