Lead to Soar

This isn’t your average leadership pep talk. In this episode, Michelle Redfern invites you into a quiet, reflective, and deeply practical session designed to help you pause, breathe, and think intentionally about the leader and the woman you are called to become. Drawing on her personal experience and the powerful Ikigai framework, Michelle shares the exact questions, journaling prompts, and minds...

Being asked to “fix” an underperforming team or leader can be a genuine opportunity ... or a glass cliff. Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher break down how to assess high-stakes roles, identify red flags, and determine whether you’re being set up to succeed or to take the fall. Essential guidance for ambitious women evaluating career-defining moves. Get full access to Lead to Soar Podcast at leadtos...

Women are heading into the end of 2025 more stretched, more visible, and more scrutinised than ever. At the same time, the platforms we once relied on to build our reputations have shifted under our feet. This 200th episode names what’s changed, what no longer works, and what ambitious women actually need to take themselves seriously in 2026. In this milestone conversation, Mel and I get real abou...

In this episode, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher tackle a workplace issue most people experience but rarely discuss openly: professional jealousy. They walk through how jealousy shows up, how it can be weaponised through policy or gossip, and why it can have serious consequences for someone’s reputation and career if it isn’t handled well. Michelle shares a real incident from her executive career...

Technology is racing ahead — but courage and conscience must lead the way. In this episode, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher explore how women leaders can be the dissenting voices that keep ethics, empathy, and humanity at the centre of progress. If this episode resonated, I invite you to join the conversation in the comments and share what landed for you. You can subscribe to the Lead to Soar pod...

Your future self is counting on you. In this episode, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher explore how ambitious women can play the long game — building strategy, visibility, and momentum that leads to real career success. They explore how to show up for your future self by thinking and acting strategically, building credibility and confidence, and designing a clear direction rather than waiting for o...

Competence alone doesn’t create credibility. Michelle and Mel reveal why visibility and credibility must work together if you want to be chosen for high-value work. They share how to talk about your achievements without the cringe, use language that lands with decision-makers, and demonstrate leadership that moves the business forward. Leaders choose people they know, respect, and trust. If the ri...

Hope is not a strategy. Michelle and Mel show you how to define your full potential, state your ambition with a business lens, and build a roadmap that aligns your moves to real business outcomes. Practical prompts and language you can use this week. In this episode • Why “waiting to be noticed” keeps talented women stuck• What full potential can look like: role level, craft mastery, and financial...

We’ve all met this leader: pleasant, agreeable, and conflict-avoidant—the kind of manager everyone likes but few respect. In this Lead to Soar episode, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher dissect the “too nice to lead” phenomenon and offer practical strategies for ambitious professionals who report to an ineffective manager. What you’ll learn: • How to identify when niceness has replaced effectivenes...

This episode asks the big career question: What happens when you stay busy, wait patiently, and hope to be noticed? Michelle and Mel dismantle the “good girl” model of leadership and explain why obedience, helpfulness, and non-promotable tasks (NPTs) won’t get you where you want to go. Instead, they lay out how to move from being merely helpful to being high-impact, and why radical accountability...

Loyalty is still one of the most praised traits in women at work. Loyal to a leader. Loyal to a team. Loyal to an organisation that no longer has your back. In 2025, that expectation hasn’t softened. If anything, it has hardened. In this episode of Lead to Soar , Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher revisit the idea that loyalty is a virtue for women leaders—and ask harder questions about what loyalty...

In this episode of the Lead to Soar podcast, co-founder Michelle Redfern takes listeners inside the Lead to Soar Network. She explains what actually happens inside: weekly Hour of Power group coaching, monthly themes and challenges, and a highly curated leadership library she calls the “Leadership MBA.” Listeners also hear from member Tam Nguyen, who shares how her confidence, perspective, and pra...

This episode addresses a recurring issue in the Lead to Soar Network: what do you do when your boss—or their boss—is disinterested, disengaged, or outright hostile? Michelle and Mel respond to a recent message from a long-time Network member who was given two options by her boss: accept a demotion or take a redundancy package. Her crime? Delivering measurable, high-value outcomes. The insult? This...

