SisterSmart Leadership

Whether you received your promotion recently or you want one in the next few months, have you ever felt like you didn't really deserve it?  This is a common feeling that leaders have, While men certainly feel this way at times, the problem tends to be bigger for women and underrepresented groups because this feeling of being an imposter can come from feeling like an outsider.  Plus, wome...

Do you ever feel like all the eyes are on you and you have more and more fear of making mistakes as a leader and pressure to work harder?  The higher you go, the higher this pressure becomes, especially for women due to gender bias and socialization. Many leaders in this situation just work harder and harder, without it ever feeling like enough.  This might get you to the director level...

As ambitious leaders rising up in our careers, it’s inevitable to encounter career setbacks along the way.   Sometimes you have to restart your career because you had kids or you moved to another country. Or maybe you've done everything right and that promotion you were looking for doesn't pan out or you get laid off right on your way up the ladder.  Many leaders let these kinds of...

An employee is only as good as their team. There have been studies that show this.  So why is the team dynamic so important? No one gets to the top alone. Even in roles that might seem like they're solo endeavors like sales.  We feed off one another and we have a human need to belong to a larger group. And when these interpersonal dynamics are missing, we simply cannot be our best selves...

If you want to improve your ability to create stronger relationships, not only with your team but also with your peers and senior leaders, you're going to want to listen to this episode because we are going to let you in on the secret to how your physiology could actually be holding you back from being the best that you can be. In this episode, SisterSmart coach, Sara Spencer joins Jill to share t...

Understanding how to develop your conversation skills for work is one of the skills that will allow you to confidently navigate any situation you encounter as a leader.  So many conversations don't go anywhere or worse — they create a negative situation between two people or different factions. These types of situations are exactly what can get your team stuck or underperforming. In this...

Setting SMART goals can lead you to feel like you’re on a “goal treadmill.” Set a goal. Check it off. Set another one. Repeat. This usually results in goals that are good for the company, but not necessarily good for you. Many women we’ve talked to who set SMART goals share they end up feeling unfulfilled and not in alignment with their purpose.  In this episode, Jill and SisterSmart Coach Li...

It's been proven that companies prosper more when diversity increases and we improve gender balance.  Yet the workplace is the same experience for all women.  In fact, white women are at a distinct advantage in terms of promotions, pay, and dealing with microaggressions. When we can understand how our experience is similar and different from women of color, we can work together towards a...

It can feel difficult to set boundaries with your coworkers, but learning how to say no at work without making enemies is the very thing that will make you more successful — not saying “yes” to everything.  When you set boundaries at work, the way you spend your time, your money, your energy will all become in line with what you really want and you’ll experience how saying “no” helped you go...

If you're like most people, you've taken career opportunities as they've come rather than intentionally thought about how to develop your career plan to get you where you want to go and what you'll need to get there before setting your goals. When you simply take opportunities as they come, you can end up in a place that you never wanted to be by the end of your career, and it's disheartening to t...

For most women leaders, learning how to stop working too much is one of the most difficult tasks they face in their career.  There are social and psychological reasons that you stay stuck in a busyness trap unless you understand these influences and create a plan about how to work through them. If you've ever struggled with feeling like you have too much on your plate, wondering why you can't...

When you’re feeling burned out at work, the initial thought tends to be, “If only the company would change their behavior, then I could change my own behavior.” But recovering from work burnout is an inside job. SisterSmart client, Jenny, found herself completely burned out, so when she eventually got a new dream job, she wanted to approach it differently to make sure that wouldn’t happen again.&n...

It seems like every woman we talk to is taking on more responsibility at work and working harder and harder in hopes of getting a promotion. They keep their head down and wait for their work to speak for them, except this isn't how it works. This only leads you to burnout. If you're tired of doing more and more and not getting the promotion you're looking for, you're going to want to stay tuned be...

Very few people reach the highest positions in their career, and even fewer women achieve that feat. But Beth DiPaolo, one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women and the Women Business Leaders in Healthcare, has risen all the way to serve on the Group Operating Council as the Global Head of the Professional Scientific Services, Eurofins, a leader in testing for life with over 60,000 employees in 60 coun...

How can you tell if you possess the qualities of executive presence?  If you have ever felt like your ideas aren't being taken seriously or that you aren't being heard when you speak up in meetings, you might be lacking executive presence.  Executive presence is all about having influence — it’s that something special about you that tells people that you're in charge. It's often hard to...

If you’re overwhelmed or burned out in your current role, you might not feel ready to go for a promotion.  This is what our client Nicolle was experiencing before she started working with us. She wasn’t sure if she was ready for the next level up and was feeling anxious and burnt out as she tried to prepare herself for a promotion. In this episode, Nicolle shares how she gained the skills she...

Most women don't fully know what executive presence is and how they need to develop it to advance in their careers.    And since it's hard to explain, managers can have a challenging time helping them to understand what it is and specifically what they need to change.   Women also don't fit into traditional male leadership models, so it can be hard for people to understand what feminine execu...

If you're a female leader in the corporate world, you have undoubtedly noticed that things are different for you than they seem to be for men — it's not your imagination.  There's social science that explains how we got here and how we can move forward into a new future.  Mary Shapiro, a Fellow at Simmons Institute for Inclusive Leadership, is a leading expert on gender in the workp...

How do you know if you should stay at your current job and try to work things out when things aren't quite working the way you want them to, or whether it's time to move on to another role? This is the exact same question that our client Charissa was facing when she joined the Sisters in Leadership Program. Tune in to hear how Charissa gained the clarity to know whether it was time to leave or sta...

Leadership experts like me will tell you that one of the most important skills as you rise up into senior leadership is self-awareness.  Yet, how much time have you actually spent getting to know yourself? For most of us, we really haven’t spent that much time.  If we want to play to our strengths, we have to get to know ourselves better than we do now.  In this episode, you'll lear...

“Turn your career weaknesses into strengths,” is common advice you can find when you’re trying to move up in your career.  But it’s that very advice to focus on your career weaknesses — rather than your strengths — that keeps many women stuck in their careers, unable to earn that next-level title (and the salary to go with it). Here, Jill and Sara, a SisterSmart Career Success Coach, share wh...

If you’ve ever felt a lack of confidence at work, you’ve likely come across the advice, “fake it ‘til you make it.” That hasn't worked for you, has it?  That's because, for many women leaders, confidence doesn't work that way. Women want to feel confident first from the inside before they can show it on the outside. So that advice that usually works for men often falls flat for women. In this...

How do you get established in a new department at your company?  Meet Monica, a client of the Sisters in Leadership program who works for a large pharmaceutical company and transitioned to a new department. She shares how she’s been able to quickly gain recognition, establish relationships, and gain influence in a brand-new department so she can be seen as the next person to be promoted. Tune...

Do you feel like you have all the right skills to lead at a higher level, but you don't know what's missing for how to get promoted from director to vice president?  Working with hundreds of clients, Jill has identified seven steps as the missing pieces that are keeping women stuck in the leadership pipeline, which she shares in this episode.  You’ll also hear how these seven steps suppo...

It can be demoralizing when you’re not getting promoted when you feel like you’ve earned it.  When you asked for a promotion, they say, “You're great at what you do. Why would you want to do something else?”  “Oh, you don't have enough executive presence.” We don't have the budget for that.” Or, “If I promoted you, I would have to promote everyone else at that level.” There are so many l...