Blog

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the art and science of leadership, specifically related to the work I do with female leaders on creating more influence, interest and impact. I love to learn and am continually reading, researching and watching TED talks and other videos from various coaches, academics and psychologists. This isn’t a new topic for me, but one I’ve recently started questioning [...]

It’s true! The Canadian government, under the leadership of Justin Trudeau, has achieved a 50/50 gender balance and the outcry around merit is huge. Suddenly, now that women are being appointed to leadership positions, there is a question about whether or not they are qualified to be appointed to those positions. The interesting point is that if we had kept the status quo, appointing few [...]

Today’s Thoughtful Thursday musings are all about language – the words we use and what messages they convey. I recently finished reading Judith Humphrey’s book, Taking the Stage, where she talks about the language patterns women use that diminish their leadership presence. The three that I hear most often when working with my clients include asking permission to speak, apologizing too much and using qualifiers that undercut [...]

This morning I had the pleasure of attending a Women’s Executive Network presentation where Dr. Elizabeth Croft, an accomplished mechanical engineer and robotics professor at UBC shared the lessons from her personal journey. She made a compelling case for engaging male leadership as a key component of encouraging gender diversity, particularly in engineering. In less than ten minutes, she mentioned at least four men who [...]

I recently did a presentation for the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade's "Leaders of Tomorrow" program and, as always, offered an opportunity for the first six students who emailed me to get thirty minutes of my time, on me. Aside from the questions on how to network effectively and how to get ahead faster (the answer to both of those questions is "be patient", by [...]

This morning I had the pleasure of attending a Women's Executive Network presentation where Dr. Elizabeth Croft, an accomplished mechanical engineer and robotics professor at UBC shared the lessons from her personal journey. She made a compelling case for engaging male leadership as a key component of encouraging gender diversity, particularly in engineering. In less than ten minutes, she mentioned at least four men who [...]