In this episode, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher tackle a workplace issue most people experience but rarely discuss openly: professional jealousy. They walk through how jealousy shows up, how it can be weaponised through policy or gossip, and why it can have serious consequences for someone’s reputation and career if it isn’t handled well.Michelle shares a real incident from her executive career at a major Australian bank, where a colleague’s jealousy escalated into an unnecessary and poorly managed HR process. The story lays bare how organisational systems can be misused when leaders act on hearsay instead of facts, and what happens when visibility or career momentum triggers insecurity in others.Mel adds her own experience of being confronted with jealousy-driven behaviour in a client meeting, and together they break down the leadership failures that allow this conduct to continue unchecked.At the heart of their conversation is practical advice for women: how to assess the situation, protect your credibility, understand your rights, and respond strategically when someone else’s jealousy edges into your professional lane.Key themes:• How professional jealousy manifests at work• Why it can escalate quickly when leaders fail to intervene• The difference between genuine organisational concerns and someone misusing “policy” to target a colleague• What ethical leadership looks like when jealousy surfaces• How to protect your professional reputation using SQ (Social Intelligence)• What to do when you have positional power – and what to do when you don’t• Why documentation, due diligence, and clarity on your obligations matter• How women can safely navigate and respond without burning political capitalTakeaways for women:• Know your rights and obligations before you respond.• If you’ve inadvertently breached something, correct it quickly.• If you haven’t breached anything, protect yourself through documentation, clarity, and strategic communication.• Build a strong reputation and network — long-term assets that withstand other people’s insecurity.Takeaways for leaders:• Don’t act on jealousy disguised as “concern.”• Address inappropriate behaviour immediately.• Use your positional power to prevent harm, not enable it.

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Technology is racing ahead — but courage and conscience must lead the way. In this episode, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher explore how women leaders can be the dissenting voices that keep ethics, empathy, and humanity at the centre of progress.

If this episode resonated, I invite you to join the conversation in the comments and share what landed for you. You can subscribe to the Lead to Soar podcast here on Substack to receive new episodes, notes, and occasional tools straight to your inbox. And if you want to go further, Lead to Soar Network members get early access to episodes, live workshops, and practical resources designed to help women lead with clarity, credibility, and impact.

Your future self is counting on you. In this episode, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher explore how ambitious women can play the long game — building strategy, visibility, and momentum that leads to real career success.They explore how to show up for your future self by thinking and acting strategically, building credibility and confidence, and designing a clear direction rather than waiting for opportunities to appear. This is about career design — not chance.In this episode:• What it means to show up for your future self.• How to define what reaching your full potential looks, sounds, and feels like.• Why strategy isn’t just for organisations — it’s for your career.• The shift from loyal worker to strategic leader.• Practical ways to make choices your future self will thank you for.

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If this episode was useful, there are three simple ways to go further:Subscribe on SubstackThis is now the home of the Lead to Soar podcast. Subscribers get new episodes, curated guidance from the back catalogue, and written insights to help you navigate leadership and career decisions with sound judgement.

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Explore the Lead to Soar NetworkLead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women who are actively working on their careers. Explore Share the episodeIf this resonated, share it with a colleague, manager, or friend who might need it. Leadership is shaped by what we notice, name, and talk about.

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Competence alone doesn’t create credibility. Michelle and Mel reveal why visibility and credibility must work together if you want to be chosen for high-value work. They share how to talk about your achievements without the cringe, use language that lands with decision-makers, and demonstrate leadership that moves the business forward.Leaders choose people they know, respect, and trust. If the right people can’t see your impact, they can’t bet on you.In this episode• The leadership equation: visibility + credibility = opportunity• Strategic self-promotion that doesn’t feel gross — linking outcomes to business results• Why “busy” doesn’t signal credibility (and what does)• Positional purpose: what they pay you and your team to be famous for• How to advocate for yourself and your team with a business lens

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Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women who are actively working on their careers. Explore

