As you develop your career and become more senior, there’s a good chance that you’ll move from being a specialist to a generalist.

In a typical office environment, many of us start off in a generalist role as an assistant or coordinator, helping the team with anything and everything.  

As you progress you become more specialised and when you reach management or head of level, you’re an expert in your area.  

But then the time comes when you move above that level and instead of just managing people from your specialism, you find yourself having to lead, manage and trust people from different specialisms. All who know more about their areas than you do. 

This transition from successful specialist to a successful generalist can be difficult to navigate. 

The more senior you are, the more important this transition becomes.  After all, a great Chief Executive is...

As you develop your career and become more senior, there’s a good chance that you’ll move from being a specialist to a generalist.

Instead of just managing people from your specialism, you can find yourself having to lead, manage and trust people from different specialisms who know more about their areas than you do.

This transition from successful specialist to a successful generalist can be difficult to navigate.

In this week’s podcast, I share:

• What the move from specialist to generalist can look like
• My experience of doing this in my career
• 4 tips on how you can be a successful generalist

This is a short and sweet episode with lots of practical actions you can take into your role.

FREE TASTER WORKSHOP

My next free taster workshop – Tackling Imposter Feelings & Self-Doubt – is on Monday 13 September.

In 45 minutes, you’ll explore those imposter feelings and self-doubt using a model from Dr Val Young, learn practical steps...

The most important relationship you’ll ever have is with yourself... so why not make it a kind and loving one?

I believe the most powerful way to live a happier life is to learn how to be kinder to yourself and love yourself more.  

As women, we often struggle with accepting ourselves and being confident and secure in who we are.  

Being kinder to yourself not only makes your relationship with yourself a better one, it also improves how you show up as a leader. 

Many of the issues that come up around perfectionism, negative self-talk and overwork can be reduced almost completely by just being kinder to yourself and fully accepting and embracing who you are. 

If you love yourself, you are operating from a secure place.  This means you don’t feel like you need to push yourself ridiculously hard to prove that you're good enough or believe that the quality of your work defines your...

One of the most powerful ways to live a happier life is learning how to be kinder to yourself and love yourself more.

As women, we often struggle with accepting ourselves and being confident and secure in who we are. Being kinder to yourself not only makes your relationship with yourself a better one, it also improves how you show up as a leader.

In this episode I discuss:

• Why accepting and loving yourself is essential for your happiness
• How I’ve learnt to be kinder to myself and how I practice it
• Eight ways you can be kinder to yourself today

After listening to this episode, I’d love for you to ask yourself this – What's one way I can love myself more today?

Head over to my socials and share your answer with me! 

I mentioned episode 32: Why we look to others for validation. You can listen here

FREE TASTER WORKSHOP

Join my free taster workshop – Develop Your Personal Leadership Brand – on Monday 16 August.

In 45 minutes,...

There’s a reason why we need women’s leadership coaches and women’s leadership programmes.

The playing field that women operate on in the workplace is shockingly unlevel. 

The Current Environment 

Let’s start with some stats to see the real picture of the current environment we work in.  

I learnt some very interesting facts on this from Why Women Win At Work by Gill Whitty-Collins – a book I highly recommend. 

At the beginning of their career, 43% of women and 34% of men aspire to reach top management. Surprisingly, it's actually more women than men aspire for that.  

Just two years later, 34% of men still aspire to reach top management. However, the percentage of women has dropped to 16%.  

The question on my mind is what’s happening in those two years of experiencing the workplace that is changing women's minds about what they want to do or what they think is...

As a coach for women leaders, I focus on how as women we can take control of our careers.

But I’ve never addressed on the podcast why we even need women’s leadership coaches and women’s leadership programmes.

The playing field that women operate on in the workplace is shockingly unlevel. It’s time to acknowledge that and collectively take steps to change it.

I discuss:

• The dynamics of the current working environment and how it wasn’t designed with women in mind
• The true extent of the disadvantages we face from pay to promotions to behaviour
• What sponsorship is and how women can proactively support each other
• Ways we can improve the working environment, embrace our personal strengths and step into the space we deserve

HELPFUL LINKS:

• Why Men Win at Work - Gill Whitty-Collins
• Ep 45 - Successful Job Sharing with The Job Share Pair

FREE TASTER WORKSHOP

Join my free taster workshop – Develop Your Personal...

As a leader, your voice is a powerful tool for communicating your expertise, confidence and authority.

However, many people don’t know how to use their voice to its full effect.  

If you want communicate powerfully, then it’s time to give it some attention.   

In the latest episode of the Influence & Impact for Female Leaders podcast, I interviewed Sharon Stacey, a Voice Coach and Musical Director.  

Sharon teaches people how to use vocal clarity, attentive tone and confidence for delivering in person and online meetings, keynote speeches and business pitches. 

She shared six ways you can use your voice to boost your gravitas in meetings: 

Look After Your Voice 

Warming up is not something reserved for singers. Before your meeting, practice saying a few sentences using the full range of your voice and emphasising different words....

As a leader, your voice is a powerful tool for communicating your expertise, confidence and authority. But do you know how to use your voice effectively?

In this episode of the podcast, I interview Sharon Stacey, a Voice Coach and Musical Director.

We discussed:

• How you can use your voice to have more authority and gravitas in meetings
• Using your voice confidently in nervous, pressured or stressful situations
• Ways you can look after your vocal health, particularly with back-to-back virtual meetings
• Practical voice training exercises for using your voice more powerfully

Sharon had me try three of the voice training exercises that you can participate in along with us.

MORE ABOUT SHARON

Sharon is a voice coach and musical director with a 16+ year history of delivering to high performing professionals, engaging individuals and teams across the public and private sector. She helps clients achieve vocal clarity, attentive tone and confidence through her...

Are you a perfectionist and is it pushing you towards overwork and burnout? 

For years I thought that I was doing well in my career because I worked so hard and held myself to such high standards. Then I realised that those strategies were actually perfectionism in disguise and were causing as much harm as they were good.  

I coach a lot of high achieving women, at all levels and perfectionism in its various guises, crops up all the time. If you struggle with overworking, trying to be in control of everything in your life, procrastinating and fear of failure, you might be a perfectionist.  
 

What is a perfectionist?  

There are many definitions but essentially, people who experience perfectionism are very focused on how things should be done and feel that they need to perform perfectly every time with nothing short of this being acceptable.  

I love this quote from Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s...

Are you the boss of your brain or is your brain the boss of you? 

Overthinking is something your mind will naturally do. 

You might ruminate on past situations, worry about future events or are fearful of the judgement of others.  

All of this overthinking  can stop you from enjoying the present moment plus creates stress, anxiety and affects your self-confidence.  

The good news is, everyone has the ability to train their mind, change their thinking habits and be the boss of their brain.  

In the latest episode of the Influence & Impact for Female Leaders podcast, I interview Tahirih Mclaren-Brown, a mindfulness coach who helps to free people from overthinking, anxiety, worry and fear. 

Tahirih shared 6 mindfulness strategies you can use to reduce your overthinking and build a calmer, more confident mind.  

1. The Awareness Diary 
2. Thoughts, Emotions, Questions 
3. Sitting in...