Brave Feminine Leadership

We've all sat across from that executive. Laptop open, phone buzzing, apologising because the last meeting ran over. Somewhere along the way, we decided that person is what success looks like. Melissa isn't buying it.

In this solo episode, Melissa calls out the busy reputation for what it often is, and names the three skills most senior leaders haven't actually mastered yet. She also walks through an exercise she gives her clients, one simple week-long habit that changes how they see their own workload entirely.

In this episode:

• Why being constantly drowning in work isn't the flex it looks like

• The exercise Melissa gives leaders to see what their calendar is actually hiding

• The one question worth asking every morning before anything else

• Why she'd pick one executive skill over all the others this year

If you've listened to the end and you're ready to act, Melissa offers a small number of sessions each month to help leaders identify the one action that creates real change. Details are in the link below, along with more on The Executive Shift.

WORK WITH US:

// 1:1 Strategy session - map where next? https://calendly.com/brave-feminine-leadership/connect-melissa
// The Executive Shift: An 8-week intensive for senior women ready to be recognised for judgement, not just delivery. https://bravefeminineleadership.com/the-executive-shift 
// INFLUENCE Mastermind: A 6-month peer advisory room for female CEOs. https://calendly.com/the-brave-group/influence-enquiry-call
// 1:1 Executive Coaching: Work directly with Melissa. https://calendly.com/the-brave-group/executive-coaching

 

 

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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration

Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!

 

Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership

Melissa and Kelli got fired up this week. Not at anyone. At a pattern they keep seeing in incredibly talented senior leaders: ask them what value they create, and what comes back is projects, process and detail. A shopping list of activity, with the actual value buried somewhere underneath it.

The consequences are real. When a board hears a long list of tasks, they see a busy person. When they see a busy person, they conclude she is capable, reliable, a safe pair of hands, and not needed at the table when the decisions are made. In a restructuring market, that reputation is a risk. In the worst cases, the value of someone's work only becomes visible after they've left.

This is a candid conversation between two former global CEOs about why articulating your value is so hard, why the "don't fix women" critique matters and where it stops, the line Google Australia MD Mel Silva gave Melissa that she has never forgotten, and the difference between mentors who teach you the job and sponsors who carry your value into rooms you're not in. It ends with a practical challenge: work out your headline.

In this episode:

• The shopping list problem: why brilliant strategic leaders default to listing activity
• The system is real, and so is what remains in your control
• "Don't make me look under the rug for your achievements": what sponsors actually need from you
• Why early-career rewards for delivery quietly become mid-career liabilities
• Kelli's starting point: tie what you do to the organisation's strategic ambitions
• This week's challenge: define the value you create, in one headline, and test it

 

Read the blog: Melissa's post "Don't Give Me a Shopping List" is on the website now. https://bravefeminineleadership.com/post/stop-giving-me-the-shopping-list

Join us on 29 July: The Impact Formula is a free 60-minute lunchtime leadership briefing where we go deeper on exactly this. https://bravefeminineleadership.com/impact-formula

Talk to us: We open a handful of spots each month for a conversation. If you're questioning your own value equation, book one. https://bravefeminineleadership.com/book-a-call

 

LISTEN & CONNECT:
Sign up to our Weekly Newsletter for Leadership Inspiration - https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bravefeminineleadership
Connect with Melissa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership

 

WORK WITH US:
// The Executive Shift: An 8-week intensive for senior women ready to be recognised for judgement, not just delivery. https://bravefeminineleadership.com/the-executive-shift 
// INFLUENCE Mastermind: A 6-month peer advisory room for female CEOs. https://calendly.com/the-brave-group/influence-enquiry-call
// 1:1 Executive Coaching: Work directly with Melissa & Kelli. https://calendly.com/the-brave-group/executive-coaching

Most of us are holding two completely incongruent feelings about AI right now. The excitement about what it could make possible. And a deeper, quieter discomfort about what it might already be taking from us.

Penny Locaso put both of those feelings on the table in this conversation - and then backed them up with research.

Penny is a behavioural scientist and provisional psychologist, completing her master's at 50. She draws on two decades of commercial leadership experience and original research to help leaders strengthen discernment under high pressure conditions. For the last 12 months she has been going deep on something that is only just beginning to be understood: the psychology of AI - how it is impacting our thinking, our feeling, and our behaviour. Her specific focus is leaders. Because if we're going to steer in the direction of human flourishing, leaders are the people we're most reliant on to do that. And right now, they're the ones most at risk.

