Feeling undervalued, unsupported, and stuck without a clear path upward are the main reasons high-potential female leaders decide to leave. When she goes, the obvious costs arrive quickly: you have to replace her and bring someone new up to speed.

The less obvious costs can be even steeper. Her team loses productivity and momentum. Customers lose the relationships and trust she spent years building. Institutional knowledge walks out the door, and the colleagues who watched her leave start wonderi...

Wisdom Worth Carrying Forward and What It Means for Your Next 90 Days

Last week, I had the honor of taking the stage with some of the most esteemed women executives and founders at the 6Sense EmpoweredCXO retreat on the topic: ‘Use AI Disruption to Your Advantage: A 90-Day Plan to Recruit, Rein, and Reimagine What's Next’. What I didn't expect was how much I would learn in return.

A Community That Lifts Others

Heidi Melin, thank you for welcoming me into a community of powerful and compassi...

In honor of International Women's Day 2026, I am continuing this series on what drives promotion velocity, a deeper leadership bench, and lasting influence for women leaders.

Here is what I know from 25 years of working with world-class athletes, Olympians, executives, and rising leaders:

It’s very possible that you are more ready than you think to have a bigger voice at the bigger table.

And with the right preparation, even the most challenging rooms become rooms where you are highly influen...

If you’ve ever ‘choked’ during an important conversation, it means that you’re human and that you care deeply about the outcome which is great! What’s not so great is that many times our inability to emotionally regulate robs us of our ability to influence, especially when the stakes are high.  

Here’s a look at my recent closed session at SFVegas for the Rising Stars cohort at Women in Securitization.  The focus was on Clarity, and what I'm about to share works any time of year, especially whe...

Crucial conversations are not limited to your boss, colleagues and the boardroom. Many times, the most difficult conversations we have are ones with those we care deeply about, including our dear friends. 

Avoiding these uncomfortable conversations is completely normal. I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all done it (me included)—felt that knot in the stomach, the racing thoughts, the temptation to tell ourselves, “It’s not a big deal… it will blow over or I just don’t want to deal with it.”

Whil...

Have you ever wanted (and deserved) to be in a room that would immediately add value, expand your visibility and impact ...but you were NOT included?

Maybe you know you’ve earned your way into that room, and it feels like you were purposefully excluded or maybe it was an oversight.

Either way, it can be incredibly frustrating and detrimental to the business.

Here’s the good news. There is a proven process to help you get into the important rooms and ensure your voice is heard, valued, and recognize...

In the latest Fearless Female Leadership interview, I had the honor of talking with Sarah Lloyd Favaro, Senior Solutions Director, Office of Responsible AI and Governance at HCLTech, about one of the most urgent and misunderstood leadership topics today: how leaders can mitigate AI bias for women.

Sarah’s career has always lived at the intersection of technology and learning. Long before generative AI swept into the mainstream, she was exploring how tech could enhance human capability (not repl...

In the latest Fearless Female Leadership interview, I had the honor of speaking with Melanie Moore, the Inclusion and Engagement Leader at Honeywell, about “Building Inclusive Cultures That Drive Global Impact.”

Melanie’s journey into leadership wasn’t planned... it was discovered. A marketing major by degree, she was “accidentally” placed into a human resources internship, and that unexpected detour sparked a 30-year passion for people. From recruiting talent to fostering belonging across contin...

In the latest Fearless Female Leadership interview, I had the privilege of speaking with Kim Thomas, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer at OneAmerica Financial, about the power of fear and how leaning into discomfort has shaped her extraordinary leadership journey. Kim shared her personal story of growing up with instability at home, which inspired her from a very young age to take control of her future. That determination carried her through college, career uncertainty, lead...

In Parts 1 and 2, we built trust with Strategic Empathy and Curiosity that Creates Trust. Now we complete the ECO Mindset Model with Optimism… not Pollyanna positivity, but a clear, credible future-cast that aligns what you want, what they need, and what the organization must achieve. 

Why Optimism (and What It Is Not).

Optimism is the discipline of communicating a shared vision, better future, and the path to get there. It acknowledges real pressure and loss-pain, but refuses to leave anyone ...