Grit in the Oyster

Sally Helgeson's top-selling book 'Rising Together' is rich with wisdom and practical advice and here I explore with Sally some of its contents. From the impact of the pandemic on creating divisions through to how we can all be better allies helping shift the conversation to create cultures of belonging.

Loved talking to Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon voted the most influential woman in tech about her book She's In CTRL. We talk about how women can take back tech - to communicate, solve problems and protect themselves in a digital world. She's such an inspiration!

Men are presumed to be competent unless proven otherwise, women are not. What are the facts to support this? And what can we do about it when leadership requires women to exercise their authority, yet authority is still associated with male. Here my conversation with Mary Ann Sieghart, author of The Authority Gap, explores this conundrum and how we might solve it.

Conversation with Dr Rebecca Newton author of Authentic Gravitas, who stands out and why. In this episode I speak with Rebecca Newton about the importance of gravitas in a leader and how we build it. Insightful and practical as well as myth busting, Rebecca delivers real wisdom for women leaders.

Penny talks to Dr Therese Huston author of How Women Decide who shares insights into the decisiveness dilemma for women and offers practical strategies that lead to better decisions for both men and women.

Female Firsts - not only the first country to give women the vote and register the first nurse and dental nurse world wide, but New Zealand has an extensive pioneering history of female firsts from Kate Edgar, the first woman in the British Empire to earn a BA, to Jacinda Adern the world's youngest female political leader. Here is the first woman Solicitor General in New Zealand, CEO of the Crown Law Office, telling us the story of her own career and personal frontiers.

Our resilience is being tested more then ever as we head into the second year of a global pandemic. So learning everything we can about how to build it in ourselves is critical. Here I talk to Amy Morin author of 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do about how to build our mental strength.

Do men and women operate differently when they negotiate? And if so how do we level the playing field? Some great research and insights from Dr Laura Kray on how women can gain advantage.

Shellye’s experience as an African American woman focused on becoming a CEO at 16 is told in her book Unapologetically Ambitious in both a powerful and practical way. Listen to our great conversation bringing her and her lessons to life.

Women leaders can experience backlash when they display assertive behaviour, paying a social penalty on the back of gender stereotypes. But there are tools to mitigate this while we change the system.

The most generous and reassuring thing you can do for your team as a leader is to act with real authority as a leader. Professor Deborah Gruenfeld takes us through how to do that in her book Acting with Power.

Conversation with Professor Mara Olekans on managing ourselves as women leaders to become successful negotiators.

In this episode I talk to Dame Inga Beale, most recently CEO of Lloyds of London, about her leadership, her learning and her legacy.

In this episode I speak to Dr Raina Brands of London Business School on the power of networking and making invisible career ladders more visible. With great advice on navigating the Think Manager /Think Male stereotype for individual women leaders, and advice for organisations on how to ensure recruitment processes don’t disadvantage women aspiring to executive roles.

Building a business and a leadership self when you believe change is inevitable, but suffering is optional. I talk with the inspiring Geeta Sidhu-Robb CEO OF Nosh Detox. We explore what women leaders are capable of doing, and becoming, especially when you have no choice.

I talk to Professor Natalia Karelaia at INSEAD about her fascinating research on leadership and how the link between confidence and influence plays out for women leaders.

From village school in Kenya, when no girl had gone to university, to Oxford PhD in Aerospace engineering. Gladys Ngetich tells her inspiring story.

I talk to Dame Stephanie Shirley about how she built her IT business from dining room table to become Xansa plc. Great wisdom and insight into how to make a difference in every aspect of your life and career.

I speak to Dr Caroline Kisia Executive Director of Action Africa Help International about her leadership career, the importance of mind-set and energy, and courage being at the heart of great leadership.

Penny speaks to seven female scholars of the College of St Rose in New York about their aspirations for their lives and their careers.

I talk with Professor Marianne Lewis Dean of Cass Business School London about her career as well as her work on paradoxes. Why we should embrace them and how.

In this episode, Penny talks to Christina Blacklaws, President of the Law Society, about her career and the challenges for women's advancement in a profession where most of the intake is female. Fabulous advice!

I talk to Professor Ronit Kark on her research around the paradoxes women leaders face in organisations and what strategies to deploy to move from a dilemma to a paradox mindset.

Diversity. Inclusion. Unconscious Bias. What it means and how to ensure it makes a difference in your organisation. l talk to Angela Peacock Chair of PDT - specialists in this field - who shares her experience and knowledge.

Penny chats with 19 year-old Alexia Hilbertidou, founder of GirlBoss New Zealand - its mission: to close the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths, Entrepreneurship and Leadership - and to empower confident, resilient, future-ready, young women to lead and change the world.

Navigating careers and caring - making families and dual careers work. I talk to two senior female executives about their experience of families and careers where both Mum and Dad work. The challenges, the joys, the frustrations and lots of great insight and advice. With Jivan Dempsey and Kerry Simmons.

Three interviews in one episode as I speak to three experienced senior women leaders about their careers and what advice they would give to their younger selves. With Helen Sweeney, Patricia Taylor, Dotti Irving and Penny De Valk.

Penny chats with Avivah Wittenberg-Cox about career paths for women, why they are different and how to navigate them for both individuals and organisations.

Jill Flynn, author of Break Your Own Rules, and I discuss how to change our mindsets to accelerate our success as women leaders.

Penny de Valk speaks to world renowned leadership expert Sally Helgesen about her book, How Women Rise, exploring some of the habits that hold women back in their career and how to overcome them - from reluctance to promote themselves through to the perfection trap.

Penny speaks to Bonnie Marcus author of The Politics of Promotion about how to change your mindset and skillset around organisational politics as a critical leadership skill.

Moving from being a technical expert to a leader is a challenging transition. In this podcast I talk to Dr Belinda Board, about how to approach this move to ensure we bring our existing capability to bear, while also learning new and critical leadership skills.

Making flexible working work - for you and your organisation. Three high powered female executives, Natalie Walpole and Kerry Simmons and Uzma Hamid-Dizier, talk about how flexible working gives them the careers and the lives they want. And how to do it. Produced by The Podcast Company

Two executive coaches, Mary Gregory and Deena Gornick, share their insights gained from coaching women leaders - exploring both the challenges and the opportunities. Produced by The Podcast Company.

The power of a 'strengths' approach. An interview with Sally Bibb exploring why we should focus on our strengths and how to make them work for our leadership. Produced by The Podcast Company.