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  • Women Leaders Difficult Conversations: The SHARES Framework Kerry Siggins Uses to Build Trust

    Women Leaders Difficult Conversations: The SHARES Framework Kerry Siggins Uses to Build Trust
    2026/08/27
    Last updated: August 27, 2026 Trusted by leaders at Stanford University, Ernst & Young, Autodesk, MGM Grand Resorts, and Farmers Insurance Executive Summary: Most women leaders avoid difficult conversations to protect relationships — and that avoidance is what actually destroys trust. StoneAge CEO Kerry Siggins built the six-step SHARES framework after a piece of brutal feedback changed her leadership. Here's exactly how it works. Quick Takeaways: Difficult conversations delayed almost always get harder, not easier, over time The SHARES framework has six steps you can prepare in under ten minutes Organizations with regular feedback see 14.9% lower turnover rates Wanting to "be right" is the single biggest killer of workplace trust Feedback without a credible next step leaves people hopeless, not motivated Jump to: Why It Happens · The SHARES Framework · Examples · Action Plan · FAQ As an executive leadership coach with over 30 years of experience (MA, MFT, PCC) working with Fortune 50–1000 companies, I hear the same confession from brilliant, accomplished women leaders almost every week: "I know I need to have this conversation. I just keep putting it off." If you've been carrying a difficult conversation you haven't had yet — with a direct report, a peer, a boss, even a spouse — you are in very good company, and it is costing you more than you think. On this episode of the Women's Leadership Success Podcast, I sat down with Kerry Siggins, CEO of StoneAge (an employee-owned manufacturer of high-pressure water jetting equipment) and author of the new book Talk With Trust: How to Own Feedback, Spark Growth, and Build Stronger Teams. Kerry built her career on hard conversations — including one that nearly ended her leadership before it began. What she learned from it became the SHARES framework, a six-step system for women leaders navigating difficult conversations without torching the relationship in the process. Take the 2-minute survey at WomensLeadershipSuccess.com/survey Why Women Leaders Avoid Difficult Conversations — And What It Actually Costs Nobody avoids a hard conversation because they're lazy. Women leaders avoid difficult conversations because they're afraid of the consequence: a damaged relationship, an angry reaction, a reputation for being "too much." As Kerry put it on the show, "We're all not having a conversation that we know we need to have because we're afraid of the consequences." The problem is that the consequence of silence is almost always worse than the consequence of speaking. The research backs this up. Recent workplace data shows organizations with regular employee feedback see 14.9% lower turnover, while highly engaged teams — the kind built through honest dialogue — report 21% greater profitability (Careertrainer.ai, 2026). On the trust side, the numbers are sobering: employer trust fell to 76% in the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, and a 21-point gap now separates how much executives trust their organizations (91%) versus how much individual contributors do (70%). Every unspoken conversation widens that gap. Kerry's own turning point came from a conversation she didn't get to control. Her COO — her right-hand operational partner — had been quietly building resentment for a year. It came out in a blowup: "You think you're this inspiring CEO who disrupts the industry, but really what you are is erratic, and you're really hard to work for." Kerry's instinct was to fire him on the spot. Instead, she went home and sat with it. That single piece of painful, poorly-delivered feedback became the foundation for Talk With Trust — and for the SHARES framework she now teaches leaders everywhere. Your team is asking themselves this question constantly, whether they say it out loud or not: can I trust you? I broke this down recently on LinkedIn into three pillars — and it's the exact groundwork that makes a framework like SHARES actually work, instead of just sounding good on paper. Trust isn't built in one big moment. It's built in the small moments people learn they can count on you. — Sabrina Braham, MA, MFT, PCC Notice how closely this maps to what goes wrong in most difficult conversations. Performance trust breaks when someone overpromises or makes excuses instead of owning a miss. Authenticity trust breaks when someone says what people want to hear instead of what's true, or hides a mistake to protect their image — the exact trap Kerry's "articulate your experience" step is built to avoid. And reliability trust breaks when standards shift with someone's mood, or follow-through only happens when it's convenient — which is precisely why the SHARES framework's final step, endorsing a path forward, matters so much: a plan you don't follow through on costs you more trust than no plan at all. This is the same shift Kerry made the day she got called "erratic" — she stopped waiting to feel ready to lead differently and just did it. The SHARES Framework:...
