Episode 73: Unlearning Silence with Dr. Elaine Lin Hering

Have you ever received the feedback to "speak up" at work? Say more in meetings. Turn up the volume. It sounds so easy but speaking up isn't always that straightforward – or welcomed.

Today's guest is Elaine Lin Hering, author of Unlearning Silence: How to speak your mind, unleash talent and lead with courage. She's been a lecturer at Harvard Law School, and a Managing Partner at a global leadership development firm. Elaine's clients have included Nike, Google and Pixar.

We deep-dive into silence — how we silence ourselves, how we silence others, and how it's baked into the system. You'll learn that there's often good reason to stay silent in some corporate situations — politics, power dynamics, challenging individuals. Un-silencing yourself can be especially challenging if you're not from the dominant culture...

This conversation feels like master-class--meets mentoring--meets real life coaching session.

We discuss:

1. A scenario where an executive feels publicly undermined by her boss, and his feedback (when she brings it up) is to increase her confidence and toughen up.

2. A scenario where a senior executive has helped a new colleague and shared her client base, and now he's getting all the visibility (she doesn't feel she's one to speak up and address it).

3. A newly promoted Partner feels like the token woman on the senior leadership team…Have they only promoted me because I'm female?

LINKS:

Elaine Lin Hering's website and book

Elaine on LinkedIn

Mandy on LinkedIn