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Hope is not a strategy. Michelle and Mel show you how to define your full potential, state your ambition with a business lens, and build a roadmap that aligns your moves to real business outcomes. Practical prompts and language you can use this week.In this episode• Why “waiting to be noticed” keeps talented women stuck• What full potential can look like: role level, craft mastery, and financial security• Language that lands: from helper to enabler of growth• Building your roadmap: vision, next milestones, and measurable KPIs• Aligning success to business metrics: revenue, win rates, margin, cash, customer value• Finding a strategic mentor who helps you navigate the next stepResources• Inside the Lead to Soar Network: Hour of Power, Leadership MBA Library, strategic mentoring prompts

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Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women who are actively working on their careers. Explore

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We’ve all met this leader: pleasant, agreeable, and conflict-avoidant—the kind of manager everyone likes but few respect.

In this Lead to Soar episode, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher dissect the “too nice to lead” phenomenon and offer practical strategies for ambitious professionals who report to an ineffective manager.What you’ll learn:• How to identify when niceness has replaced effectiveness• Why conflict avoidance erodes standards and trust• Scripts and strategies for managing up with outcomes and data• How to protect your energy and career progression while navigating underpowered leadership• What organisations must do to stop promoting accidental managersKey takeaway: Being nice doesn’t make someone a good leader—clarity, courage, and competence do.

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Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women who are actively working on their careers. Explore

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This episode asks the big career question: What happens when you stay busy, wait patiently, and hope to be noticed? Michelle and Mel dismantle the “good girl” model of leadership and explain why obedience, helpfulness, and non-promotable tasks (NPTs) won’t get you where you want to go. Instead, they lay out how to move from being merely helpful to being high-impact, and why radical accountability is the antidote to career stagnation.

What You’ll Learn

• Why “keeping your head down” will not shift your career trajectory

• The hidden costs of saying yes to non-promotable tasks

• How to position yourself as ambitious for yourself, your team, and your business

• Simple strategies (like dashboards) to showcase your contributions

• Why leaders go beyond transactional work and play the long game

Resources & Links

• No Ceiling, No Walls by Susan Colantuono – a cornerstone of the Lead to Soar philosophy

• The Leadership Compass by Michelle Redfern – your guide to reaching full potential

• Share your career dilemmas with us

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Explore the Lead to Soar Network

Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women who are actively working on their careers. Explore

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Loyalty is still one of the most praised traits in women at work. Loyal to a leader. Loyal to a team. Loyal to an organisation that no longer has your back. In 2025, that expectation hasn’t softened. If anything, it has hardened.

In this episode of Lead to Soar, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher revisit the idea that loyalty is a virtue for women leaders—and ask harder questions about what loyalty actually costs when it isn’t reciprocated, rewarded, or aligned with sound leadership judgement.

This conversation reflects where work is now: prolonged uncertainty, shrinking tolerance for poor leadership, and growing pressure on women to absorb dysfunction quietly “for the good of the team.” Michelle and Mel explore how loyalty often keeps women over-functioning, staying silent, or rationalising environments that are actively limiting their authority, credibility, or options.

This is not about being transactional. It’s about recognising when loyalty has tipped from values-driven commitment into self-erasure.

In this episode, we explore:

Why loyalty is still expected from women even when leadership quality and organisational standards decline

How loyalty can blur judgement and keep women stuck in roles that no longer match their capability or ambition

The difference between staying committed and staying compliant

Why women are often asked to carry instability, clean up dysfunction, or “hold the culture” without mandate or power

What it looks like to make leadership decisions based on evidence, trajectory, and impact—not obligation

This episode is part of a broader shift in the Lead to Soar conversation: away from endurance as a virtue, and toward discernment as a leadership skill.

Resources & links

Michelle’s book: The Leadership Compass: The Ultimate Guide for Ambitious Women Leaders to Reach Their Full Potential

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Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women who are actively working on their careers. Explore

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In this episode of the Lead to Soar podcast, co-founder Michelle Redfern takes listeners inside the Lead to Soar Network. She explains what actually happens inside: weekly Hour of Power group coaching, monthly themes and challenges, and a highly curated leadership library she calls the “Leadership MBA.”

