Blog

Without healthy boundaries, we become overextended, frustrated and resentful. Today, I want to talk to you about why we need to set boundaries, the relationship between boundaries and our values and how to set boundaries graciously. What are boundaries? A boundary is the line we set about what we’re willing and not willing to do. …

The magic of values-based boundaries (and how to set them)

I thought I had no regrets. I thought I had forgiven myself for the professional and personal mistakes I’ve made. But it turns out I was wrong. Today, I want to tell you how my coach uncovered old wounds that hadn’t yet healed, why it’s so important to forgive ourselves for the past and how …

How to forgive yourself and why it’s important

In 2019, there were more women in the C-suite than in 2015. While that’s good news, women are still a minority at the executive table. According to the 2019 Women in the Workplace report by McKinsey and LeanIn.Org, “About 1 in 5 C-suite executives is a woman—and only 1 in 25 C-suite executives is a …

Bridging the gender diversity gap with awareness, curiosity and confidence

Choices. We always have choices but sometimes they become impossible to see. Today, let’s discuss why choices are important, what stops us from seeing our choices and how to explore possibilities instead of feeling stuck, resentful or powerless. What does choice mean? Choice means power, freedom and responsibility. It’s making a decision and living with …

Feeling stuck? How to recognize choices and explore greater possibilities

The gremlin is the voice in your head that keeps you playing small. It’s one of the four internal energy blocks—gremlins, assumptions, limiting beliefs and interpretations—that disrupt and distract us from going after what we want. Today, I’m talking about what the gremlin is, why it’s here and how we can transform that voice in …

Managing your gremlin: Transforming your inner critic into your biggest cheerleader

Confidence. We all want it and many of us let a lack of confidence in certain areas debilitate us. Let’s stop that! Today, I want to talk about three common signs of lacking confidence, how to address each one and how to use the confidence you have in one area of your life to bolster …

Three signs you lack confidence and what to do about it

The traditional approach to professional development is company driven. This is where—if you’re lucky—your boss sits down with you and asks what you’d like to develop further. However, to gain the skills you need to accomplish your career goals, I recommend avoiding the traditional approach and taking the lead yourself. Today, I want to talk …

How to get your company to pay for professional development, including the WIL Empowered program

It’s uncommon to learn soft skills in school so when we enter the workplace, we learn by trial and error. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a good boss or mentor who shows you the ropes and gives you opportunities to hone your soft skills. And, as anyone with a nightmare boss story can tell you, …

Five soft skills every leader needs to develop

Perhaps you found us through our social media. Maybe you came across our website. Or a friend shared about their experience in our program. And it has you wondering, what will this program do for me? How will it help me? Skills development I would like to start by sharing some of the core aspects …

How will this program help me?

In 2016, StatsCan reported that women held 19.4% of the positions on boards of directors across public, private and governmental organizations in Canada.[1] Though the diversity and inclusion movement is gaining steam, it’s still safe to say that effective communication skills are essential for women who work in this professional and typically male-dominated environment. Today, …

How women can communicate effectively in the boardroom and beyond

Fear is normal and something we all experience, but if we don’t stand up to fearful thoughts on repeat, we become paralyzed by fear. In this article, I want to talk about what fear is, why it stops us from taking action—especially at work—and how to flip fear on its head so we can move …

The number one reason you’re not taking action and what you can do about it

Developing deep connections goes beyond adding thousands of people to your network and pushing your business cards into the hands of strangers. Deep connections are the lifeblood of business and make work satisfying. In this post, I will discuss how to develop deep connections in your professional and personal network and what benefits you can …

The importance of developing deep connections

Sponsorship and mentorship are essential for personal and professional growth because nobody can reach their dreams alone. As women, we tend to not ask for what we need and I’m here to help you get into the habit of asking. I want to talk to you about the difference between sponsoring and mentoring, how to …

Sponsors and mentors: Why striving women need both

Here at Women in Leadership Empowered, we recently held our advanced seminar titled Networking: Love it or Hate it. As part of the training, we had attendees participate in two breakout sessions where they worked with three to four other women each time. We had great attendance and feedback over the two sessions that we …

The Power of an Online Community

To have positive relationships with people at work and home, it’s important to set clear expectations. Except many of us get in trouble with this concept because we confuse expectations with unrealistic expectations—and we often don’t even realize it. Today, I want to tell you about why expectations often lead to disappointment and how leaders …

How leaders can set expectations without disappointment or guilt

Let me share with you what WIL Empowered is, how it came about and why I’m so passionate about helping women get the skills and confidence they need to be their authentic selves in their many leadership roles in life. WIL Empowered: The origin story Let me back up a few decades. I spent 30+ …

WIL Empowered: The story of the women in leadership community

Being your true self is important at home and at work but sometimes it’s difficult to truly embrace what that means. Today we’ll talk about how to show up as your authentic self in your personal and professional lives. Over the long-term, you can’t be who you’re not. Sure, you can pretend for a while …

The importance of being authentically you

Whether you know me a little or a lot, you’ll know I love networking! Networking has helped me build my career and support other people’s career goals for over 30 years. Today, I want to talk about the benefits of networking and how to feel good about networking, instead of uncomfortable. What is business networking? …

How to be successful at business networking

Trust is extremely important because being trusting and trustworthy helps you build meaningful relationships and perform better at work (and home). Today, I want to talk about what trust is, what happens with and without it and how to increase the amount of trust in your business (and life). What is trust? The dictionary says …

Why building trust is essential for leaders

The Forbes Coaches Council recommends 11 assessments every executive should take, including the Energy Leadership™ Index (ELI) assessment which is number three on their list. Today, I want to tell you about ELI, why I believe so strongly in it and how you can tell if it’s right for you. What is the Energy Leadership …

Three signs the Energy Leadership Index assessment is right for you

Ever wonder why most people aren’t good at setting or achieving their personal and professional goals. This may partly be because popular goal-setting tactics like SMART goals are too superficial to bring lasting change. If you’re ready to change the way you approach goal setting and make this your big year, hang on because we’re …

Achieving goals and aspirations is not for the weak hearted

Unconscious gender bias is a hot topic in business. Unfortunately, these discussions can get heated and lead to finger-pointing, misunderstandings and an unhelpful battle of the sexes. I won’t do that here. Instead, I want to talk about what unconscious gender bias is, what it shows up as and how business leaders can get help …

A CEO’s guide to uncovering unconscious gender bias that harms the leadership pipeline

We spend most of our lives worrying about the things that usually never happens. Or living in fear of the unknown because of the story we create in our own minds. And why? What is the real reason that we do this? Because from an early age, we are taught or programmed with these habits. …

7 Practices to Boost Unshakeable Confidence

Resiliency is about being able to recover from adversity. It’s not about avoiding difficulty or never falling flat on your face. All of us have been through hard times, whether it’s related to health, careers, family or relationships. I believe resiliency is the foundation for success—whatever success means to you. But success is also a …

Resiliency: What You Need To Achieve Your Biggest Goals

We get real excited about a job opportunity, a goal we set, our desire to be successful, or the thing we dream about accomplishing! But then the next step doesn’t happen because we might fear failing, we lose motivation, or it might be that little voice in our heads creating doubt, fear, challenging our ability, …

3 Success-Blockers Typical For Women