Episode 0 - Welcome to Glass Ceiling, Smashed

Listen to Episode 0 - Welcome to Glass Ceiling, Smashed

Somewhere, not in a galaxy far, far away, but in an office complex right down the street from you, a woman is sitting in a meeting, watching a man repeat an idea she mentioned five minutes ago. He's getting credit for it. People are praising him. The woman seethes silently because this keeps happening to her.

Somewhere, right now, a woman is drafting an email for the third time because she's worried that her assertive and confident tone will, instead, read as difficult and condescending.

Somewhere, right now, a woman just got passed over for a promotion she was more than qualified for, and she's trying to figure out if it's worth saying anything. She's wondering if this is all she's destined for, and she's wondering if this profession is even worth her time and effort anymore.

If any of that sounds familiar to you, first of all, I'm sorry. I've been there. I know how it feels.

Second of all, welcome. You're exactly who Glass Ceiling, Smashed is for.

This blog first began as a now-defunct YouTube channel. I then decided to move the content to an audio-only podcast because I felt that it fit better in your earbuds on your commute, your lunchtime walk, your gym session, folding laundry, or whatever your version of finally getting 20 minutes to yourself actually looked like. I’m now converting my episodes to blog transcripts, as well, since many of us do prefer to take in information through reading as opposed to listening. The podcast still exists, this is just the written version! It's the same content (with an occasional additional item or two that may not fit neatly into an audio episode), just in an additional format. An audio podcast and written blog also give me the opportunity to create content without having to be camera ready. And as women, most of us know the pressure of having to be camera ready. I'm removing that pressure from myself.

So, what exactly is Glass Ceiling, Smashed all about?

A lot of it deals with all the stuff you probably wish you had a manual for when you started your first job, landed your first promotion, were presented with your first team to manage, or any other similar type of new experience. This is aimed at women who want to climb the corporate ladder, who want to build a career that doesn't eat away at their entire life, and who want to lead in a way that gets them respected instead of just tolerated.

That being said, I want to be clear about something: This content is for women, but it's not only for women. If you're a man who wants to lead better, communicate more effectively, and understand what your female colleagues are actually dealing with, you're welcome here too. Good leadership isn't gendered. The barriers we're talking about are, and those barriers are mainly set up in favor of men. So those of us who are women, non-binary, trans, or anything other than a straight-up cisgendered male, we could use your allyship, so stick around.

Here's what you can expect from me.

I will offer blunt takes. I'm not going to dress things up, or hedge every sentence into oblivion. I'm not going to point out each and every nuance in the statements I make, but blunt doesn't mean harsh. Everything contained within Glass Ceiling, Smashed is meant to be supportive, educational, and useful. You should walk away at the end of each episode or article having learned something you can actually use at work tomorrow.

Now, I'll give a little background on me since most of us are just getting started together.

I've spent over 20 years working across legal, finance, operations, and tech sales, including time at companies like Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, and PNC. I've been the person taking notes in the meeting, and I've been the person running the meeting. I've seen brilliant and talented people get overlooked, and I've witnessed mediocre confidence outperform real confidence over and over again until it made me more than just a little bit furious. That's part of why I went and got my master's degree in organizational leadership. I wanted the receipts to back up what over 20 years of experience had already taught me, and it's why I started Windrose Coaching and Consulting. My goal is to help individuals and small businesses build these skills, build their confidence, create effective processes, and develop strategies so that they can stop watching their career happen to them and start actually driving it forward instead.

I'll give you a quick personal story because it highlights where a lot of this comes from. At one point in my sales career, I was being positioned to take over as a sales manager after our existing manager moved to a new role. I was handed the reins and told that acting as “interim manager” during the transition period and interview process was basically going to be my key to the kingdom. I went through rounds and rounds of interviews for this internal role where all of these people had already known me for years. I was told by one interviewer that he thought I was a “shoo-in” and the natural choice for the position. A few weeks later, as I was enjoying a trip I had earned for being a top performer on the team, I received the call that I was not being offered the role. I was told that they had concerns about my ability to implement strategic plans (as an aside, I find this to be absurd as I am currently retained to teach strategic planning modules to up-and-coming leaders in my local community). It had been decided that this singular sales manager role instead was being split into two managerial positions and given to two male colleagues, one of which didn't even have a sales background, nor experience in strategic implementation. I pushed back, and instead was offered a role on a different team that they positioned as a “visibility opportunity” that came with a slight pay raise. I guess they felt that was a good enough consolation prize and that it would placate me enough to keep me from pushing further. I quit that company less than a year later.

At the time, I didn't have the tools I needed to handle that situation effectively. I do now. This space between what women are capable of and deserve, and what they've been taught is appropriate to ask for and accept, is the whole reason my business and podcast/blog exist. This content is an extension of that work. Every episode/article is going to provide something practical, whether it's a new way to think about a problem, a script for a hard conversation, a framework for how to motivate a team that is struggling, or how to set a strategic plan. I will provide you with real tools and real learning.

Going forward, you can expect content covering leadership, communication, career strategy, and the realities of corporate life. Some content will be data heavy and a deep dive into a topic, some will be quicker highlights, and others will be how-tos. Ultimately, I'm going to keep doing what I've always done, which is teaching the things that your manager isn't going to teach you. To give you a taste, here are some of the things I’ve covered so far (and will be published here soon): how to communicate more confidently, how to disagree at work without making things weird, why plain numbers without context don't matter when it comes to measuring performance, how to properly prepare for (and give) feedback, and plenty of other topics that don't get spoken about often, like how it's okay to not be the best at something.

So here's what I'd ask: follow or subscribe to the Glass Ceiling, Smashed podcast wherever you prefer to listen to podcasts, so you’re always notified of new episodes, or subscribe to the blog itself so you get notified of new posts. And if you know a woman who's staring up at that glass ceiling she's tired of hitting, let her know that this content exists. That's going to be the best way we build a community of people who are actually rooting for each other instead of competing.

I'm Lauren. This is Glass Ceiling Smashed. Go grab your hammer and let's break something together.