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    35 分
  • Workplace Betrayal Recovery: A Leadership Guide 2026

    Workplace Betrayal Recovery: A Leadership Guide 2026
    2026/08/06
    Executive Summary: Workplace betrayal doesn't just cost you a relationship — it costs you trust in your own judgment. Dr. Debi Silber joins Sabrina Braham to unpack a stage-based path back to confidence, using real coaching stories instead of easy platitudes, so leaders can rebuild what betrayal breaks: themselves. Quick Takeaways: Betrayal breaks trust in yourself, not just in the person who betrayed you Losing your voice in meetings is often a betrayal symptom, not a confidence problem Recovery moves through stages — you can't skip to "just get over it" Your intuition can be rebuilt with a simple daily practice 78% of employees say they trust their employer most of any institution (Edelman, 2026) As an executive leadership coach with over 30 years of experience (MA, MFT, PCC), I've sat across from directors, VPs, and C-suite leaders who could run a board meeting flawlessly and still couldn't shake the feeling that they didn't trust their own read on people anymore. That's what workplace betrayal does. It doesn't announce itself as trauma — it shows up as hesitation, over-checking, and a leader who used to speak up in meetings suddenly going quiet. In this episode of the Women's Leadership Success Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Debi Silber, a holistic psychologist and founder of the PBT Institute, for a workplace betrayal recovery conversation about what betrayal actually does to a leader's confidence, judgment, and career trajectory — and what it takes to rebuild. Why Workplace Betrayal Hits Differently Than Other Career Setbacks Most leadership content treats betrayal like a subcategory of stress or conflict. Dr. Silber's central point in this conversation is that it isn't. A layoff, a missed promotion, even a bad performance review — these are painful, but they don't usually make you question your own perception. Betrayal does. When someone you trusted — a boss, a peer, a mentor — acts against you, the injury isn't just what they did. It's that your internal compass, the one that told you this person was safe, was wrong. That's a different kind of damage, and it requires a different kind of recovery. This distinction matters for women in leadership specifically. Executive presence is built on decisiveness and trust in your own judgment — the "gravitas" that research consistently identifies as the core pillar of how leaders are evaluated for advancement. When betrayal quietly erodes that self-trust, it doesn't just hurt personally. It shows up publicly, in hesitation during exactly the moments a leader is expected to be most sure of herself. A Client Story: When Betrayal Shows Up as "Losing Your Voice" I shared a story with Dr. Debi about a client I'll call Jenny. Jenny was sharp, capable, and well-respected — until a workplace betrayal knocked something loose. She stopped negotiating. She stopped advocating for herself in meetings where she used to be the first voice in the room. From the outside, it looked like a confidence problem. It wasn't. It was betrayal doing exactly what it does: convincing a capable leader that her own instincts couldn't be trusted anymore. The Real Cost: What Betrayal Quietly Takes From Leaders Left unaddressed, workplace betrayal tends to produce three patterns in otherwise strong leaders: Loss of personal power. Leaders stop negotiating for themselves — raises, promotions, credit for their work — because some part of them no longer trusts that speaking up is safe. Self-protective isolation. As Dr. Debi put it in our conversation, many people conclude it's "better to keep everyone at a distance than risk that chance that someone may get close to us again." It feels like self-protection. It functions like a ceiling on your influence. Eroded intuition. The instinct that once flagged red flags in coworkers or bosses goes quiet, because the last time it "worked," it still let you get hurt. Ready to rebuild the confidence workplace betrayal quietly took from you? Download our FREE Leading Before You're Ready playbook and get: ? A framework for rebuilding executive presence when your confidence has taken a hit ? Practical language for reclaiming your voice in meetings within days, not months ? The mindset shift that lets you lead before you feel "fully ready" again ? Tools used with clients who've gone on to earn promotions and six-figure roles Get the Leading Before You're Ready Playbook ? How to Notice You're Still Carrying It One of the most useful moments in this conversation is Dr. Debi's answer to a simple question: how does someone even realize betrayal is still affecting them? Her answer wasn't a checklist of symptoms — it was three places to look: your health, your work, and your relationships. If any of those three areas feels "off" in a way you can't quite explain, unresolved betrayal is worth considering as a root cause, not just stress or burnout. Workplace Betrayal Recovery: Why You Can't Skip to "Just Move On" A recurring frustration Dr. ...