What Penny shared in this conversation is specific, evidenced, and something every senior leader needs to pay attention to.

What's inside:

• AI brain rot is real — what six months of daily AI use is already doing to problem solving ability and short term memory, and why the leaders who need their cognitive edge most are the ones most at risk of losing it

• We gave AI the painting and the writing — why the promise of AI freeing us up for meaningful work hasn't materialised, and what's actually happening instead

• The sycophancy problem — why AI's frictionless validation is more psychologically seductive than we want to admit, and what that means for decision quality

• What's happening to teams — why teams are talking to each other less, what 63% of workers are lying about, and the hidden cost of humanising AI in the workplace

• Intentional AI — Penny's definition, her Intentional AI Rubric, and what it actually looks like to remain the author of your own thinking

 

 

Book time to connect with Melissa - 15 mins: https://calendly.com/brave-feminine-leadership/curious-for-feedbackb

WORK WITH MELISSA:
The Executive Shift — 8-week intensive for senior women ready to lead at full power: https://bravefeminineleadership.com/the-executive-shift
INFLUENCE Mastermind — 6-month peer advisory for sitting CEOs (max 6, invitation only): https://bravefeminineleadership.com/programs/ceo_mastermind
1:1 Executive Coaching — https://calendly.com/the-brave-group/executive-coaching

Penny's Intentional AI Rubric: https://app.hackinghappy.co/AIRubric

 

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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration

Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!

 

Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership

There's a question sitting underneath a lot of leadership conversations right now, one that most people aren't saying out loud: am I actually adding value to what matters — or am I just busy?

Felecia Pryor received a piece of feedback early in her career that stung: don't play in the garden when the house is on fire. More than any other conversation in the CPO series, this line has resonated and I think it might be the most important question any executive can ask of themselves right now. Not in a performance review. Not in a strategy session. Right now, today, looking honestly at where your time and thinking actually goes.

This episode is my reflection on the Shaping the Future CPO series — six conversations with some of the most senior people leaders. I let the insights settle for several months before coming back to them. What rose to the surface wasn't about HR frameworks or people strategy in the traditional sense. It was about what it actually takes to be at the centre of strategic decisions rather than downstream of them. And it applies far beyond the CPO role.

What's inside:

• Don't play in the garden — Felecia Pryor's confronting early-career feedback and the question every executive should be sitting with right now

• Step towards the tension — Why Amy Walker's deliberate practice of moving into discomfort is what earns you a place at the strategic table — and why so many senior leaders are conditioned to do the opposite

• The influence you can't see — What Amy Stanley and Shomaice Zowghi revealed about the influence that has no audience — and why it's often more powerful than anything visible on your CV

• Curiosity is not optional — Why Anu Villarosa designs for curiosity deliberately, what Damian Zahra's feedback work taught me, and what happens to leaders who stay too long in their own lane

• Are you in the house? — What being at the strategic table actually requires, and why getting invited to the meeting isn't the same thing

If this lands, come and find me on LinkedIn. I'd love to know which of these insights hits closest to home.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership

 

Book time to connect with Melissa - 15 mins: https://calendly.com/brave-feminine-leadership/curious-for-feedbackb

WORK WITH MELISSA:
The Executive Shift — 8-week intensive for senior women ready to lead at full power: https://bravefeminineleadership.com/the-executive-shift
INFLUENCE Mastermind — 6-month peer advisory for sitting CEOs (max 6, invitation only): https://bravefeminineleadership.com/programs/ceo_mastermind
1:1 Executive Coaching — https://calendly.com/the-brave-group/executive-coaching

 

-----------------------

Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration

Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!

Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.

In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.

⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave

 

Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership

Shomaice Zowghi walked into one of Australia's most closed, male-dominated industrial environments as the first female Director of Industrial Relations in a 107-year-old passenger railway system. Deals had always been done at the pub. Networks were tight and the door was shut. She didn't look like the role. She didn't sound like it. She carved out a place anyway - on both sides of the table.

She came to this work through law, through lived experience, and through a deep belief - shaped by parents who raised her to care about fairness, dignity and social justice - that the conditions people work in either build them up or quietly break them down.