In this Lead to Soar Network session, Michelle Redfern breaks down why strategic networking isn’t just a nice-to-have for ambitious women—it’s non-negotiable if you want influence, visibility, and advancement. Michelle shares practical tips, real talk about the barriers women face, and why “drinking from the fire hydrant” (aka, her sessions) is exactly what’s needed to shift from endless busywork...

In this Lead to Soar webinar episode, Michelle Redfern delivers a focused and strategic workshop on the art and necessity of speaking up and standing out as a woman in the workplace. Drawing on research, lived experience, and her work with women leaders globally, Michelle uncovers the systemic challenges women face when advocating for themselves and why remaining silent comes at a cost. Listeners...

Michelle addresses strategies for women to effectively manage performance reviews, career progression conversations, salary negotiations, and navigate gender biases in the workplace. Key Points: 1. Mindset Shift:   - Performance reviews are business meetings, not tests.   - Move from anxiety to proactive preparation. 2. Effective Performance Review Preparation:   - Gather evidence continuously; do...

In this episode of Lead to Soar, co-hosts Mel Butcher and Michelle Redfern discuss a real-world leadership challenge brought forward by a Lead to Soar Network member. “Jane,” a high-performing consultant in a matrix organisation, found herself unexpectedly blamed when a project she was only lightly involved in started to unravel. Mel and Michelle use this scenario to explore the importance of esta...

In this episode of the Lead to Soar podcast, Michelle Redfern explores why Business Intelligence (BQ) is the missing link for women’s leadership success. She explores how developing and demonstrating BQ—alongside Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Social Intelligence (SQ)—can help women advance in their careers, close the gender leadership gap, and be perceived as strategic, results-driven leaders. W...

Welcome to Lead to Soar Presents: The Strategic Skills Series —a new series focused on the skills that actually determine leadership progression. In this launch episode, Michelle Redfern sets the record straight on why so much leadership advice for women misses the point—and what needs to change if women are to advance with credibility, influence, and authority. This is not about surface-level fix...

Michelle Redfern sits down with Lizzy Goldfinch to explore the crucial intersection of money, leadership, and women’s potential. Lizzy shares her professional expertise and personal experiences to illuminate how financial literacy and independence are foundational for closing the leadership gender gap. The conversation focuses on breaking down harmful money myths, embracing financial empowerment,...

In this follow-up episode, Michelle and Renata Bernade, host of The Job Hunting Podcast, tackle the other side of the equation—job hunting. For job seekers, the holiday season can be a nerve-wracking time, but Renata offers insights and strategies to stay proactive, avoid burnout, and prepare for success when the market picks up. Topics include: • Navigating the anxiety of job hunting during the q...

In this episode of Lead to Soar, Michelle welcomes back a friend of the pod, Renata Bernarde, to discuss hiring from the manager’s perspective. Does the thought of hiring fill you with joy or dread? They explore this question because managers tell us that hiring often feels like a burden.   Topics include: • Why hiring feels like a chore for many leaders. • Common pitfalls in hiring practices, inc...

Michelle Redfern is joined by Lisa Saunders and Natalie Moore from Own Your Health Collective to explore how workplaces can better support women through perimenopause and menopause, pivotal life stages impacting women at the peak of their careers. Together, they address the often-taboo subject of menopause, highlighting the need for awareness, education, and supportive policies to ensure that wome...

In this episode, Michelle Redfern is joined by Susan Colantuono, founder of Be Business Savvy and co-founder of the Lead to Soar Network, to discuss the transformative coaching approaches needed to support women’s advancement into senior leadership. This conversation focuses on how managers, mentors, and coaches can go beyond traditional coaching frameworks to build their own business acumen—and e...

In this episode of Lead to Soar, host Michelle Redfern is joined by Trina Sunday, founder of Reimagine HR, for a candid conversation about the need for a major overhaul in HR. Michelle and Trina discuss the shortcomings in traditional HR practices, including the “policy police” reputation, and discuss how HR functions must evolve to be effective partners in strategic leadership. They explore why H...