http://www.sherylkline.com/blog

I had the honor of speaking with Cathie Hall, Chief Customer Officer at IFS. We dove into her philosophy on leading with humility... including how recognizing strengths, and collaborating with others is crucial for success in leadership, especially for women in the tech industry. Cathie also emphasized how important it is to prioritize personal balance and challenge social conventions.

Key Takeaways:

• 00:00 Humility in leadership is crucial for success, as personal experiences and early inspiration can shape one’s perspective and choices.
• 04:55 Leading with humility involves recognizing strengths, listening to others, and collaborating with a team to deliver successful outcomes.
• 09:30 Leading with humility creates a safe environment for creativity, innovation, and success, especially in diverse global organizations, and female leaders need to find a balance in taking credit for their team’s success.
• 15:09 Leading with humility and celebrating success as a team is important, women need to increase visibility and joint ownership in projects, have a clear communication strategy, and mindset is crucial in overcoming setbacks and thriving in a tech career.
• 18:47 Leading with humility is important for navigating social and personal challenges, and involves understanding goals, breaking things down, and building resilience.
• 22:32 Women should prioritize personal balance, challenge social conventions, and spend quality time with children, while society needs to catch up with the modern global workplace.
• 26:18 Make decisions based on your strengths and moral compass, lead with humility, collaborate with colleagues, and focus on doing your current job well for natural career progression.
• 30:45 Leading with humility and focusing on strengths, rather than weaknesses, is key to coaching and mentoring others, seeking improvement, and advancing in one’s career. (edited)

http://www.sherylkline.com/blog

Sometimes we get that uncomfortable feeling, like it’s time to shift, make a pivot or uplevel, and we often ask ourselves, ‘What's next for me?’

It’s a bold question, often not an easy one, isn’t it?!

Do you ever get that feeling that you are being called to do more, or do something different?

I’ve had the honor of working with some of the most prolific and influential female leaders, here in San Francisco, Silicon Valley and across the country and their teams.

One thing they’ve said over the years is “I wish all the women in my organization could have the transformation that I'm having, so they can go from being possibly silenced, overlooked or disregarded to being and feeling heard, valued, respected. Like they're really an agent of change.”

And so last September, I said ‘yes!’ to a fantastic opportunity to partner with the software company and learning platform Rali to create and film the Fearless Female Leadership Enterprise Journey.

After almost six months of curriculum design, filming, and editing, it's now ready and out in the world. I’m so excited to share it with you!

The Fearless Female Leadership enterprise program is currently being placed with a couple of early adopters in a consumer goods company as well as a cybersecurity company, and the official launch will be in a couple of weeks.

The amount of time this took was scary. The amount of money that this took was scary. As a matter of fact, for my business, this level of investment did not make financial sense for me at the time.

But I have to share that every cell in my body was screaming yes!

I took a very serious look to see if I could make it work, and then I went for it.

Are you experiencing something similar? Are you asking yourself ‘what's next for me?’

It doesn't have to be something grand..

It could be…

‘What's next for me is that I speak up more?’

‘What's next for me is to get paid what I feel that I'm worth?’

But it could be a shift. It could be a pivot. It could be something big. It could be going from working in consumer goods to working in one industry or role to something completely different.

If you are at a place where that little voice keeps saying, ‘what's next?’, then maybe it is time to change, time to pivot, or time to up-level.

There are a couple of questions you can ask yourself when you feel like it's time to make a decision about what's next, but you're not exactly sure what it should be…

#1 If you had a magic wand and could not fail, what would you take action on?

#2 In one, two, three, or five years, if you were to look back on yourself today, what would you regret not doing or not trying?

The important thing to remember here is perspective.

I do not have the answers to ‘what's next’ for you. What I do have is the ability to help with shifting your perspective and helping you to understand that the answers are already within you.

And if you do have that uncomfortable feeling, it's my philosophy that you are being called for more or called to something different.

Will you accept the challenge that you’re being guided toward?

The next resource I want to share with you that should help is a worksheet called the "Get to Know Yourself Questionnaire."

Here is the worksheet which you can download today.

Be sure to also have a look at this video, which is an overview of the Fearless Female Leadership Enterprise Journey (it’s 2:00-minutes long).

http://www.sherylkline.com/blog

It was such a joy to speak with Jessica Bacher, Chief People Officer at Prolink, who shares her personal journey of overcoming adversity in her teens and first-generation college graduate.

With the support of her parents, especially her mother's advocacy, Jessica navigated unfamiliar territory to pursue higher education. She reflects on her non-linear career path, emphasizing the value of lateral moves and project work over promotions.

Jessica also discusses Prolink's virtual-first approach, which prioritizes flexibility and work-life balance, allowing employees to work in various time zones and manage their schedules around personal commitments. This model supports the company's healthcare clients while avoiding an "always-on" culture, and it enables Prolink to tap into a broader talent pool beyond local geographies.

Key Takeaways:
-- The journey to leadership (00:00:00) Jessica shares her journey to becoming a first-generation college grad and a teenage mother.
-- A role model of advocacy (00:03:40) Jessica's mother's advocacy and support in her pursuit of college and motherhood.
-- Learning from setbacks (00:07:08) Jessica discusses the non-linear nature of her career journey and the value of learning from setbacks.
-- Prolink's virtual-first philosophy (00:10:33) Jessica explains Prolink's virtual-first approach and the principles behind it.
-- Embracing discomfort and showing up (00:15:12) Jessica's advice to embrace discomfort and always show up, drawing from her personal experiences and leadership journey.

To stay up-to-date with future interviews and gain valuable resources on building mindset and influence to have an even bigger voice and impact with your leadership, be sure to join our Fearless Female Leader community at www.sherylkline.com, or please email me directly at info@sherylkline.com if I can help you, your team, or organization in any way.

Cheering you on always,
- Sheryl