Listeners also hear from member Tam Nguyen, who shares how her confidence, perspective, and practical leadership toolkit have grown through the community.

The Lead to Soar Network is for women (inclusive of cisgender, trans, gender-diverse, and non-binary people who want a women-only space) who are ambitious for themselves, their teams, and their organisations. It is deliberately not social media—there are no algorithms, no noise, and no toxic commentary. In six years, the community has required zero moderation of posts or comments, making it a psychologically safe and outcomes-focused space.

What Listeners Will Learn

• Why the Lead to Soar Network exists and who it serves (early-career, mid-career, and senior women).

• How the Hour of Power works—and why real-time, real-world coaching accelerates leadership.

• The monthly rhythm: theme, challenge (Stop-Breathe-Reflect), and member discussions.

• How to link work to reputation and credibility as a leader.

• Why a women-only space matters for psychological safety and accelerated growth.

• What a 30-day guest pass includes.

• Membership options and value for both individuals and organisations.

Featured Guest: Tam Nguyen, who  "helps organisations realise their financial and long-term growth objectives by being a trusted commercial partner.”

Tam describes how the network has sharpened her leadership lens—from practical career moves and risk management to building confidence through competence and results.

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This is now the home of the Lead to Soar podcast. Subscribers get new episodes, curated guidance from the back catalogue, and written insights to help you navigate leadership and career decisions with sound judgement.

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Explore the Lead to Soar Network

Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women who are actively working on their careers. Explore

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This episode addresses a recurring issue in the Lead to Soar Network: what do you do when your boss—or their boss—is disinterested, disengaged, or outright hostile?

Michelle and Mel respond to a recent message from a long-time Network member who was given two options by her boss: accept a demotion or take a redundancy package. Her crime? Delivering measurable, high-value outcomes. The insult? This same leader had previously blocked her advancement.

What unfolds in this episode is not a one-off grievance; it’s a structural, widespread issue. And it’s one that too many women are forced to survive in silence.

This is a conversation about:

• Surviving bad leadership when you can’t just quit

• The tactical and strategic moves women can make in hostile environments

• What good leadership should look like—and why too many workplaces are still failing

• How we move from endurance to systemic change

What You’ll Hear:

• Why disengaged, indifferent, or hostile bosses aren’t rare—they’re rampant

• What it really means when your value is ignored, diminished, or co-opted

• The mental gymnastics women perform to stay afloat in disrespectful environments

• How to protect your leadership credibility even when others won’t

• Tactical survival tips for navigating a disrespectful boss or power imbalance

• The long game: document your value, find your sponsors, and position yourself for the next move

• Why organisational leaders need to stop rewarding poor leadership and start practising radical accountability

For Women Listening:

You’re not imagining it. And you’re not overreacting.

If your boss (or their boss) treats you with indifference, hostility, or disrespect, this episode gives you language, strategy, and validation. You don’t have to shrink, and you don’t have to tolerate being sidelined.

For Leaders Listening:

Disrespectful leadership is not a personality flaw, it’s a performance issue. If you’re allowing it to persist, you are part of the problem.

Take Action:

• Join the Lead to Soar Network to be in a room full of women who get it, and are changing it. leadtosoar.network/landing

• Read The Leadership Compass for a practical map to reclaim your power and career direction www.michelleredfern.com/books

If this episode was useful, there are three simple ways to go further:

Subscribe on Substack

This is now the home of the Lead to Soar podcast. Subscribers get new episodes, curated guidance from the back catalogue, and written insights to help you navigate leadership and career decisions with sound judgement.

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Explore the Lead to Soar Network

Lead to Soar is a leadership development network for ambitious women and for organisations serious about closing the leadership gender gap. Members get access to group coaching, practical leadership tools, and a network of women who are actively working on their careers. Explore

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