Lead to Soar

In this reflective episode of Lead to Soar, Susan Colantuono , Michelle Redfern , and Mel Butcher look back on 2020 and examine what the year revealed about leadership, gender, power, and whose work is valued. The conversation goes beyond a recap. It interrogates how the pandemic exposed structural inequities already embedded in workplaces, economies, and leadership systems, particularly for women...

In this episode of Lead to Soar, Lisa Alexander , former Head Coach of the Australian Diamonds, joins Michelle Redfern to explore what leadership looks like when performance, pressure, and visibility are non-negotiable. Drawing on her experience leading at the highest levels of elite sport, Lisa reflects on the parallels between sport and business, particularly around accountability, standards, de...

In this Career Q&A episode of Lead to Soar, Michelle Redfern speaks with Laurel Rowse , a water and wastewater engineer and consultant, about the internal narratives that shape women’s career decisions and leadership behaviour. Their conversation focuses on self-talk , not as a confidence cliché, but as a practical leadership issue. Laurel reflects on how internal commentary influences judgment, r...

Lead to Soar provides actionable advice for ambitious career women working their way up inside public and private organizations. On this episode, co-founder Michelle Redfern, discusses what the leadership mindset looks like at different carer stages and the difference between conventional and strategic career advice for women. Lead to Soar is a podcast for ambitious women and the leaders who suppo...

In this episode of Lead to Soar, Mel Butcher interviews Michelle Redfern about her life, career, and the experiences that have shaped her views on leadership, ambition, and systemic workplace inequality. The conversation provides context for the work that followed, including the creation of Lead to Soar and Michelle’s broader focus on fixing leadership systems rather than asking women to adapt the...

In this episode of Lead to Soar, Susan Colantuono interviews Anne Mulcahy , former CEO of Xerox , about leading through crisis and the realities of enterprise-level leadership. Anne became CEO during one of the most turbulent periods in Xerox’s history. The company was facing severe financial distress and the real prospect of bankruptcy. Under her leadership, Xerox stabilised, rebuilt credibility...

Lead to Soar provides insights and guidance for ambitious career women working their way up inside public and private organizations. On this episode, ACtS! co-founders Susan Colantuono and Michelle Redfern, discuss the 3 main career stages - Individual Contributor, Leader/Manager, Director/Executive - and what leadership looks like at each career stage. Lead to Soar is a production of A Career Tha...

In this episode of Lead to Soar, Susan Colantuono and Michelle Redfern discuss the core components of leadership that enable women to progress and be trusted with greater responsibility. The conversation challenges narrow definitions of leadership that focus solely on personality, confidence, or visibility. Instead, Susan and Michelle examine the leadership foundations that consistently correlate...

Welcome to Lead to Soar . This trailer introduces the purpose of the podcast, who it is for, and the kind of leadership conversations you can expect across the catalogue. Lead to Soar exists because much of the career advice given to women is incomplete. It focuses on confidence, resilience, and visibility, while ignoring how power works, how decisions get made, and what leaders are actually judge...