Future Female Leaders

Nichole wraps up the week with a practice episode, giving you a weekend assignment to rehearse your opening line and your ask out loud. In this episode: A recap of the week: asking for the meeting, deciding about HR, what to send ahead, and helping your manager say yes A reminder of the mission to help 1,000 women ask for a raise before the end of the year, and a note that Nichole is still rooting...

Nichole shares a mindset shift for the raise conversation: your job isn't just to ask, it's to help your manager say yes. In this episode: A recap of the week: asking for the meeting, deciding about HR, and what to send ahead Why a manager who loves you may still need approval from their boss, HR, or a finance team, and why it's harder for them to advocate for you without the right information Giv...

After covering the meeting request and HR, Nichole explains what, if anything, to send your manager before you sit down together. In this episode: A recap of the week so far and a check-in on what you decided about HR A clarification that your one-pager still works best as something you bring to reference and offer to send afterward, so what you send ahead of time is a short heads-up Why to think...

Following yesterday's episode on asking for the meeting, Nichole tackles a common question: should you involve HR before you talk to your manager? In this episode: A note that every company is different and that Nichole isn't a lawyer, so check your own company's policies Why the default for most people is to start with your manager, who knows your work best and will advocate for you, and why goin...

Celebrating the 300th episode, Nichole kicks off a week on setting up the conversation, starting with how to request the time without making your manager nervous. In this episode: A celebration of the 300th episode and how far the podcast has come since launching in 2019 A recap of last week's timing episodes and a look ahead at setting up the conversation itself A reminder of the mission to help...

To close out timing and strategy week, Nichole covers the times to avoid, so you don't accidentally set yourself up for a harder conversation. In this episode: A recap of the week: the best time of year to ask, reading the room, before or after a big project, and how to request the meeting A note from Nichole that her DMs are always open and she loves talking all things corporate world, with a rem...

Nichole moves from planning to action, with simple templates you can borrow to get the raise meeting on the calendar. In this episode: A recap of the week so far: the best time of year to ask, reading the room, and whether to ask before or after a big project Why most women either bring it up randomly in a hallway or overthink the request until the email never gets sent The three things a good mee...

Nichole answers a question many listeners are quietly asking: if you have a big project in the works, should you ask for a raise before it wraps or after? In this episode: A recap of the week so far: the best time of year to ask and how to read the room Why the honest answer is "it depends" on what the project means for your case, and an invitation to DM Nichole about your specific situation Why y...

Building on yesterday's episode about the best time of year to ask, Nichole zooms in from the calendar to what's actually happening inside your company, and how to adjust your ask based on what you see. In this episode: Why the mood of the room matters even in the right month How to read company health: what leadership is saying and not saying, whether updates are getting vague, whether projects a...

Kicking off timing and strategy week, Nichole answers a big question: when is the best time of year to ask for a raise? In this episode: A recap of last week's pre-ask checklist and a look ahead at the timing and strategy episodes A note from Nichole that some themes will repeat over the next couple of months on purpose, because hearing something once doesn't always do the trick Why the best time...

Looking back on everything since the series began on Labor Day, Nichole pulls it all into one pre-ask checklist so you can see where you stand and what's left. In this episode: A personal update from Nichole: she's expecting a baby girl in December, and she's pushing through on tired days to give you the confidence to ask A welcome to new listeners, whether you're tuning in live or months or years...

Nichole takes on the little voice that says you have nothing to offer, and shows how to find the real value in a year without a headline-worthy win. In this episode: Why most people don't have a big win every year, and why that usually means we're measuring ourselves against the wrong thing Consistency: showing up, meeting deadlines, and keeping things running as real value, with specifics like ho...

Building on yesterday's performance review episode, Nichole helps listeners whose workplaces have no formal reviews create their own paper trail. In this episode: Why not having a formal review process is common, especially at smaller companies and startups, and why it doesn't mean you can't build your case Step one: asking for feedback on purpose, including a way to make a regular check-in with y...

Following yesterday's episode on testimonials, Nichole shows how your last performance review, your own employer's words about you, can become some of your strongest proof. In this episode: Why a performance review is one of the most credible pieces of evidence you have, and why it shouldn't get filed away and forgotten How to reread your review like a detective, looking for strengths, growth area...

  Nichole adds a new proof point to your raise case before the timing episodes begin: a short, specific testimonial from someone other than you. In this episode: A quick change of plans from Friday's episode: a few more proof points come first, and timing follows Why a short, specific comment from a client or peer carries more weight than anything you say about yourself Who to ask: clients you hel...

Wrapping up a week of building your raise case, Nichole gives you a weekend project to bring every piece of your one-pager together. In this episode: A recap of the week: starting your one-pager, learning what to leave out, tying your work to company goals, and rewriting weak statements into strong ones Section one: your opening line, read out loud to make sure it's direct and has no apologies Sec...

In this workshop episode, Nichole takes weak accomplishment statements and rewrites them live, so you can hear exactly how the transformation works. In this episode: A look back at turning tasks into achievements, cutting what doesn't belong, and connecting your work to company goals, and how today pulls them together Five weak-to-strong rewrites: social media accounts, helping with the budget, co...

Continuing this week's case-building focus, Nichole shows how to make your achievements land harder by connecting them to what your company actually cares about. In this episode: Why achievements without a connection to company priorities land as "nice job" instead of "this person is worth investing in" How to think about your manager's goals, like growing revenue, keeping customers, hitting deadl...

Following yesterday's one-pager episode, Nichole covers the other half of building a strong case: knowing what to leave out. In this episode: Why more isn't always better, and how a cluttered case makes your strongest points harder to see Leaving out anything without a result, and why stalled or unfinished projects can stay in your tracker as talking points Leaving out personal needs like rent or...

Kicking off a new week, Nichole shows how to turn your accomplishment tracker into a simple one-page raise proposal you could actually hand your manager. In this episode: Why "proposal" sounds intimidating, and why this is really just one clear page that pulls together what you've already done Why a one-pager helps even if the conversation itself feels messy, since nerves happen and it keeps your...

Wrapping up a full week on your brag document, Nichole pulls everything together into one simple, organized accomplishment tracker so you're not left with scattered notes and screenshots. In this episode: A recap of the week: what goes in your brag document, turning tasks into achievements, quantifying impact without hard numbers, and collecting your kudos A reminder of the mission to help 1,000 w...

Nichole shares a different kind of evidence for your raise case: the praise that's probably already sitting in your inbox, Slack messages, and texts, waiting to be collected. In this episode: Why a kind message from a client, manager, or coworker is evidence, and how easily it gets lost in a sea of other messages What to look for: direct compliments, gratitude tied to a specific outcome, requests...

Addressing a common roadblock, Nichole helps listeners whose roles don't come with obvious metrics find the numbers hiding in their work anyway. In this episode: Why roles outside of sales often feel harder to quantify, and why that's not actually true Thinking in terms of time: how long something used to take versus now, and time saved through a process or shortcut Thinking in terms of volume: ho...

Building on yesterday's brag document episode, Nichole shows how to take a plain, ordinary task and turn it into something that actually reads as an achievement. In this episode: Why most brag document entries read like a job description instead of showing real impact Three real before-and-after examples, from onboarding a new hire to managing a team calendar to answering customer emails Why a tim...

Kicking off a new week focused on your brag document, Nichole gets specific on exactly what belongs in it and how to make it actually usable later. In this episode: The five categories to track: completed projects, problems solved, measurable results, new responsibilities, and recognition from others The three-part format for each entry: what happened, the result or impact, and the date or month W...