In this conversation, Shomaice talks about what it really means to be a workforce architect - thinking about capability before the problem arrives, not after. About the lawyer behaviours she had to deliberately unlearn before she could truly lead. And about why loud, visible confidence is one of the most dangerous things we mistake for leadership potential.

Shomaice Zowghi is Head of People at Pacific National, Australia's largest private rail freight operator, and a former employment lawyer whose background in industrial relations, social justice and lived experience shapes everything about how she leads.

 

-----------------------

Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration

Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!

Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.

In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.

⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave

 

Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership

Felecia Pryor wanted to be an FBI agent. A psychological test, a shuttle bus, and a conversation with a stranger at a conference changed everything. What followed was nearly two decades building people strategy inside some of the world's most complex industrial organisations - Ford Motor Company, BorgWarner, and now John Deere, where she leads HR, labour relations, enterprise security, aviation and brand across a 189-year-old company.

In this conversation, Felecia talks about what it means to be a truly strategic partner, not just good with people, but commercially minded enough to shape the agenda. About the peer who once told her HR was playing in the garden while the house was on fire. And about why she believes courage is the defining leadership capability of our time.

Felecia Pryor is Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Deere and Company, known globally as John Deere, where she leads people strategy across one of the world's most iconic industrial organisations.

 

-----------------------

Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration

Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!

Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.

In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.

⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave

 

Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership

Anu Villarosa began her career as a lawyer in London, moved to Australia on a whim during the 2008 financial crash, and somehow ended up as Chief People Officer at a leading law firm - via recruitment, mindset coaching, competitive hockey, and a 50% pay cut she took to back herself into HR. The journey makes no sense on paper. In practice, it's the perfect preparation.

In this conversation, Anu talks about why feedback is a gift most organisations don't know how to give, why self-awareness is the capability that will separate effective executives by 2040, and what it actually means to be strategically vulnerable in a profession that tends to reward certainty.

Anu Villarosa is Chief People Officer at a leading Australian law firm, an accredited coach grounded in neuroscience and psychometric profiling, and a former competitive hockey player who applies the principles of high-performance sport to executive leadership every day.

 

-----------------------

Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration

Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!

Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.

In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.

⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave

 

Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership

Damian Zahra started work early, grew up around family businesses, and came into HR with one obsession: what happens when you bring the discipline of high performance sport into the world of business? Nearly seven years into his role as Chief People Officer at Bunnings, one of Australia's most iconic and complex organisations, he's still asking the same question.

In this conversation, Damian talks about what it really means to be an interpreter of strategy, why equal portions of support and challenge create the healthy tension where growth actually lives, and why the one thing most organisations could learn from elite sport is the gift of feedback.

Damian Zahra is Chief People Officer at Bunnings Group, leading people and safety strategy across nearly 60,000 team members in Australia and New Zealand. He is also a board member of the Corporate Mental Health Alliance Australia.

 

-----------------------

Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration

Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!

Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.

In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.

⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave

 

Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership

Amy Stanley didn't set out to be a Chief People Officer - she wanted to be a fashion buyer like Rachel Green from Friends. What she found instead was a deep love for the work of motivating people, and a 25-year career that took her from the shop floor to the strategic centre of some of Australia's most significant organisations.

In this conversation, Amy talks about what it actually means to lead through influence rather than authority - so quietly and so consistently that her board chair told her she could hear Amy's words coming out of other people's mouths. And why, if a CPO role doesn't report directly to the CEO, she's simply not interested.

Amy Stanley is Chief People Officer at HBF, where she leads culture, leadership and organisational strategy across people and corporate affairs - and holds joint accountability with the CTO on HBF's AI strategy.

 

 

-----------------------

Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration

Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!

Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.

In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.

⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave

 

Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership

Amy Walker didn't plan a career in HR- she wandered into a lecture to keep a friend company and never looked back. What followed was 20+ years building people strategy inside some of Australia's most complex, traditionally male-dominated industries, and learning that the CPO role has never really been about authority. It's about influence, deliberate, patient, and built on genuinely understanding the business you're in.

In this conversation, Amy shares what a truly great CEO partnership looks like, why she went and studied supply chain mid-career, and what she means when she says the best leaders learn to move towards the tension rather than away from it.

Amy Walker is CEO of Artemis People and former CHRO at Visy, a $4B+ global operation where she led people strategy across 10,000 employees.

 

-----------------------

Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration

Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!

Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.

In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.

⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave

 

Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership