Episode Details

Are you a high performer who has been waiting for your hard work to speak for itself? You are not alone. Most women rise to the director level by being exceptional individual contributors, then hit an invisible ceiling that no one warned them about. The people getting promoted to vice president are not always working harder, they are working differently, and they understand a set of corporate power dynamics that nobody teaches women in business school, in onboarding, or anywhere along the way.

In this episode of the SisterSmart Leadership Podcast, host and executive coach Jill Avey sits down with Linda Reddy, Global Supply Chain Director at Nando's, to decode the invisible games of corporate power that determine who advances into senior leadership and who stays stuck at director. Linda has more than 25 years of leadership experience across South Africa, India, the Middle East, Africa, and globally, and she has watched countless talented women plateau at the same level she once did, until she figured out the real rules.

If you are a woman leader, director, senior director, or aspiring vice president looking for a roadmap from high performer to executive, this conversation will reframe how you think about visibility, influence, narrative, and what it really takes to be promoted to vice president. Linda walks through her framework of three career stages, the three elements of power, and the biggest mistakes women make when they pursue promotion. By the end of this episode you will know exactly where to focus to break through your next ceiling.

In this episode of the SisterSmart Leadership Podcast you will learn:

• Why high performance alone will not get you promoted to vice president, and what does
• The three corporate stages every woman leader must move through to reach senior leadership: high performer, influencer, and authority
• How to use visibility, influence, and narrative as your real path to executive promotion
• Why decisions about your career are happening outside the boardroom, and how to position yourself to be in those rooms
• How to reframe self-promotion as a service that helps others do their job better
• The high performer trap that is causing senior leaders to see you as an operator instead of a thought leader
• Why being your own ambassador is the mindset shift that unlocks your next promotion
• The biggest mistake women make when they say I am not 150 percent ready, and how to stop waiting
• How to start small with risk and build the confidence muscle that gets you promoted
• Linda's framework of the 11 invisible games of corporate power and the 22 human dynamics that underpin them

Related topics covered in this episode for women leaders:

How to get promoted from director to vice president, corporate power dynamics for women, executive presence for senior women leaders, women in supply chain leadership, leadership skills for women, how to be more visible at work, how to build influence as a woman leader, narrative framing for executives, sponsorship and mentorship for women, women in male dominated industries, women in global leadership, breaking the glass ceiling, gender in the workplace, leadership development for women, becoming a senior director, becoming a vice president, women and confidence, women and risk taking, professional growth for women leaders, how to be promoted faster.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Get Linda Reddy's reflection journal on the invisible games of corporate power when you subscribe to her newsletter: https://lindareddy.uk/
• Linda Reddy's framework of the 11 invisible games of corporate power
• The 22 human dynamics that underpin corporate power across identity and status, fear and control, relationships and trust, ambition and survival, narrative and perception, and influence