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    1分未満
  • AI Strategic Thinking Women Executives: 2026 Guide | WLS 165

    AI Strategic Thinking Women Executives: 2026 Guide | WLS 165
    2026/07/13
    Executive Summary AI strategic thinking for women executives is no longer optional — it's the dividing line between leaders who get exposed and those who get elevated. Executive coach Sabrina Braham and author Barry O'Reilly reveal how to build your judgment system, accelerate decisions, and think strategically at the highest level. Quick Takeaways Barry O'Reilly's defining insight: "AI is not going to replace leaders — it's going to expose them." Most executives have never documented their judgment system — and AI makes this gap impossible to hide. Decision velocity + decision advantage are the two metrics separating leaders who accelerate from those who stall. Misty Schaefer, VP at American Airlines, uses AI voice notes and scenario planning for orders-of-magnitude better decisions. The biggest missed opportunity in AI leadership is not learning together — yet the fastest learners do exactly that. There's a line on the back of Barry O'Reilly's new book that every woman executive needs to sit with: "AI is not going to replace leaders. It's going to expose them." AI strategic thinking for women executives is no longer a competitive edge — it's fast becoming the baseline expectation at the director, VP, and C-suite level. I'm Sabrina Braham, executive leadership coach (MA, MFT, PCC) with 30+ years of experience, and host of the Women's Leadership Success Podcast — top 1.5% globally with almost 900,000 downloads. My clients include leaders at Stanford University, Ernst & Young, and Autodesk. And what I see in my coaching practice right now is a clear divide emerging: women executives who are building AI-enhanced judgment, and those who are still relying on invisible, inarticulate intuition they've never made explicit. AI is about to make that gap impossible to hide. This is Part 2 of my conversation with Barry O'Reilly — author of Artificial Organizations: Build Better Judgment, Speed, and Results with Machine and Human Intelligence, keynote speaker at Gartner's CFO Conference, and one of the most sought-after AI leadership advisors in the world. In Part 1, we covered how women leaders can use AI to build personal career confidence and grow into bigger roles. Here, we go deeper — into the strategic leadership capabilities that will define who rises at the executive level in 2026 and beyond. New research from Chief and The Harris Poll (2026) confirms that 85% of senior women leaders are now active players in their organization's AI strategy — and 68% are focused on using AI to amplify human talent, not replace it. The leaders pulling ahead are those who've moved beyond productivity tools into something more fundamental: AI-enhanced judgment systems. The Uncomfortable Truth: AI Will Expose Leaders Without a Judgment System When Barry walks into executive rooms around the world, he asks a deceptively simple question: "Show me your system for making this decision." The silence that follows is telling. "Often, a lot of the time, they just don't have a system," he explains. "They've never systematically written down all the steps they're going to go through to make an actual decision." For most leaders, the judgment system — the internal algorithm for weighing options, prioritizing inputs, and reaching decisions — has never been made explicit. It works. But it has four critical limitations: It's not visible — others can't observe or learn from it. It's not repeatable — it can't be consistently applied by or handed off to others. It's not challengeable — if it's in your head, no one can push back on its blind spots. It's not improvable — you can't deliberately tune what you can't see. In my 30+ years of executive coaching, this is one of the most consistent patterns I see in women leaders who are passed over for promotion despite exceptional performance: their judgment is excellent — but it's invisible. They can't teach it, transfer it, or demonstrate it in the way boards and senior leaders need to see. AI strategic thinking for women executives forces this reckoning, and the leaders who embrace it rather than resist it will define the next decade of leadership. Here's what my Leading Before You're Ready playbook addresses directly: building the judgment, presence, and strategic clarity that precedes you into every room — before you hold the formal title. AI doesn't change that mission. It accelerates it. What Is a Judgment System — and Do You Have One? A judgment system is the explicit process and criteria you use to make leadership decisions: the information you seek first, the variables you weigh, the sequence you follow, and the principles that guide your final choice. For most leaders, this system exists — but it lives entirely in their heads, accumulated through years of experience and pattern recognition. It works. But it has critical limitations that AI strategic thinking for women executives can directly address. The Judgment System Exercise Barry Uses With ...
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    1分未満
  • Women Leaders AI Career Growth: Traits, Tools, Confidence | WLS 164 Sabrina Braham & Barry O’Reilly

    Women Leaders AI Career Growth: Traits, Tools, Confidence | WLS 164 Sabrina Braham & Barry O’Reilly
    2026/06/30
    Executive Summary: Most women leaders know AI could accelerate their careers—but don't know where to start. Executive coach Sabrina Braham and author Barry O'Reilly reveal the Traits, Tasks, and Tools framework that eliminates AI paralysis, builds confidence in unfamiliar leadership roles, and helps women leaders AI career growth into bigger opportunities—starting this week. Quick Takeaways: 69% of women say AI has opened new career pathways—but only for those who start using it now (ANSR Women in Tech Report, 2026). The Traits, Tasks, Tools framework reveals how to match AI to the way you personally do your best work. Use AI to pressure-test your thinking—never to hand over your judgment. That distinction changes everything. Asking AI "What questions should I be asking as a VP?" instantly elevates your perspective without years of experience. The worst thing you can do in a time of AI uncertainty is nothing. You must be in it to learn it. You know you should be using AI. You've heard the urgency, seen the headlines, maybe even opened ChatGPT, stared at that blinking cursor—and quietly closed the tab. Here's what I want you to know: that moment of hesitation doesn't mean you're behind. It means you haven't yet found your entry point. I'm Sabrina Braham, executive leadership coach (MA, MFT, PCC) with 30+ years of experience, and host of the Women's Leadership Success Podcast—top 1.5% globally with over 950,000 downloads. I coach senior women leaders at Stanford, Ernst & Young, Autodesk, and across the tech industry. And one of the most common things I hear from directors, VPs, and C-suite executives right now is: "I don't know where to start with AI." New research backs this up: Chief and The Harris Poll surveyed 1,000+ senior women leaders in 2026 and found that while 85% are active players in their organization's AI strategy, the approach matters enormously. The leaders who get ahead aren't the ones who automate the most—they're the ones who build human capability alongside AI. And according to the ANSR Women in Tech Report 2026, 69% of women who do engage with AI report it opens entirely new career pathways in product strategy, transformation leadership, and AI governance. In this episode of the Women's Leadership Success Podcast, I welcome back Barry O'Reilly—author of Artificial Organizations: Build Better Judgment, Speed, and Results with Machine and Human Intelligence, keynote speaker at Gartner's CFO Conference, and one of the most sought-after AI leadership advisors in the world. Since our last conversation, Barry has been traveling globally—observing how leaders at every level are (and aren't) adapting to AI. His findings are equal parts sobering and energizing. This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Here, we focus on women leaders using AI for personal growth, confidence, and career advancement. In Part 2, we go deeper into how AI can transform your strategic thinking and decision-making as an executive leader. Why Women Leaders Are Paralyzed at the AI Starting Line After keynoting Gartner's CFO Conference and spending months in leadership rooms across North America, Barry reports seeing the same pattern everywhere: hesitation. "People don't really know where to start," he says. "They constantly hear about new tools arriving in the market. They hear that everything they were meant to do last week is no longer the right thing to do this week. And it all leads to hesitation—which, counterintuitively, is the worst possible response." I know this directly from my coaching practice. I've spoken with women leaders who are brilliant, accomplished, and deeply capable—who are also avoiding AI entirely because they don't know what to do first. And I understand it, because I was there too. When I first started exploring AI, I treated it as if it were smarter than me—as if whatever it said must be right. That mindset kept me small. What changed? Doing the exercises in Barry's book. Going through them shifted me from intimidated observer to active director. Now, AI is my servant—I correct it, challenge it, redirect it. My creative and analytical output has genuinely expanded as a result. "Counterintuitively, the worst thing you can do when there's uncertainty is do nothing. Because you don't learn anything." — Barry O'Reilly This matters especially for women in tech, where the stakes are already high. The ANSR 2026 report found that despite women producing 43% of the world's female STEM graduates, only 14% hold C-suite seats. The gap isn't pipeline—it's systems. AI fluency is rapidly becoming one of those systemic differentiators. The women who build it now will have compounding advantage; those who wait will face a steeper climb. My Leading Before You're Ready playbook is built on exactly this truth: you don't wait to feel fully prepared. You use every available tool—coaching, community, AI—to think and show up at the level you're stepping into. The Traits, Tasks, and ...
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    32 分
  • Women Leaders Career Advancement: The 4-Relationship Guide | Women’s Leadership Success 163

    Women Leaders Career Advancement: The 4-Relationship Guide | Women’s Leadership Success 163
    2026/06/18
    Women Leaders Career Advancement: The 4-Relationship Framework and Personal Success Plan (2026)Executive Summary: Women leaders career advancement stalls most often at the relationship level, not the skill level. Women hold only 29% of C-suite roles despite representing nearly half the workforce. Former IBM VP Shelmina Babai Abji reveals the four strategic relationships that accelerate promotion and the Personal Success Plan that keeps you on track week after week.Quick Takeaways:Women leaders career advancement remains stalled at every pipeline level for the 11th consecutive year (McKinsey, 2025).The four relationships that accelerate promotion are: boss, peers, mentors, and sponsors — and all four must be intentionally built.Only 31% of entry-level women have a sponsor, vs. 45% of men — closing this gap is one of the highest-ROI actions you can take.Responding to bias with proof, not reaction, protects your power and changes minds more effectively than confrontation.A Personal Success Plan reviewed weekly keeps your business results, relationships, competencies, and leadership brand advancing together.Key 2025–2026 statistics on women leaders career advancement: the C-suite gap, the broken rung, and the sponsorship deficit.Women leaders career advancement has a number that should stop you: for every 100 men promoted to their first manager role, only 81 women make the same leap.That gap — what McKinsey researchers call the "broken rung" — has barely moved in years. And it is not primarily a skills gap. It is a visibility gap, a relationship gap, and a strategy gap.I'm Sabrina Braham, MA, MFT, PCC — executive leadership coach with over 30 years of experience and host of the Women's Leadership Success Podcast, ranked in the top 1.5% globally with over 950,000 downloads. In Part II of my interview with Shelmina Babai Abji — TEDx speaker, former IBM Vice President, and author of Show Your Worth — we go deep on the practical mechanics that drive women leaders career advancement forward.If you caught Part I, you already have Shelmina's Power Quotient framework for silencing self-doubt. This episode is what comes next: the external strategy. How do you intentionally build the four relationships that move careers forward? How do you handle a boss who doesn't see your value? How do you navigate workplace bias without giving your power away? And what is the weekly planning practice that keeps even the most overwhelmed leader — including single mothers carrying impossible loads — on a clear path to the C-suite?This is one of the most actionable episodes I have recorded in 19 years of podcasting. Let's get into it.Why Women Leaders Career Advancement Stalls: The Strategy GapThe McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2025 report — which surveyed approximately 10,000 employees across 124 organizations — found that women hold only 29% of C-suite roles, unchanged from 2024, and that women remain underrepresented at every level of the corporate pipeline for the eleventh consecutive year. Women of color face a steeper drop-off at every rung.The same research surfaces a critical sponsorship gap that most women don't know exists: only 31% of entry-level women have a sponsor, compared to 45% of men at the same level. Sponsorship — not mentorship — is the relationship that most reliably unlocks promotions, stretch assignments, and visibility with senior leaders. And women are starting from a 14-point deficit.Shelmina's response to this data is direct: "The reason the numbers are as bad as they are is we cannot wait for organizations to change, or for people to change. We have to be the change we want to see."That is not resignation to an unfair system. It is a strategic recognition that women leaders career advancement is not waiting for institutions to fix the pipeline — it is built deliberately, relationship by relationship, decision by decision, week by week.The Four Relationships That Accelerate Women Leaders Career AdvancementShelmina's book Show Your Worth dedicates an entire chapter to what she calls "intentional relationships" — the four categories of professional connection that, when built strategically, become the scaffolding of a senior career. She credits them with her own advancement from immigrant engineer to IBM Vice President.Relationship 1: Your BossThis is the most high-leverage relationship in your career, and the one most women invest in least strategically. "At the end of the day, you work for your boss, not an organization," Shelmina says. "It is up to you to build that relationship."The mechanism is not flattery or politics. It is a deliberate daily practice of contributing value that advances your boss's success — specifically, unique value that makes you essential. Shelmina describes this as "leaning into your authenticity and your uniqueness until you become essential to your boss's success."When you are essential to your boss's success, you are in a position of power ...
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    37 分
  • Women Leaders Overcome Self-Doubt: The Power Quotient Framework That Changes Everything (2026) WLS 162

    Women Leaders Overcome Self-Doubt: The Power Quotient Framework That Changes Everything (2026) WLS 162
    2026/05/30
    Women Leaders Overcome Self-Doubt: The Power Quotient Framework That Changes Everything (2026)Executive Summary: 68% of women in tech experience imposter syndrome, yet most have never been taught to fight it strategically. Former IBM VP Shelmina Babai Abji shares her Power Quotient (PQ) framework — a proven system for silencing the inner critic, amplifying your voice of courage, and advancing your leadership career.Quick Takeaways:68% of women in tech report imposter syndrome — tech is the most affected industry (Hays, 2025).Your "Power Quotient" (PQ) is the ability to intentionally choose an empowering response over a disempowering one.The voice of fear is doing its job — your job is to feed your voice of courage louder reasons to act.For every 100 men promoted to first manager, only 81 women make the same leap (McKinsey, 2025) — PQ is a competitive differentiator.Showing your worth is a continuous journey of competence, confidence, relationships, and personal branding — not a one-time event. Sixty-eight percent of women in tech experience imposter syndrome. Let that number land.That means more than two out of every three talented, qualified women sitting in engineering meetings, VP offices, and C-suite strategy sessions are secretly wondering if they belong there. And according to a KPMG survey of 750 female executives, 75% of senior women leaders have experienced imposter syndrome at some point in their careers — with 85% saying they believe it's widespread in corporate America.Yet almost no one teaches women what to do about it — strategically, systematically, and permanently.I'm Sabrina Braham, MA, MFT, PCC — executive leadership coach with over 30 years of experience, and host of the Women's Leadership Success Podcast, now with over 950,000 downloads and ranked in the top 1.5% of podcasts globally. In Episode 162, I sit down with Shelmina Babai Abji — TEDx speaker, former IBM Vice President, angel investor, and author of Show Your Worth — for one of the most powerful and practical conversations I've ever had on this podcast.Shelmina grew up in poverty in Tanzania, put herself through school across three countries, walked into a room of 2,000 engineers where no one looked like her, and still became one of the highest-ranking women of color in IBM's history — overseeing teams that generated over $1 billion in annual revenue. Her secret? A framework she calls the Power Quotient.If you're a woman leader in tech or any competitive industry who is battling negative mental chatter, fear of speaking up, or the relentless whisper that says you're not qualified enough — this episode is for you.Why Self-Doubt Is Hitting Women Leaders Harder Than Ever in 2026The data tells a story that is urgent and personal. A 2025 Hays survey of more than 8,000 professionals found that 68% of women in tech experience imposter syndrome — and that approximately one-third say these feelings grow more intense as their careers advance, not less. Tech is now the single most-affected industry in the entire workforce.This is not a personal failing. It is a structural reality. As Shelmina describes it, when you look around a room and see no one who looks like you, no one who sounds like you, no one who grew up like you — your brain does exactly what it is designed to do: it searches for evidence that you belong, finds little, and generates doubt."I walked into a room of 2,000 engineers," Shelmina recalls, "and I realized there was not one person that looked like me. Not one person that spoke like me. And I started undermining my own capabilities, underestimating my own worth."The compounding problem is this: according to the McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2025 report, women represent 49% of entry-level employees — yet by the time you reach the C-suite, fewer than 29% of those seats belong to women. For every 100 men promoted to their first manager role, only 81 women make the same leap. The "broken rung" is real, and self-doubt is one of the forces that keeps it broken.The cost of unchecked self-doubt is not just personal — it is organizational. Women who silence themselves in meetings, decline stretch assignments, or step back from promotions because they do not feel "ready" are costing their companies their most strategic asset: authentic, experienced, high-EQ leadership.The good news? Shelmina's own career is proof that the cycle can be broken — and the tool she used is available to every woman listening right now.Introducing the Power Quotient (PQ): Your Most Underused Leadership AssetMost leaders are familiar with IQ (intellectual intelligence) and EQ (emotional intelligence). Shelmina introduces a third: PQ — Power Quotient."We own the power to intentionally pick an empowering response to a disempowering stimulus, whether that stimulus is internal or external. That's your PQ. And the internal stimulus must be taken care of first, before we can fight the external."This is not a ...
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    25 分
  • Leading Before You’re Ready: Women Leaders Guide 2026

    Leading Before You’re Ready: Women Leaders Guide 2026
    2026/04/29
    Women's Leadership Success Podcast — Episode 161Executive Summary: In 2026's era of mass layoffs and rapid restructuring, talented women leaders are being thrust into expanded roles before they feel ready. Executive coach Sabrina Braham reveals the 3-move framework — drawn from 30+ years of client breakthroughs — that transforms overwhelm into executive presence and lasting confidence.Quick Takeaways:75% of executive women have experienced imposter syndrome — even after earning their seat (KPMG).The skills that made you successful at your last level often stop working at the next one.Confidence is not certainty — it's steadiness while uncertainty still exists.Silence creates anxiety; even imperfect clarity helps teams move forward.Leadership doesn't begin when confidence arrives — it begins when you decide to move anyway. The Role Just Got Bigger. Your Confidence Hasn't Caught Up. Now What?You didn't plan for this. The promotion path you imagined — deliberate, supported, well-timed — isn't what happened. Instead, a reorganization happened. Layoffs happened. Two managers left in the same week. And suddenly, you're carrying responsibilities that didn't exist in your job description six months ago, with a team looking to you for answers you're not sure you have yet.If this sounds familiar, you're not behind. You're right on time.I'm Sabrina Braham, MA, MFT, PCC — executive leadership coach with over 30 years of experience helping senior women leaders step into bigger roles with confidence and clarity. The Women's Leadership Success Podcast has surpassed 900,000 downloads and is ranked in the top 1.5% of podcasts globally. Clients include leaders at Stanford University, Ernst & Young, Autodesk, and companies of all sizes — from high-growth startups to global enterprises.In Episode 161, my husband and co-producer Tim Warren turns the microphone around and interviews me — because over the past year, one challenge has shown up in virtually every coaching engagement I've had: talented, proven leaders being asked to lead roles that expanded faster than their confidence. This episode — and this guide — is for you.The 2026 Reality: Forced Expansion Is the New Normal for Women LeadersWhat's happening in the workplace right now isn't a temporary disruption. It's a structural shift — and it's disproportionately landing on the shoulders of high-performing women.Grant Thornton's 2026 Women in Business research found that women's representation in senior U.S. leadership dropped from 35% to 31% in just two years — precisely as layoffs consolidated organizational structures and eliminated the middle-management layers that once served as leadership on-ramps. Fewer women are getting promoted through deliberate paths, and more are being pulled into expanded roles through organizational necessity.Meanwhile, a March 2026 Stanton Chase study of 132 women executives across 45 countries found that the single most consistent piece of advice from women who had reached the C-suite? Move before you feel ready. More than 50 of the 132 respondents — independently, across industries and continents — said some version of: "Don't wait until you feel 100% prepared."And yet KPMG research shows that 75% of executive women have personally experienced imposter syndrome — even those who have objectively succeeded at the highest levels. That gap between external achievement and internal confidence isn't a character flaw. It's a predictable psychological pattern — and one you can navigate strategically.What "Forced Expansion" Actually Looks LikeForced expansion is what I call the pattern where leaders aren't stepping into bigger roles through a thoughtful promotion path — they're being pulled into them. Someone leaves. A division gets cut. Departments combine. Budgets tighten. And suddenly, one capable leader is carrying the work of two or three.One of my clients last week illustrates this perfectly: an engineer was hired at a top company into a manager role. On his third day, the two other managers in his division quit — and he went from overseeing one section to overseeing all of them. That's not an edge case anymore. That's Tuesday.Another client — a leader in manufacturing — inherited a second, highly technical department she had never led, after a round of layoffs. Her first instinct was: I need to know everything before I speak with confidence. That belief was slowing her down. We changed the model. She stopped trying to be the smartest person in every room. Instead, she began asking sharper questions, clarified priorities, built accountability, and used the expertise already around her. Within months, executives stopped seeing someone who was overwhelmed — and saw someone who was expanding. That changed everything.Why High Performers Struggle Most When Roles ExpandHere's the uncomfortable truth that most leadership advice doesn't address directly: what made you successful at your last level...
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    18 分
  • The Perfectionism Trap: Why Fear Is Hiding Your Leadership Brand (And the Neuroscience to Break Free) | WLS 160

    The Perfectionism Trap: Why Fear Is Hiding Your Leadership Brand (And the Neuroscience to Break Free) | WLS 160
    2026/04/08
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