Lead to Soar – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Visibility does not equal influence. In this episode of the Lead to Soar Podcast, Michelle Redfern explains why many women leaders are seen and heard, yet still overlooked when it comes to power, promotion, and decision-making.

Drawing on The Leadership Compass, she outlines how strategic visibility, grounded in business impact, credibility, and judgment, is what shifts women from contributors to influential leaders.

This episode is a recording of a live Be Seen. Be Heard. Be Strategic. Workshop delivered inside the Lead to Soar Network. It offers a clear example of the strategic, evidence-based leadership development that members access throughout the year as part of their membership.

The Lead to Soar Network

This isn’t your average leadership pep talk. In this episode, Michelle Redfern invites you into a quiet, reflective, and deeply practical session designed to help you pause, breathe, and think intentionally about the leader and the woman you are called to become.

Drawing on her personal experience and the powerful Ikigai framework, Michelle shares the exact questions, journaling prompts, and mindset shifts that helped her shift from living on autopilot to leading with purpose.

Whether you’re at a career crossroads, feeling a loss of joy in your current role, or sensing it’s time for a bold next move, this session is your invitation to step off the hamster wheel and reconnect with your future self.

Before You Hit Play: This session is intentionally slower-paced. It’s quiet. Thoughtful. Michelle leaves space for you to reflect, write, pause and breathe.

To get the most out of this episode:•:

• Grab a notebook or journal

• Bring a pen (and maybe a cuppa)

• Give yourself space to think

• Pause the episode when needed to reflect or write

You’ll Explore:•:

• The question that cracked Michelle wide open: Who are you called to become?

• How to identify what still serves you—and what needs to be left behind

• The difference between what you’re good at vs. what gives you joy

• The power of listening to your inner coach instead of your inner critic

• How to sketch and activate your personal Ikigai

• A practical 30-day challenge to turn your insights into action.

Take the Next Step:

• Journal your answer to: Who are you called to become?

• Complete your Ikigai sketch using the four prompts:

• What do you love?

• What are you good at?

• What does the world need?

• What can you be paid for?

• Choose your bold 30-day move and write it down

• Ask: What will future-me thank me for doing today?

This session is part of Michelle’s ongoing commitment to help women stop shrinking and start soaring. If you’re not yet a member of the Lead to Soar Network, join us because the leadership journey is better when you’re not doing it alone.

Links:On Ikigai: https://www.japan.go.jp/kizuna/2022/03/ikigai_japanese_secret_to_a_joyful_life.htmle

The Lead to Soar Network: https://leadtosoar.network/landing

This episode asks the big career question: What happens when you stay busy, wait patiently, and hope to be noticed? Michelle and Mel dismantle the “good girl” model of leadership and explain why obedience, helpfulness, and non-promotable tasks (NPTs) won’t get you where you want to go. Instead, they lay out how to move from being merely helpful to being high-impact, and why radical accountability is the antidote to career stagnation.

What You’ll Learn

• Why “keeping your head down” will not shift your career trajectory

• The hidden costs of saying yes to non-promotable tasks

• How to position yourself as ambitious for yourself, your team, and your business

• Simple strategies (like dashboards) to showcase your contributions

• Why leaders go beyond transactional work and play the long game

Resources & Links

• No Ceiling, No Walls by Susan Colantuono – a cornerstone of the Lead to Soar philosophy

• The Leadership Compass by Michelle Redfern – your guide to reaching full potential

• Share your career dilemmas with us

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Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women who are actively working on their careers. Explore

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In this episode of Lead to Soar, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher are joined by board director Marlene Elliott for a grounded conversation about power, credibility, and what actually matters in senior leadership and boardroom environments.

Marlene shares her perspective on a pattern many women experience but rarely name: the pressure to be agreeable, likeable, or “the cool kid,” even in settings where authority, judgement, and contribution matter far more than popularity.

This episode cuts through leadership myths and focuses on how women are evaluated in senior decision-making spaces, what boards pay attention to, and how credibility is built and sustained over time.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

Why being liked is often overvalued in women’s leadership conversations

How boards assess contribution, judgement, and readiness

The difference between influence and popularity at senior levels

What women need to let go of as they move closer to power

How to navigate boardroom dynamics without performing or shrinking

This is a practical conversation for women thinking about senior leadership, board roles, or roles with enterprise-level accountability—and for leaders who want a more honest view of how credibility is judged at the top.

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If this episode was useful, there are three simple ways to go further:

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This is now the home of the Lead to Soar podcast. Subscribers get new episodes, curated guidance from the back catalogue, and written insights to help you navigate leadership and career decisions with sound judgement.

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Explore the Lead to Soar Network

Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women actively advancing their careers. Explore

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In this episode of Lead to Soar, Mel Butcher and Michelle Redfern talk about boundaries as a leadership discipline, not a wellness perk.

Using something deceptively simple—taking leave and setting out-of-office expectations—they explore how leaders signal standards, model sustainability, and protect decision quality. This is not about disappearing or being unavailable. It’s about clarity, trust, and resisting the slow erosion of leadership effectiveness that comes from being permanently on.

The conversation challenges the idea that good leaders must always be accessible and examines how poor boundaries create confusion, dependency, and burnout—both for leaders and their teams.

In this episode, they discuss:

Why boundary-setting is a leadership responsibility, not a personal indulgence

How leaders unintentionally reward over-availability and urgency culture

What effective handover and coverage actually look like

How boundaries protect judgement, not just energy

Why modelling rest, recovery, and focus matters more than saying “take care of yourselves”

This episode is for leaders who want to lead with intention, maintain standards, and build teams that function without constant escalation.

Links and Resources

Funny OOO messages that inspire Michelle!



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This is now the home of the Lead to Soar podcast. Subscribers get new episodes, curated guidance from the back catalogue, and written insights to help you navigate leadership and career decisions with sound judgement.

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Explore the Lead to Soar Network

Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women actively advancing their careers. Explore

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In this episode of Lead to Soar, Michelle Redfern is joined by leadership advisor, author, and speaker Selena Rezvani for a practical conversation about confidence at work—what it is, what it isn’t, and why so much advice aimed at women misses the point.

Rather than treating confidence as a personality trait or mindset problem, Selena’s work focuses on small, visible actions that build credibility over time, especially in environments that were not designed to support women or marginalised leaders.

Together, Michelle and Selena talk about how confidence is shaped by context, power, and feedback loops at work, and why women are so often told to “be more confident” without being given the conditions or permission to practise it.

In this episode, they discuss:

How gender and power shape who is seen as confident at work

What to do when confidence advice ignores the reality of biased systems

How to accept praise without deflecting or diminishing your contribution

The role of self-promotion in leadership credibility

Why confidence grows through behaviour, not positive self-talk

How to develop an internal “confidence coach” that supports judgement, not noise

This episode is for women who are tired of being told confidence is the issue—and want practical ways to show up with clarity, authority, and credibility.

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This is now the home of the Lead to Soar podcast. Subscribers get new episodes, curated guidance from the back catalogue, and written insights to help you navigate leadership and career decisions with sound judgement.

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Explore the Lead to Soar Network

Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women actively advancing their careers. Explore

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Being “busy” is not a neutral statement for women leaders. It shapes how judgement, capability, and authority are perceived.

In this episode of Lead to Soar, Mel Butcher and Michelle Redfern take on one of the most normalised habits in working life: responding to everything with “I’m busy.” They examine how busyness language positions women as overloaded operators rather than leaders with control over priorities, decisions, and outcomes.

This conversation sits squarely in the reality of women’s work. Women are expected to carry more, fix more, and absorb more. Busyness becomes proof of value, even as it erodes credibility and limits progression.

Mel and Michelle talk through how “busy” functions as a signal in organisations, why it traps women in effort over impact, and how leaders can shift their language and behaviour to be recognised for judgement rather than activity.

In this episode, they cover:

How busyness language affects how women leaders are assessed

Why being constantly busy keeps women in execution roles

The link between busyness, boundary erosion, and over-functioning

What to say instead that signals clarity, control, and leadership

How to reposition your work around outcomes that matter

This episode is for women leaders who deliver consistently and want their contribution understood as leadership.

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This is now the home of the Lead to Soar podcast. Subscribers get new episodes, curated guidance from the back catalogue, and written insights to help you navigate leadership and career decisions with sound judgement.

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Explore the Lead to Soar Network

Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women actively advancing their careers. Explore

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Job referees are not a formality. They are an active part of how your capability, judgement, and leadership are assessed.

In this episode of Lead to Soar, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher tackle an issue that trips up far too many women at critical career moments: poorly chosen or poorly prepared referees. The conversation is sparked by a real coaching case where a referee failed to advocate effectively, despite good intentions.

Michelle and Mel break down why women are more exposed to risk in reference checks, how unconscious bias shows up in referee language, and why “they know me well” is not a strategy. They also cover how to take control of the process so your referees reinforce your leadership narrative rather than dilute it.

In this episode, they discuss:

Why references are a strategic career decision, not an administrative task

The common referee mistakes women make and the cost of getting it wrong

How gendered language shows up in reference conversations

What to look for when selecting referees who will advocate effectively

How to brief and prepare referees so they reinforce your credibility and outcomes

This episode is for women leaders who want their next move to land cleanly and who understand that progression is shaped by how others speak about your work when you are not in the room.

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This is now the home of the Lead to Soar podcast. Subscribers get new episodes, curated guidance from the back catalogue, and written insights to help you navigate leadership and career decisions with sound judgement.

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Explore the Lead to Soar Network

Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women actively advancing their careers. Explore

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Most women leaders have worked with one. The high performer who delivers results but leaves damage in their wake. The behaviour is excused. The impact is minimised. The cost is carried by everyone else.

In this episode of Lead to Soar, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher tackle the enduring problem of the “brilliant jerk” and why organisations continue to protect them. They look at how performance is often used as a shield for bad behaviour, how this disproportionately affects women, and why calling it out is harder than it should be.

The conversation also gets practical. Michelle and Mel walk through how to assess whether the organisation is serious about accountability, what to document, and how to escalate concerns without burning political capital or putting your own credibility at risk.

This episode is a recording from a LinkedIn Live and reflects real questions women leaders are asking about safety, standards, and power at work.

In this episode, they discuss:

What defines a “brilliant jerk” and why the archetype persists

How organisations confuse results with leadership

The gendered cost of tolerating harmful behaviour

When raising concerns is worth it and when it isn’t

How to take issues to a manager or HR with evidence and judgment

This episode is for women leaders who are tired of carrying the emotional and operational load created by poor behaviour that never seems to have consequences.

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If this episode was useful, there are three simple ways to go further:

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This is now the home of the Lead to Soar podcast. Subscribers get new episodes, curated guidance from the back catalogue, and written insights to help you navigate leadership and career decisions with sound judgement.

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Explore the Lead to Soar Network

Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women actively advancing their careers. Explore

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If this resonated, share it with a colleague, manager, or friend who might need it. Leadership is shaped by what we notice, name, and talk about.

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How do you describe what leadership is? What words do you use?

Chances are, if you’re a woman, you'll use words and phrases based on the coaching, training, mentoring and content that you received since the outset of your career.

The trouble is that most women still receive incomplete advice about leadership. That's one of the reasons for the global leadership gender gap. Have a listen and discover what’s missing for women in leadership advice. 

Leave a comment

If this episode was useful, there are three simple ways to go further:

Subscribe on Substack

This is now the home of the Lead to Soar podcast. Subscribers get new episodes, curated guidance from the back catalogue, and written insights to help you navigate leadership and career decisions with sound judgement.

Subscribe now

Explore the Lead to Soar Network

Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women actively advancing their careers. Explore

Share the episode

If this resonated, share it with a colleague, manager, or friend who might need it. Leadership is shaped by what we notice, name, and talk about.

Share